Flash Protest at BP station, NYC

Gulf Oil Spill Inspires Protest At NYC Gas Station

Oil is getting thicker near Grand Isle

Chris Hernandez (pictured above with Williams-Mystic in March) on Fox News talking about the devastation the oil has caused...worse for Grand Isle than any hurricane has been.

http://www.fox8live.com/news/local/story/Oil-is-getting-thicker-near-Grand-Isle/BGt75PuWkk2dkKMow2Ur0Q.cspx

To my favorite blue-haired dog...

Come back and visit soon, we miss you!

(even Elizabeth)
(and Tusk...even though he is getting a lot more hugs these days)

Flags of Convenience, Maritime Commerce

From the International Transport Workers' Federation:

"A flag of convenience ship is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership.

Cheap registration fees, low or no taxes and freedom to employ cheap labour are the motivating factors behind a shipowner's decision to 'flag out'."

What do FOC's mean to seafarers?

Seafarers who are employed on FOC ships are often denied their basic human and trade union rights since FOC registers do not enforce minimum social standards. This is what makes the flag so attractive to shipowners. The home countries of the crew can do little to protect them because the rules that apply on board are often those of the country of registration. As a result, most FOC seafarers are not members of a trade union. For those who are, the union is often powerless to influence what happens on board.

Unsafe
Many FOC vessels are older than the average age of the rest of the world fleet. Tens of thousands of seafarers endure miserable, life-threatening conditions on sub-standard vessels. Many of the detentions by Port State Control authorities involve ageing and badly maintained FOC vessels that should never have sailed. Many of these ships have been referred to as "floating coffins".

Casualties are higher among FOC vessels. In 2001, 63 per cent of all losses in absolute tonnage terms were accounted for by just 13 FOC registers. The top five registers in terms of numbers of ships lost were all FOCs: Panama, Cyprus, St Vincent, Cambodia and Malta.

Unprotected
Poor safety practices and unsafe ships make seafaring one of the most dangerous of all occupations - it is estimated that there are over 2,000 deaths a year at sea. Accidents are frequent, but for many shipowners the delivery of cargoes and the costs of any delay are their only concerns.

Seafarers on their own have little chance of winning compensation. A severed hand can ruin a life, end a seafaring career and rob a large extended family of a regular income. The ITF pursues these cases through the courts but often they must unravel complex company structures before they can work out who has responsibility for the ship and its crew.

Unpaid
The ITF hears daily of crews owed large sums of money. Some crews simply aren't paid. Those that are sometimes find that companies delay, or fail to make, payments to their families when they want to send money home. In many cases months go by without any sign of money promised to seafarers. With no pay they cannot even afford to escape and make their own way home.

More information: http://www.itfglobal.org/flags-convenience/flags-convenien-184.cfm

New Setback in Attempt to Contain Gulf Oil Spill

NY Times

How Much Oil Has Leaked Into the Gulf of Mexico?

Gulf Coast Towns Brace as Huge Oil Slick Nears Marshes

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/us/02spill.html?ref=us

LUMCON...Grande Isle...Cocodrie...

This article also features a video from the same marshes we canoed in (even with shots of LUMCON in the background!)...

S'10 at LUMCON in March

This will be on the exam...

Photo courtesy of Megan Holmes

Last marine ecology class, and Jim covers the board with all the main concepts we've learned while connecting them with "the threads that bind."