RVOC ANNUAL MEETING

Scripps Institution of Oceanography
San Diego, CA
Kona Kai Resort and Marina
Tuesday 24 October 1995

Appendicies:

Welcoming Remarks

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Mike Prince, Marine Superintendent of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

Tom Althouse, Marine Superintendent, Scripps Institution of Oceanography welcomed the RVOC to San Diego, provided a brief overview of Scripps Marine Operations, and introduced Dr. Robert Knox, Associate Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Dr. Knox extended a welcome on behalf of Scripps.

Agenda

The meeting followed the Agenda outlined in Appendix I. Registered attendees are listed in Appendix II.

Old Business

Minutes of the 1994 Meeting

A motion was made, seconded, and passed to accept the minutes of the 1994 meeting.
Oil Spill Response Plan

Tom Althouse of Scripps and Steve Rabalais of LUMCON had previously made available Oil Spill Response Plans generated for R/V MELVILLE and R/V PELICAN to serve as generic plans for other institutions to meet a new Coast Guard requirement implemented on 4 January 1995. Tom made available copies of the Oil Spill Response Plans for all Scripps vessels during this meeting and offered to provide copies to anyone requesting it. A word of thanks was extended to Tom and Steve for their efforts on these plans which served as models for other institutions.
Shipyard Reserve Funds

ONR and NSF have fundamentally approved establishment of shipyard reserve funds, however, the document implementing the establishment of the reserves has been returned to Dolly Dieter of NSF to be rewritten. Dolly hopes to have the matter resolved in the next few months.
GPS P-Codes

The latest NSF/DOD MOU for installation of P-Code receivers on NSF owned ships is pending. The initial application and installation of P-Code receivers has been completed with the units being assigned to institutions operating Navy AGORs: Scripps, UW and WHOI. The question looming larger today is whether the selective availability, which dithers the signal, will be turned off. There is greater interest from the commercial sector, particularly transportation related, supported by other federal departments/agencies to turn off the selective availability. Systems such as the DGPS, which is being implemented by the U.S. Coast Guard, do exist to enhance overall navigational accuracy of GPS. A chart of the enhanced coverage available via one such system is contained in Appendix III.

New Business

Post Cruise Evaluations

The Fleet Improvement Committee (FIC) has requested that RVOC review and revise the existing Cruise Assessment Form. FIC had sent out a Customer Satisfaction Survey to Chief Scientists with responses indicating they would like to receive a reply to issues raised in their cruise report. An additional issue to be addressed is the routing of these reports.

A work group is planned for the second day of this meeting to address this issue.
Medical Standards/Job Descriptions

This item began as a workshop in 1994 with the intent being to develop generic medical standards, as they relate to post employment physicals, and an associated job description. Bill Coste, who chaired last year's workshop, will pursue this in a follow on workshop scheduled for the second day of this meeting. Bedford Institute, WHOI, and LDEO provided their job descriptions and medical standards to serve as a basis for instituting these generic standards. Such a workshop in this forum would plan to draw on the medical expertise provided by the MHS/AEA representative, Robert Baker, and the legal expertise of Dennis Nixon. A number of examples were cited which indicated that all operators would benefit from this generic standard and this item should be pursued.
Safety Training Manual

The question arose as to whether the Safety Training Manual is being used. Jack Bash indicated that 80% of the scientists going to sea are not aware of Chapter 1 of this manual even though it is specifically directed at the science party. Copies of this manual are available in ship staterooms, in the ship's lounge on some ship's, and it is referred to in "Welcome Aboard" briefings.

The question is how to get more interest in this manual and disseminate the information. For some vessels, such as coastal vessels, the first work sight may be just hours offshore providing scientific parties relatively little time once they come on board to page through this document. It was suggested that perhaps this information needed to get to scientific parties before they get on the ship. Robert Hinton of UW noted that Chapter 1 of the Safety Manual is available on his Home Page on the World Wide Web. Wider dissemination will be given through UNOLS of this document's availability on WWW.

Further discussion was carried on with regards to the responsibility of the Chief Scientist. A recommendation was made that the Chairman of UNOLS, Ken Johnson, address a letter on this subject to Chief Scientists. Ken expressed a willingness to write such a letter and indicated that there were further ongoing discussions in UNOLS trying to define what a Chief Scientist's responsibility is.

