11 Aug

Remember the unions!

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
I just finished reading the August 2010 issue of Professional Mariner. In this issue, at the end of Kelly Sweeney's column, you asked your readers for any tips on job searches. To begin with unions were never mentioned in the article ! I'm a retired 1600 GWT master, oceans, from the Seafarers International Union of North America and they have…
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11 Aug

Cosponsors sought for merchant mariner bill on veterans’ status

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
After 2 years of exhaustive work to gain recognition as veterans for some 10,000 coastwise merchant seamen, a solution may be imminent.  Three U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina are preparing to "drop" a proposed bill to Congress.  Before this happens, they have sent a "Dear Colleague Letter" to all other Representatives in the US House of Representatives asking them to…
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05 Aug

Appeals Court Upholds Border Search of Crew Cabin without Reasonable Suspicion

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
Last Thursday, a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit (which handles appeals from District Courts in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama) released an opinion in the case of U.S. v. Alfaro-Moncada upholding the admission into evidence of child pornography found by a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agricultural Enforcement Team during an agricultural reboarding of…
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05 Aug

G8 Declaration Commits to Maritime Security Capacity Building for Horn of Africa

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
Maritime Security assumed a significant role in the "Muskoka Declaration Recovery and New Beginnings" issued by the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8)1 at the end of their summit, held June 25-26 in Muskoka, Canada. Under the rubric of International Peace and Security, the leaders addressed terrorism, international organized crime (including drug trafficking), and piracy among other threats to…
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05 Aug

ReCAAP 2010 Half Yearly Report Now Available

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
The website of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) now has a link to the Half Yearly Report, by the organization's Information Sharing Centre (ISC), on piratical incidents in the Asian region (Indian sub-continent East to the Philippines and North to the Koreas and Japan) between January and June 2010. Seventy-one…
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05 Aug

DHS Provides Update on Small Vessel Security

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
The Small Vessel Threat is one of the top concerns in Maritime Transportation Security. A Small Vessel Security Update Bulletin by the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute (HSSAI) appeared recently (the web address of the PDF includes the date June 25) on the DHS website. By way of background, DHS convened a National Small Vessel Security Summit with various invited…
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