The following is the text of a press release issued by the U.S. Coast Guard:
Captain Paul M. Gugg relieved Captain John E. Long as Sector San Francisco Commander today during a change of command ceremony on Coast Guard Island in Alameda, CA.
Coast Guard Sector San Francisco is responsible for all day-to-day Coast Guard operations throughout most of Northern California, Nevada, Utah and a small part of Wyoming. The Sector’s missions include search and rescue, law enforcement, environmental protection, port security, merchant mariner licensing, and vessel inspection and safety programs for all types of vessels including recreational boats, commercial fishing vessels, charter boats, ferries, and large merchant vessels. The Sector includes seven small boat stations, one aids-to-navigation team and four patrol boats.
Captain Gugg reports to Sector San Francisco from the Pacific Area Command in Alameda where he was the Chief of Prevention. He was previously the Captain of the Port in Buffalo, New York from 2002 until 2005. Before that he was the Coast Guard Liaison to the Military Sealift Command in Washington, DC where he coordinated inspection, manning force protection and regulatory compliance issues for the U.S. Navy’s 120 sealift, surveillance, pre-positioned and fleet auxiliary vessels, and the Commanding Officer of the Gulf Strike Team, a specialized oil and hazardous material response unit in Mobile, AL.
Other assignments have included staff duty at Coast Guard Headquarters where he worked on OPA-90 oil vessel and facility response plan regulations, reviewed tank ship response plans, and developed Commandant policy for Coast Guard contingency preparedness.
His Marine Safety career began with assignments to Marine Safety Office Port Arthur, Texas, where his duties involved port operations work, commercial vessel inspections, and casualty investigations, and Marine Safety Office Honolulu, Hawaii, where he examined small passenger vessels and cruise ships in the Hawaiian Islands, and inspected U.S. registered ships and mobile offshore drilling units throughout India, Indonesia, Japan and other countries of the Far East. He completed the Operation Training with the Marine Industry Program hosted by Texaco Marine Services, and served a Marine Safety Internship with Navy Supervisor of Salvage.
He holds degrees from the University of Michigan (MS) and Syracuse (BS) and received his Coast Guard commission through Officer Candidate School in 1983.