Concern was expressed about the amount of paperwork required for cruise planning, to the point that fewer people want to be Chief Scientist. Additional paperwork and letters may not be the solution. Dolly Dieter pointed to a safety video shown at the ISO Meeting she had recently attended as a possible solution. Such a video could be used in conjunction with a "Welcome Aboard" briefing.

The bottom line was that we are all concerned with having a safe operation and the question is how to effectively disseminate the information. This will be the subject of a workshop set for the second day of this meeting.

Committee and Liaison Reports

UNOLS

Dr. Ken Johnson, UNOLS Chairman, began the UNOLS presentation discussing a "modest" proposal made by Don Heinrichs at a UNOLS Council meeting earlier this year. This proposal which considered laying up and moving ships is being reviewed by an ad hoc committee from UNOLS. The concern is that the projections for the operating costs of the UNOLS Fleet in the year 2000 show a deficit. We need to look for opportunities which will permit us to develop partnerships in support of our operations.

UNOLS is considering setting up an Arctic Research Vessel Committee, much like the DEep Submergence Science Committee, to coordinate operations of Arctic assets. This is on hold until a National Research Council Report comes out.

Despite current uncertainties, we need to continue planning for the future and the FIC needs to continue to plan for replacement of coastal research vessels to maintain our current level of excellence.

Jack Bash, UNOLS Executive Secretary, followed. UNOLS has opened communications with ADM. Watkin's research group, CORE, on how they can better work with UNOLS and UNOLS can work with CORE so that both groups are not operating at cross purposes, since their constituency pretty much mirrors UNOLS constituency.

He went on to point out that a FIC van study, which incorporates input from RVOC and RVTEC will be out shortly. In addition, FIC is planning a scientific safety study on where the scientist fits into the safety program.

Jack reported that a Diving Workshop had been held in San Diego on the preceding day. He noted that there was a lot of diving that does not seem to be as well coordinated as it should be. This is a point of concern and the subject of a future Shipboard Diving Safety Study.

His last item was a call for papers for Oceans '96 to be held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL where there will be a large emphasis on oceanographic ships.
Safety Committee

Tom Smith, Chairman of the Safety Committee, reported the major project completed was the update of the RVOC Safety Standards, with the update being approved at the September 1995 UNOLS Council Meeting.

A Safety Committee meeting was held earlier today and the accident reporting system currently maintained by Joe Coburn of WHOI was reviewed. We have averaged about 5.1 accidents per 200,000 man hours. This number compares quite favorably to other comparable industries where these figures were available. It was also recommended that the UNOLS Office take over this data collecting function. Jack Bash felt this might be possible if the reports could be submitted electronically.
Other topics at this meeting included:

Accident reporting. There is a need to disseminate lessons learned from our accidents. Right now we only collect data, but provide no information to heighten awareness at other institutions.

Developing a Safety Video Tape. The cost of such a project if it were to be pursued is about $1,000 per minute.

Items coming from RVTEC which included responsibility for providing MSDS, on-board spill cleanup, and establishing a library of ship crew training videos relating to shipboard operations.

ISO 9002 and how to address this. Implementation of this standard requires a major commitment.
RVTEC

Steve Rabalais of LUMCON noted that primary issues he brought from the RVTEC had already been discussed as part of the Safety Committee. He did note that whatever safety issues come up involving technicians involve the ship and ultimately become a ship responsibility. The technicians are interested in supporting a safety program, but the lead with regards to safety rests with RVOC.
FIC

Joe Coburn, WHOI, reported on the FIC, noting that currently the Arctic Research Vessel Design is on the back burner. As noted in previous reports the shipboard van study has been completed. Concern by the committee with regards to shipboard safety seems to be less focused and the committee seems comfortable with ship operations.

With various operations planning refits it has been suggested by Don Heinrichs that proposals for these refits would benefit from being submitted to the FIC for review prior to being submitted to NSF. It should be noted that the FIC cannot be part of the peer review process of a proposal, but an institution can obtain their endorsement of the proposed refit.

The next meeting of the FIC is scheduled for February 1996 in Mississippi.

Agency Reports

NSF

Dolly Dieter reported that NSF, as yet, did not have its operating budget for 1996, but was expecting to be reduced by 4-5%. It is too early to say how the mid-life refits for the HATTERAS, POINT SUR and NEW HORIZON would be resolved.

