[Federal Register: November 2, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 212)]
[Notices]
[Page 64546-64547]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02no06-52]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2005-22732]
Domestic Vessel Passenger Weights--Voluntary Interim Measures
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice; request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces supplemental guidance for owners and
operators of small passenger vessels to avoid operation in
environmental conditions that are inappropriate for their vessels. The
Coast Guard is requesting public comments on this notice.
DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management
Facility not later than January 31, 2007.
[[Page 64547]]
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number USCG-2005-22732 to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S.
Department of Transportation. To avoid duplication, please use only one
of the following methods:
(1) Web site: http://dms.dot.gov.
(2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
(3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
(4) Delivery: Room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif
Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone
number is 202-366-9329.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice,
call Mr. William Peters, Naval Architecture Division, G-PSE-2, Coast
Guard, telephone 202-372-1372. If you have questions on viewing or
submitting material to the docket, call Ms. Renee V. Wright, Program
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-493-0402.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Request for Comments
All comments received will be posted, without change, to http://dms.dot.gov
and will include any personal information you have
provided. We have an agreement with the Department of Transportation
(DOT) to use the Docket Management Facility. Please see DOT's ``Privacy
Act'' paragraph below.
Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your
name and address, identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-
2005-22732) and give the reason for each comment. You may submit your
comments by electronic means, mail, fax, or delivery to the Docket
Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES; but please submit
your comments by only one means. If you submit them by mail or
delivery, submit them in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11
inches, suitable for copying and electronic filing. If you submit them
by mail and would like to know that they reached the Facility, please
enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will
consider all comments received during the comment period.
Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, go to http://dms.dot.gov
at any time, click on ``Simple Search,'' enter the last
five digits of the docket number for this rulemaking, and click on
``Search.'' You may also visit the Docket Management Facility in room
PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street,
SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the
Department of Transportation's Privacy Act Statement in the Federal
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov.
Background and Purpose
On April 26, 2006, the Coast Guard published a notice (71 FR 24732)
that announced voluntary interim measures for certain domestic vessels
to account for increased passenger and vessel weight when determining
the number of passengers permitted. The notice included a discussion on
the typical restriction to ``reasonable operating conditions'' placed
on the Certificate of Inspection (COI) of vessels that are designed
only for operation on protected waters. Under the recommended voluntary
measures for prudent operation for all small passenger vessels, the
notice advised that reasonable operating conditions do not include
conditions associated with a small craft advisory as well as other
specific wind and wave conditions.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), a small craft
advisory is issued to alert small craft--generally vessels less than 65
feet in length--to sustained (more than 2 hours) hazardous weather or
sea conditions that may be either present or forecasted. Upon learning
of such an advisory, the NWS urges mariners to immediately determine
the reason and to monitor the latest marine broadcast. See http://www.weather.gov/glossary
.
The April notice also discussed increased passenger weight and
identified the means by which the Coast Guard typically evaluates a
small passenger vessel's stability.
This notice updates the voluntary measures for prudent operation
published in the Federal Register on April 26, 2006, by clarifying
guidance in the previous notice on reasonable operating conditions and
the vessels to which that guidance applies.
The Coast Guard received numerous comments from the public in
response to the April 26, 2006, notice.
Advisory Actions
Updated Voluntary Measures for Prudent Operation: All Small Passenger
Vessels
The recommendation given in the April 26, 2006, notice to owners
and operators of all small passenger vessels certificated only for
operation on protected waters is amended as follows to further clarify
``reasonable operating conditions'':
(1) For passenger pontoon vessels, voluntarily operate in
``reasonable operating conditions,'' which do not include:
Wind gusts over 30 knots (35 miles per hour);
Waves over two feet;
Sustained winds over 18 knots (21 miles per hour); or
Conditions associated with a small craft advisory.
(2) For other small passenger, non-sailing vessels certificated to
operate only on protected waters and that are less than 65 feet, give
special consideration to the ``reasonable operating conditions'' as set
forth in item (1) above while complying with the requirements of 46 CFR
185.304 or 122.304.
The Coast Guard expects that small passenger vessel owners and
operators are aware of and follow the guidelines presented in the April
26, 2006 notice as supplemented by this notice. The Coast Guard is in
the process of more formally addressing stability issues caused by
increases in passenger and vessel weight for all domestic vessels.
Dated: October 25, 2006.
C.E. Bone,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Assistant Commandant for Prevention.
[FR Doc. E6-18334 Filed 11-1-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P