MANATEE COUNTY – The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the source of an oil spill at SeaPort Manatee on Aug. 31.
SeaPort Manatee is a Manatee County-owned port located on Tampa Bay in northern Manatee County.
“We are on scene now working with the port,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Mike Kale of Sector St. Petersburg’s Response Department said on Friday.
Kale said his department is actively working to determine the source of the oil spill, which he estimates at about 3,000 gallons.
“A commercial oil response company has been hired,” Kale said on Friday. “They’re applying a boom around the oil. It appears to be contained.”
Some of the Coast Guard Response Department’s missions are ports, waterways and coastal security, and marine environmental protection.
The spill was noticed on Aug. 31, according to a spokesperson for the Manatee County Port Authority. That was the day after Hurricane Idalia side-swept Manatee County as a Category 3 storm.
“Yesterday, we noticed a visible discoloration within the port’s basin and notified the National Response Center,” Manatee County Port Authority Communications Director Virginia Zimmerman wrote in a Sept. 1 email. “The U.S. Coast Guard inspected and didn’t set any restrictions on vessel operations.”
Kale said the investigation into the source of the oil remains active.
“We don’t know the source right now, we are continuing to investigate,” he said. “That could take some time to determine.”
Updated April 15, 10:07 p.m. – BRADENTON BEACH – A helicopter crashed off Coquina Beach Saturday afternoon with two men escaping injury.
U.S. Coast Guard Station Cortez responded to the South Coquina boat ramp at 12:18 p.m. according to Officer of the Day Charles Richter.
Student pilot Joseph Bakker, of Englewood, and instructor James Rahming, of Tampa, were pulled from the water by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Richter said.
Rahming is with Helicopter Academy, also known as boatpix.com. The helicopter is reportedly a Robinson R22.
Bradenton Beach Police Officer Eric Hill said he saw the helicopter “trying to maneuver and make a counterclockwise turn and then I heard the pitch of the rotor blades change and it looks like it lost lift due to the way it was turning… that’s when people called that it crashed,” he said.
This is the second helicopter crash this year off Anna Maria Island.
A Robinson R44 crashed into the Gulf of Mexico about two miles off Anna Maria Island on Jan. 2, sending two men to the hospital. The helicopter was shooting video of a boat about 10-15 feet above the water a half-mile west of the Sandbar restaurant when the crash occurred.
James Rhaming, sitting on piling, left, and Joseph Bakker, sitting on piling, right, crashed a helicopter into Sarasota Bay this afternoon off Anna Maria Island. - Tom Vaught | Sun
- Tom Vaught | Sun
- Tom Vaught | Sun
- Eric Hill, Bradenton Beach Police Department | Submitted
- Eric Hill, Bradenton Beach Police Department | Submitted
- Eric Hill, Bradenton Beach Police Department | Submitted
- Eric Hill, Bradenton Beach Police Department | Submitted
CORTEZ – Members of the crew of Coast Guard Station Cortez gave Florida Maritime Museum visitors an overview last week of the history and mission of the service and what they and their shipmates do each day.
The museum is hosting an exhibit, “Always Ready: United States Coast Guard in Florida,” through May 26.
A model of a 41-foot utility boat at U.S. Coast Guard Station Cortez by Charles H. Smith. – Cindy Lane | Sun
The Coast Guard’s predecessor organization was formed in 1789 to tend lighthouses; the Coast Guard was established a year later with missions including tariff enforcement, smuggling interdiction, coastline chart making and quarantine enforcement, said Petty Officer Charles Richter, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class.
The U.S. Coast Guard Station Cortez was established in 1974 in the 1890s Albion Inn in the Cortez fishing village. In 1992, its present facility was built across the street from the inn (which was later moved) and can withstand winds up to 105 mph and an 8-foot storm surge. 35 crew members are stationed in Cortez. Their jurisdiction extends from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to Gasparilla Island.
The modern Coast Guard was created in 1915, serving in World War I, then enforcing Prohibition beginning in 1919. In World War II the service was involved in Pearl Harbor, D-Day and other major battles, producing a Medal of Honor recipient, Douglas Munro, who saved 500 Marines, he said.