Dolly had recently attended an International Ship Operators (ISO) meeting. The original intent of this organization was to provide more efficient use of vessels by exchanging shiptime. She indicated there was less swapping going on this year; everyone seemed to be experiencing some budget constraints. She noted as well that there are now plans for an international RVTEC meeting which would be held every other year. The first meeting is scheduled next year in the United Kingdom.

Dolly will be attending the Law of the Sea conference as the NSF representative.

On another matter, Dolly restated the NSF policy on rescheduling a scheduled cruise into another year. If this is the case, the PI needs to advise their program manager and the operator must plan to have the operating funds associated with that cruise available to carry forward into the next operating year.

The last item she addressed was: If you are a federally owned ship, the operator needs to keep the appropriate agency advised of significant operating problems that are experienced.
ONR

Annette DeSilva provided the report for ONR. She noted the personnel changes in ONR with Jim Andrews leaving for the Pentagon. Her replacement, Sujata Millick, will start full time at ONR on 10 November.

With regards to budgets, ONR is trying to encourage shiptime use. In the past, the cost burden of shiptime had been divided such that 55% of ship costs were paid by Research Facilities and 45% by the science programs. Beginning in 1996, Research Facilities will fund 80% of the ship costs and the science programs will fund 20%. The existing program to match shiptime funds with NRL will continue with matching ONR funds of up to $0.5 million being available.

Ship construction - Delivery of R/V ROGER REVELLE is scheduled for June 1996. R/V ATLANTIS, AGOR 25, is scheduled for launch in February 1996 with delivery slated for April 1997.

Another major project relates to the ALVIN support ship conversion. There are two options which are being reviewed. The first is to convert R/V KNORR to handle ALVIN, and the second is to modify AGOR 25. The shipyard constructing AGOR 25 has presented a plan for modification to permit the AGOR 25 to act as the ALVIN Support Ship. The design package is very attractive and has the potential to provide a very capable support platform. The final decision of which option to pursue is to be a joint decision between ONR, NSF and WHOI.

Pat Dennis of NAVOCEANO was unable to attend. Currently two new Navy TAGS ships been completed by the shipyard and await final testing for correction of a transformer problem. Two additional TAGS are under construction. NAVOCEANO has expressed an interest in experimenting with the use of UNOLS vessels to meet some of their survey needs.
U.S. Coast Guard

CDR Rick Ruth of the Office of Ice Operations reported for the Coast Guard. He indicated that by the year 2000 the Coast Guard is planning $400 million in budget cuts. These cuts will be met in various ways including the consolidation of district offices, Coast Guard headquarters, and area commands. These budget saving cuts will affect the office of Ice Operations with the staff being split between facilities and programs.

Operationally, the USCGC POLAR STAR is departing for the Antarctic. The USCGC POLAR STAR is undergoing machinery modifications. The shipyard building the newest icebreaker, USCGC HEALEY, is scheduled to begin cutting steel early next year with commissioning scheduled for prior to 1998.

A meeting of the Arctic rim nations is scheduled for November of this year.
U.S. State Department

Tom Cocke reviewed the current status of foreign clearances noting that ship operators had taken a proactive posture on submission of foreign clearance requests and he felt things were in pretty good shape although there is a backlog of Post Cruise obligations.

The legal staff at the State Department has put together a list of the most common problems experienced with coastal states. These include:
- Delays in responding to requests for ship clearances.
- Last minute denial to conduct research.
- Requiring all data, regardless of format, to be submitted immediately or within a fixed time after leaving coastal states waters rather than waiting until after the research is completed.
- Requiring copies of data collected in international waters and other countries waters.
- Requiring data to be proprietary when it has actually become part of the public domain.
- Requiring cruise reports to be submitted in other than English.
- Requiring more than one observer.
- Requiring observer to be on board during non research portions of voyage.
- Requiring research and port call requests to be submitted through other than foreign ministries.
- Foreign ministries failing to forward cruise reports to cognizant organizations.
The five countries in which portion of these this list of problems regularly presents itself are: Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Columbia, and Russia. The State Department has continued to try to resolve these problems, with Tom recently visiting Mexico.

He went on to emphasize that the UNOLS Handbook for International Operations of U.S. Scientific Research Vessels, despite being completed several years ago, is still a very good reference manual for foreign clearances.

Law of the Sea has now been submitted to Congress for ratification. The seabed mining section, which originally may have proved an obstacle, has been greatly improved. Tom noted that he and Dolly have been asked to participate in an Ocean Studies Board to assess the effect on science on the implementation of the Law of the Sea Treaty.

