Rules may surface from capsizing.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

Charter fishing boat operators could face tighter safety rules in the wake of one of the deadliest maritime accidents on the Oregon Coast in recent memory.

U.S. Coast Guard regulations on when life jackets should be worn, how many passengers a vessel may carry and when they may go to sea could come under review in response to Saturday's capsizing of the Taki-Tooo at the Tillamook Bar.

The accident killed the boat's captain and eight passengers. Two others are missing and presumed dead.

Wayne Butler, president of the Oregon Coast Sport Fishing Association, which represents 47 charter boat operators, expects the tragedy will trigger immediate scrutiny of an industry that he believes is well regulated and extremely safe.

"It's kind of a knee-jerk reaction. Whenever something like this happens, somebody comes up with rules they think will prevent it from happening again," said Butler, who owns Prowler Charters in Bandon.

New rules requiring passengers to don life jackets when crossing bars are a likely outcome of the Taki-Tooo casualties, said Frank Warrens, who runs charter boats near Astoria.

"All of us see this coming," Warrens said. "I would be very surprised if there weren't some new regulations regarding the loading (passenger capacity) of the vessel and what conditions require the wearing of life jackets."

Some say it's about time.

"It's like a dangerous intersection. Until the right person gets killed, nothing happens," said Elliott Herder, a member of the Coast Guard auxiliary in Garibaldi and inspector of small commercial vessels for the state.

Herder thinks the Coast Guard should require that "everyone that crosses this bar wears a life jacket."

No one on the Taki-Tooo was wearing life vests when the 32-foot boat encountered swells and breaking waves of 12 feet or more on the bar, according to survivor accounts.

Some who were rescued had grabbed life jackets after the boat rolled, but none of those who died was found with one.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Gabe Wilch, assigned to the Coast Guard station on the mouth of Tillamook Bay, pulled one of victims from the water about a half-hour after the accident.

"Life jackets: I strongly recommend them," Wilch said. "It can be the sunniest day and calmest water" when disaster strikes.

Roughly half of the boaters he sees choose not to wear vests, he said.

Boats must carry a life jacket for each person on board, and a skipper "shall require passengers to don life jackets when possible hazardous conditions exist," including crossing "hazardous bars and inlets" and "during severe weather," Coast Guard regulations state.

It's up to the charter boat captain to decide when conditions are rough enough to follow the rule.

It's best to let the skipper make the call when to put on life vests, said Wayne Gage, a retired commercial fisherman in Mapleton and the former commander of the Siuslaw Coast Guard Station in Florence.

But the skipper also must pay close attention to the potential for trouble, Gage said.

"When there are any adverse conditions at all to deal with, it's pretty obvious those people should be in life jackets," he said. "It takes just a matter of seconds for that boat to be upside down when it's hit."

Another Coast Guard rule that may come under review is the number of passengers charter boats may carry. The Taki-Tooo was licensed for up to 22, including two crew members. It had 19 aboard Saturday.

That surprised Don McMichael, a retired Coast Guard officer in North Bend.

"I couldn't believe it," McMichael said. "It just sounded to me like an awful lot of people for a 32-foot boat."

It also sounded like an especially full boat to Tim Harmon, the owner of Tradewinds, a 12-boat charter fishing fleet in Depoe Bay that turned away 170 customers Saturday due to the rough seas.

"I look at 32 or 34 feet and putting 19 or 20 people on it - it's too much," Harmon said. "Your boat will not ride the same with that many on board. The water level can drop two feet."

The Taki-Tooo tragedy also has shed light on which boats can be ordered to stay in port when bar conditions are hazardous. The Coast Guard has the authority to restrict recreational and smaller commercial vessels from crossing the bar when conditions are bad, as it did Saturday in Tillamook Bay.

But skippers of charter boats licensed for seven or more passengers and other commercial vessels are free to judge if it's safe to go out.

The Coast Guard would prefer not to have the liability that accompanies the responsibility of deciding when it's safe to go and when it's not for commercial vessels, Gage said.

Bar crossing conditions should remain an advisory for those vessels that are inspected by the Coast Guard and expected to have trained, experienced crews, he said.

"And if a skipper chooses to go and endangers those people, the Coast Guard can write him a ticket and take his license away," said Gage, adding that he did that once.

The decision by the Taki-Tooo's captain, Doug Davis, to cross the bar is under review by the National Transportation Safety Board, spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said.

"We are looking into the whole issue of the decision-making on that day," Lopatkiewicz said. "That includes the decision to conduct the trip and what regulations govern any aspect of that. And that bleeds over into the Coast Guard's involvement."

Others cautioned against a rush to reform before all the facts of the Taki-Tooo accident come out.

"We really need to let the dust settle on what occurred," said Onno Husing, executive director of the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association, a Newport-based group that represents governments on the coast.

"Accidents like this, like any accidents, provide insights about what we're doing and what we might do in the future to avoid tragedy," Husing said.

Charter boat operators in Oregon place a premium on the safety of their passengers, he said. "I am confident that they will take steps to ensure that these kinds of tragedies are extremely infrequent, and I also believe they will embrace measures that give the public confidence in the safety of those operations," Husing said.

If the Coast Guard decides to make wearing life jackets mandatory for all bar crossings, it should be seen as a routine precaution, just like buckling up for airline takeoffs and landings, he added.

"The next time I'm on a charter boat, even if it's not mandatory, if I'm going across the bar and have my young son with me, I may feel inclined to put that life jacket on for those rare times when tragedy would strike," he said. "It's a simple and cheap thing to do."

- Reporter Winston Ross contributed to this report

COAST GUARD BOAT RULES

Life jackets: Boats must carry one for every person on board. The skipper shall require passengers to don life jackets when possible hazardous conditions exist, including traveling across hazardous bars and during severe weather.

Number of passengers: The maximum number of passengers permitted on any vessel may be the greatest number permitted by formulas based on length of rail, deck area or fixed seating.

Restricted to port: The Coast Guard may prohibit recreational vessels and smaller passenger boats (six or fewer passengers) from crossing a bar during hazardous conditions, but not charter fishing boats or other commercial vessels licensed by the Coast Guard.

CAPTION(S):

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Gabe Wilch says about half the passengers he sees choose not to wear life jackets.