In 1957, a Coast Guard icebreaking cutter made the first northwest passage transit, Richter said. During the Vietnam War, patrol boats blocked enemy forces from receiving supplies.
In recent times, the Coast Guard has intercepted a floating 1959 Buick carrying Cuban refugees, as well as intercepting refugees from Haiti and Central America, Petty Officer Whitney Drake, Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class, told the group.
The U.S. Coast Guard Station Cortez and the Humane Society of Manatee County will present the “Welcome Aboard!” dog adoption event on Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Florida Maritime Museum, 4415 119th St. W. in Cortez. Em“bark” on a new voyage by bringing home your newest adventure partner!
In 1973, the service performed its first counterdrug operation, has participated in chemical and oil cleanups, including the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon disasters, and responded to the Twin Towers on 9/11, she said.
Under the Department of Homeland Security since 2003, the Coast Guard’s missions include fisheries law enforcement, maintenance of aids to navigation, marine safety, port security, drug interdiction, search and rescue, defense readiness, migrant interdiction, marine environment protection, ice operations and law enforcement.
With 41,598 on active duty, the Coast Guard also has 7,997 reservists, 8,342 civilians and 31,419 auxiliary members.
The group learned that each day, on average, the Coast Guard:
Saves 10 lives
Performs four search and rescue operations
Saves $1.2 million in property
Seizes 874 pounds of cocaine and 214 pounds of marijuana
Intercepts 17 illegal immigrants
Escorts five high-capacity vessels such as cruise ships and ferries
Makes 24 security boardings for life jackets and other equipment
Screens 360 merchant vessels for drugs and human trafficking
Makes 14 fisheries conservation boardings
Services 82 buoys a day
Investigates 35 pollution incidents
Completes 26 safety inspections of foreign vessels
Museum visitors also saw a demonstration of personal safety items, including a ring buoy and EPIRBs (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons), which crew members encouraged boaters to carry, and learned about how to retain as much heat as possible if stranded in cold water by pulling legs and arms close to the body.
More information about Coast Guard operations in Florida is on display at the museum.
CORTEZ – The 35 active duty men and women of the United States Coast Guard Station Cortez will get their next paycheck on Feb. 1, their first in a month.
President Donald Trump announced an agreement today to pause the federal government shutdown for three weeks until Feb. 15 while negotiations on a border wall continue. If a deal is not reached, the shutdown could resume.
He promised prompt payment of back pay for federal workers and thanked them for their “extraordinary devotion,” calling them “patriots.”
Trump instituted the shutdown on Dec. 22 to persuade Congress to fund a wall along the country’s border with Mexico.
On Saturday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m., the Cortez Cultural Center, 11655 Cortez Road W., will host a concert and fundraiser for Coast Guard workers. Fiddler and mandolin player Soupy Davis will perform, and hot dogs and s’mores will be served from the fire pit. Attendees are encouraged to donate gas or gift cards, baby food or diapers.
While many federal workers went without two paychecks during the shutdown, Coast Guard Station Cortez received their Jan. 1 paychecks but missed their Jan. 15 checks, Officer in Charge Zach Gray said.
All hands were on deck at the station during the entire shutdown, he said.
“Everybody is here,” Gray said. “It’s a team. If I don’t have my whole team, I’m not able to perform search and rescue.”
Since the shutdown began, the station responded to 12 search and rescue cases, including a high-profile helicopter crash on Jan. 2 in the Gulf of Mexico off Anna Maria Island. A photographer was shooting video from the helicopter of a speeding powerboat below; three men were injured.
This Robinson R44 helicopter was recovered on Friday, Jan. 4 and transported to the Coquina Beach boat ramp. – Collin Schmidt | Submitted
Local businesses and organizations have been helping the Coast Guard workers through the Chief Petty Officer Association (CPOA). Gray is the Cortez representative for the Suncoast CPOA.
“I am extremely grateful,” Gray said. “It is remarkable how much they care about us.”
Among the many contributors are Star Fish Co., Tide Tables, A.P. Bell Fish Co., Swordfish Grill and Roser Memorial Community Church Food Pantry.