One last item related to the U.S.-Canadian reciprocal agreement for foreign clearances. Tom indicated the process has worked with clearances typically capable of being received within a few days. He noted that some requests received from Canadian researchers have had such a short lead time that they have affected U.S. naval operations. He requested that consideration be given to this and that as much lead time as possible be provided.

Special Reports

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Tom Althouse reported on the Scripps vessels: R/V REVELLE, R/V MELVILLE, R/V NEW HORIZON, R/V SPROUL, and FLIP.

The Scripps facility will have to be dredged to accommodate R/V REVELLE. Approvals had to be sought from state and federal agencies. The dredging will increase the water depth available by two feet. Bid packages are now out and they hope dredging operations will begin by the end of the year.

A mid-life refit has been proposed for R/V NEW HORIZON in 1996. It is estimated the ship will be out of service for five months. The major improvement will be stability. As a result of this modification the ship will be able to carry a full suite of winches, 25 ton deck load, and be able to undertake a cruise lasting 40 days. The other major item is a new tunnel thruster. The NEW HORIZON is used about 21% of the time for State purposes and the State will provide about 21% of the funding for the refit.

R/V REVELLE was launched on 20 April 1995 at Moss Point, MS. Delivery is scheduled for 6 June 1996. No NSF cruises are scheduled on the REVELLE in 1996. Only one State funded cruise has been scheduled on R/V REVELLE in 1996. One item that has come up is the science information system. Due to costs for engineering and installation of the entire system, Scripps plans to finish the project with the yard doing the engineering. One issue just surfacing involves spare parts. CNO's policy is that 95% of spares must be on to accept a ship. Concern has been expressed as to whether this requirement can be met by the date scheduled for delivery of the ship.

Tom introduced Woody Sutherland who is in charge of Shipboard Technical Support at Scripps.
Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC)

Ken Robertson reported that NERC relocated to its new center in Southampton, UK in late September 1995. NERC continues to operate three ships: DISCOVERY, CHARLES DARWIN, and CHALLENGER. Funding of ship time is at a level of 60%. They have been seeking charter opportunities for the vessels and obtained some.

Discussions have begun within the European community about more effective use of existing oceanographic vessels in terms of a European fleet. Last year Ken referred to discussions with Netherlands and there has now been some dialogue with France and Germany.

He reported that they would be trying out a copy of the very large French piston core, called "STACOR". They will be trying this equipment out on the DISCOVERY soon and for the first time they will be using a synthetic rope. They expect pull out forces from the seabed of 15 to 17 tons.

Ken's final point of discussion dealt with the increased length of cruises. They are seeing cruises in excess of 60 days. There is concern with regard to the personnel and how they will handle these cruises. Port calls are being scheduled into the cruises so that they can see how the people are dealing with this schedule.
SACLANT Undersea Research Center

Chris Gobey reported that in 1997, unless alternative funding can be found, they are planning to lay R/V ALLIANCE up for six months. The vessel is available for collaborative work, especially government related, because of the special status of R/V ALLIANCE. R/V ALLIANCE is a German public vessel owned by NATO.

As part of the NATO initiative, Partnership for Peace, they are looking for opportunities to work with countries such as Bulgaria, the Ukraine and Baltic states in areas such as environmental issues. For example, at this time the Black Sea is almost dead and these countries have no capacity to sample the seabed.

This last year R/V ALLIANCE was at sea for 232 days with the ship being available for 330 days. The ship manning has been reduced from 27 to 24. The ship spends half the year in the Mediterranean and half the year in the Atlantic. The vessel and the organization supporting it is certified in accordance with ISO 9002. Major upgrades this year have seen the installation of a new integrated navigation system.

Chris offered to furnish a container checklist being used for all containers being loaded on R/V ALLIANCE. This checklist is enclosed in the Appendix IV.
Instituto de Fomento Pesquero

Enrique Aranda, Jefe, Division Operaciones of Valparaiso, Chile provided an update from last year noting the continued operation of two research vessels with the continued focus of research relating to fisheries and the effects of El Nino. He expressed his interest in the evaluation process of scientific party and ship's crew and emphasized the importance of the crew and scientific party working together as a team to achieve the scientific objective.
Universdad Naciaonal Autonoma de Mexico

Dr. Inguar Emilsson, Instituto de Ciencas del Mar y Limnolgia, provided a history of the research vessels operated by the University of Mexico. The first vessel was obtained in 1980, it had been built in Norway. This first vessel, EL PUMA, was operated out of Mazatlan. Since Mexico had an East and West Coast it was felt there was a need for a vessel to operate on the East Coast and a second vessel, JUSTO SIERRA, was acquired in 1983. Both vessels are multi-purpose operated by a crew of 15 and capable of carrying a science party of 21. Vessel plans are included in Appendix V. Originally, vessel operations were jointly funded by PEMEX, the University, and National Research Council. After ten years this funding ceased and at present the vessels are funded by the University with projects being funded by the National Research Council.
Bedford Institute of Oceanography

James Wheelhouse reported that the Department of Fisheries and the Canadian Coast Guard are to be amalgamated. The overall department budget will be reduced by $800 million with department personnel being reduced by 20-30%. The department operates 21 major vessels and approximately 50 minor vessels. Currently 900 personnel are employed as ships' officers and crew. The new focus will be multi-tasking with vessels performing research along with SAR, ice-breaking, aids to navigation, and ice re-supply.
Institute of Ocean Sciences

With regards to vessel operations, Dale Gibbs reported that over the past year the vessel JOHN P. TULLY completed a WOCE cruise.

Dale pointed out, as Jim had, the merging of the Coast Guard with the Department of Fisheries noting the new focus of the Oceans Act which gives them complete jurisdiction of the oceans and Great Lakes while giving up fresh water. He also noted the move towards privatization within the Ministry of Transport with regards to the railroads and airports. The entire organization is to be called the Canadian Coast Guard. For the science community the overall effect should be more vessels available for science.

Dale introduced Don Wight, Director of Fleet Services, Canadian Coast Guard.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Joe Coburn began his report discussing the KNORR versus the ATLANTIS (AGOR 25) conversion to the ALVIN support ship. Concern had been expressed over the conversion time frame from AII to the KNORR versus the ATLANTIS. The conversion of the KNORR was planned so as to preclude any loss of time. There was some concern that a loss of this resource for a period of time might damage the fragile operating structure. WHOI will be providing funding for support of the conversion. The level of funding provided by WHOI is expected to be approximately $900K to $1M.

WHOI had been working with NUWC in Newport, RI, USGS, and the state of Massachusetts to acquire the Navy SWATH KAIMALINO. The Navy had brought the KAIMALINO from Hawaii to San Diego where it had undergone overhaul. It had been anticipated that the KAIMALINO would be turned over to WHOI this fall. This project is now on hold and it appears that the KAIMALINO will be returned to Hawaii.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Mark Vandenberg of MBARI gave a presentation on the SWATH, WESTERN FLYER, which is being built for MBARI at SWATH Ocean Systems Inc. in National City, CA. A description of the vessel is contained in Appendix VI. RVOC is scheduled to visit the vessel in National City on the afternoon of 25 October.
University of Connecticut

Larry Burch reported that approximately $54M had been targeted in the State of Connecticut for development and improvement of the University of Connecticut Marine Science and Technology Center located at Avery Point in Groton. Among the projects planned was the acquisition of a new research vessel. A year ago the University had sought and received proposals for design of a research vessel. The proposal submitted by Roger Long and the Elliot Design Group had been selected. A description of this vessel is contained in Appendix VII.
Skidaway Institute of Oceanography

Steve Carignan reported that some preliminary steps were being taken with regards to a new vessel. He indicated that demands were beginning to exceed the capabilities of R/V BLUE FIN and that the level of maintenance being required was increasing. Funding of a replacement will be a major issue.
AAUS

Woody Sutherland, current President of AAUS, reported on diving. He reported that John Heine of MLML was President-elect of AAUS.

He went on to discuss diving programs, which are currently organized with a seven member Dive Control Board and a Dive Officer at each institution. Under the Dive Officer are the research divers. Approximately 1500 dives take place each year off large research vessels. A concerted effort needs to be made to keep accurate data. Normally dive logs for a diver return with that diver to their institution. In order to insure the necessary data was collected Woody suggested that the ship operator should be responsible for collecting the data with one person on board the ship being assigned as the dive supervisor to submit the data.

Currently research divers were exempt from OSHA regulations for divers. In order to maintain this exemption, we need to insure we maintain accurate records and collect data on our on board diving programs.
Maritime Health Services - AEA International

Robert Baker represented MHS and discussed some of the changes at MHS. In the last year MHS had been acquired by AEA. AEA is a company with 1200 employees based out of Singapore. This company provides a network of physicians around the world for medical assistance.

The organization at MHS in Seattle, WA has expanded, providing round-the-clock 24 hour service. The number of employees has increased from five to 15. Either Dr. Jarris or Dr. Brown are always on call to respond to requests for assistance. Mr. Baker extended an open invitation from Dr. Jarris for members of RVOC to visit their offices in Seattle.

There was further discussion on the need for crew training. Mr. Baker indicated that minimum class size for crew medical training was eight with a maximum of 15. Tim Pfeiffer of UDE offered to provide a facility for a training session if one could be scheduled for late this year or early next year.
Ireland Consulting Service

George Ireland distributed a handout and provided a summary of regulatory activity which has taken place in the last year. Highlighting this activity was:

Alternate Compliance. One effect of down-SIZING the federal government is that the Coast Guard is transferring some regulatory work to American Bureau of Shipping. Owners/operators may elect to have ABS perform vessel inspection functions including dry-dock examinations under a pilot program.

ISO/ISM. Public hearings are scheduled by USCG for implementation of International Safety Management Code as Chapter 9 of the SOLAS Convention. This will be mandatory for certain ship's by 1 June 1998. Pilot programs are underway in certain Coast Guard districts to streamline inspection procedures for those companies which have implemented these programs.

Oil Spill Response Plan. Vessels 400GT and above operating at any time seaward of the territorial sea were required to have a Coast Guard approved plan by 4 April 1995. This plan is subject to annual review and a letter must be submitted to the Coast Guard certifying that the annual review has been completed.

Radio Officers. The Telecommunications Competition Act has been passed by House and Senate and is now subject to conference committee. Impact of this legislation is that Radio Officers will not be required provided the vessel complies with GMDSS.

Sub-chapter T. Some oceanographic vessels may not be designated as ORVs and instead may be operating as a Small Passenger Vessel less than 100 gross tons. This is a Final Interim Rule which should be of interest in terms of lifesaving requirements.

STCW (Seafarer's Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping) Conference. This is intended to bring the standards of competency for seafarers of developing countries closer to those more developed nations. There are provisions which will affect U.S. Seafarers such as:
- requirement for orientation of newly employed seafarers
- requirement for all personnel to have a prescribed level of basic training
- standards for personnel conducting training
- assessment of watch standing competence following casualties.
Oregon State University

Fred Jones reported that funding was at hand and construction was scheduled in 1996 for a new ship operations building and dock expansion at Newport. The new building will provide additional shop and covered staging space. With the dock expansion they will be able to accommodate WECOMA and visiting vessels up to 300 feet.

Wednesday - 25 October 1995
Nimitz Marine Facility

Administrative Business and Wrap Up of Tuesday Reports
Insurance and Liability

Dennis Nixon reported that all institutions were complying with the standards set for deductibles and minimum coverage. He then showed a series of slides relating to costs of ship board insurance and costs as a percentage of the total operating budget. Overall the insurance costs as a percent of the total operating budget continue to decline. Copies of the overheads are contained in Appendix VIII.

Dennis attended the International Ship Operators (ISO) meeting and reported on a Netherlands proposal to establish group insurance along with a proposal by this group to implement standardized insurance coverage.

In general, Dennis noted court rulings had been significant in the sense that more cases were decided in favor of the operator/owner than in previous years. He then gave a brief of cases which included:

In a case against Chandris Lines the Marine Superintendent had filed a claim for a detached retina as a seaman. It was ruled that he was not a seaman because in his position he was on board contributing to the purpose of the vessel less than 30% of the time.

In a the case of Chandler vs. Alfa Services two marine technicians were killed by explosive charge. It was ruled that the ORV Act applied and no suit could be filed under the Jones Act. A claim of unseaworthiness would have to be pursued.

In two cases involving a pre-existing condition where the employee failed to indicate a prior back injury and disability the cases were dismissed and ruled that employee was not eligible for maintenance and cure.

A final case involving Puthe vs. Exxon Shipping Co. claimed emotional injury as a result of his employment. The claim was dismissed with the court noting:

"Although Exxon had a duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, see Bailey v. Central Vermont Ry. ..., Exxon had no duty to keep Puthe safe from the rigors of a job as a seaman. Puthe's allegations refer to seemingly common occurrences for seamen. It appears obvious to this Court that seamen must expect to encounter certain dangers on the job and to work during adverse weather conditions. They have "knowingly and voluntarily chosen callings which ... involve braving certain hazards and are traditionally not well suited to the squeamish or faint-hearted." Gaston v. Flowers Transp., 1989 AMC..., If seamen were excused from working on deck during high seas and cold winds, the ocean would be filled with crewless boats. In sum, Exxon could not have foreseen that Puthe, who was classified as an able bodied seaman, would react any differently than other able bodied seamen to the hardships that mark the job of a seaman working on a vessel in the middle of the ocean."
Sea Education Association (SEA)

Philip Sacks, gave a presentation on SEA. SEA is located in Woods Hole, MA and operates two vessels, the 125 ft R/V WESTWARD and the 135 ft R/V CORWITH CRAMER. These sailing vessels are ABS classed and USCG inspected. Both ships are outfitted with Markey winches. Replacement of R/V WESTWARD is slated for eight years from now when the ship will be 44 years old. Plans have begun for replacement.

Their primary program involves undergraduate education. As part of this program during their cruises they undertake biological and physical oceanography.
Antarctic Support Associates (ASA)

David McWilliams, Manager of Marine Science at ASA, gave a presentation. R/V NATHANIEL PALMER and R/V POLAR DUKE are both being operated on a time charter. R/V POLAR DUKE, which has been supporting U.S. Antarctic operations, has been mandated for replacement by Congress with a U.S. crewed and U.S. flagged vessel. The replacement vessel will be new construction. The vessel will be named the R/V LAWRENCE MCKINLEY GOULD after an Antarctic researcher. The ship's mission will involve science and re-supply of Palmer Station. It will have ABS A-1 ice class. The vessel is to have 75 days endurance, 12,000 miles at 12 knots. R/V GOULD is projected to be operational in the summer of '97. The ship's specifications are contained in Appendix IX.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

David West provided an update on R/V URACCO (ex-MORNING WATCH). The vessel operated 110 days this past year performing diving cruises and bottom work. A new Dynacon winch and A-frame are slated for the URACCO.
Introduction to Research Vessel Home Pages on the World Wide Web

Robert Hinton gave a presentation on how the home page on the World Wide Web can be used. Robert demonstrated using R/V THOMPSON's home page. This demonstration included use of the system to assist in ship's scheduling, cruise planning, reports, and dissemination of other information such as Chapter 1 of the RVOC Safety Training Manual.

Jack Bash emphasized the fact that in the future all ship time will be electronically posted.

Rose Dufour demonstrated the Scripps home page.

Tour of Nimitz Marine Facility and R/V SPROUL

Workshops

Four workshops were scheduled to run the remainder of the afternoon. These workshops were:

White paper on the benefits of the university operated research fleet.
Post Cruise evaluations of research vessels. Revision of Chief Scientist's report and Captain's report.
Physical standards and examinations for crew members. Development of standard physical requirements for sea-going job descriptions.
Crew training programs and reviving the use of safety training manual including better dissemination of Research Vessel Safety Standards including Chapter 1 of this manual to scientists.

Visit to SWATH Ocean Systems Inc. and MBARI's R/V WESTERN FLYER

Thursday, 26 October 1995
Kona Kai Resort

Report on ISO/ISM Standards by ABS

Bill Young of ABS Marine Services gave a presentation on ISO/ISM standards.

ISO 9000 are international quality standards with the ISO 9002 being the standard most frequently applied to marine management and ship operations. This standard focuses on quality assurance. Bill then provided an overview of the certification process.

The ISM Code is an International Safety Management Code which focuses on safety and pollution prevention. The ISM was adopted by IMO and will be included as the new Chapter 9 in SOLAS. An implementation date of 1 July 1998 has been set for all passenger ships, tankers, bulk carriers, and high speed craft, both cargo and passenger of 500 gross tons and over. An implementation date of 1 July 2002 has been set for all other cargo ships 500 gross tons and over. The objective of this code is to ensure safety at sea, prevention of injury/loss of life, and avoiding damage to the environment.

While the talk focused on two standards, if your system is implemented complying with ISO 9002, it should then also be ISM Code compliant.
Wrap Up of Workshops and Other Unfinished Business
White Paper - Benefits Of The University Operated Research Fleet

Paul Ljunggren reported on this workshop. The workshop centered around an outline provided by Paul, which is contained in the Appendix X.

The focus of this work shop was to identify the benefits of a university operated fleet. The discussion can be summarized by the saying that: the UNOLS fleet is a unique national resource whose great strength lies in the scientists, technicians and operators who work as an integrated team toward the successful conclusion of each scientific mission cruise. The group is seeking to build on this central premise.

Assignments for various portions of this paper were made with a target date of three weeks set for the assigned portions.

The intent is to submit this paper to the UNOLS Council in February. Prior to that a draft of this paper will be forwarded to RVOC members for comment.
Post Cruise Evaluations Of Research Vessels

Mike Prince reported on this workshop. A more descriptive summary of the discussion is contained in the Appendix XI. The key points discussed by the group were as follows:

The Chief Scientists Post Cruise Evaluation started with the concept that we were going continue with a summary report to analyze performance of the fleet as a whole. And if this was going to be compiled and published then we needed to try to have a form reflecting a customer satisfaction survey and do it in a method which would allow it to be summarized more easily. During the course of discussions the focus and purpose of the report changed. It was decided that this type of summary report was not required and it would be better to have a post cruise form providing information that could be used by the operator. The group tried to keep it simple and provided one question to serve as an example of the types questions which needed to be asked. This question was: What would you change about this vessel to make it better suit your needs before you came back to use it again?

The group intends to pursue their ideas in developing the form. They believe these reports should be closer to mandatory. To permit feedback by the Marine Office the reports would be submitted via the Marine Office so the Marine Manager can respond. The Marine Manager would get all reports, Chief Scientists, Captains, Technicians, and they would be similar in terms of the types of questions being answered.

Any use of this report beyond the Marine Manager would be done in not just a quick summary, but a real qualitative summary that could be used by anyone needing that information.

The work group will continue the development of this form for submission to the UNOLS Council.
Safety and Crew Training Programs

Joe Coburn reported for this work group. A summary of the group's discussion is contained in Appendix XII. The key points of the discussion were:

The first area related to the use of RVOC Safety Standards and Safety Training Manual. An effort has to be made to heighten awareness of safety standards and training. The group felt that a safety video, of limited content but applicable to all research vessels, should be made.

The second area discussed related to accident reporting. They felt the accident statistics for the research vessels needed to be maintained and an accident report submitted to UNOLS. The possibility of posting lessons learned from accidents was discussed. Finally, quarterly accident reporting definitions needed to be clarified with definitions being generated for what data was required.
Physical Standards And Examinations For Crew Members

The summary of this workshops discussion was reported by Bill Coste. A summary of the discussion is contained in the Appendix XIII. The three areas discussed by this group were:

First, using job descriptions/physical standards provided by WHOI, SCRIPPS, LDEO, and Bedford Institute they sought to develop a physical standard that could be applied to all the people we wish to hire and all those we currently employ.

The second area of discussion involved development of a standard medical history form which could be useful in identifying pre-existing conditions and prescribing remedies to illness when the ship was underway.

Last area of discussions related to the frequency of physicals for employees.
Business Meeting

Members were reminded that at next year's RVOC meeting terms for the current Chairman and Vice Chairman of RVOC will expire and an election will be held.

It was confirmed that the 1996 meeting will be hosted at Florida Institute of Oceanography/University of South Florida. It was moved and seconded that the dates for the 1996 meeting would be 22, 23, 24 October. A vote was taken and the motion was passed. There was one vote in opposition.

The location for the 1997 RVOC was voted on and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute was chosen to host the meeting.

No new assignments were required for committees, panels, or work groups.

It was recommended that a crew salary study be undertaken in the next year. Bill Coste and Paul Ljunggren will be working on this project.
Round Table Discussion

The Marine Superintendents or their equivalents from member and guest organizations met to discuss issues of mutual concern. A summary of the topics discussed follows:
- Charging for E-mail and other communications services
- Alcoholic beverages/drug policies and practices on ships.
- GPS P-Code receivers
- Overtime Policies
- RVOC Communications Guide
- Rules for containers as labs and living accommodations
- Multi-beam
- Salaries
- Crew rotation
- Sexual harassment
- Equipment purchases.

Adjournment

The RVOC expressed its thanks to Tom Althouse and his staff, to Dr. Robert Knox, and to Scripps Institution of Oceanography for hosting this year's meeting.