• Conduct 109 search and rescue cases
• Save 10 lives assist 192 people in distress
• Protect $2,791,841 in property
• Launch 396 small boat missions
• Launch 164 aircraft missions, logging 324 hours
• Board 144 vessels
• Seize 169 pounds of marijuana and 306 pounds of cocaine worth $9,589,000
• Intercept 14 illegal migrants
• Board 100 large vessels for port safety checks
• Respond to 20 oil or hazardous chemical spills totaling 2,800 gallons
• Service 135 aids to navigation

Below are a few examples of Coast Guard missions:

Cutter Spencer Returns From Patrol

U.S. Coast Guard | September 20, 2006

Boston, MA. - Boston based Coast Guard Cutter crew returning to homeport after successful anti-narcotics patrol.

CGC SPENCER (WMEC 905) returned home to family and friends after seven weeks of a law enforcement patrol in the Caribbean Sea. Their patrol efforts resulted in a seizure of 550 pounds of cocaine worth 6.4 million dollars.

The crew also successfully completed the Coast Guard's Shipboard Helicopter Training Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The crew was commended on their exemplary performance and their proficiency in conducting helicopter operations.

In recognition of their response to last year's Hurricane Katrina relief operations in New Orleans, the SPENCER received a Unit Commendation Award for their actions as first responders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

SPENCER returned to it's homeport of Boston, Mass. on Sunday.

Cutter To Return Home After Deployment To Southeast Asia

U.S. Coast Guard | September 20, 2006

Coast Guard Island, Alameda, CA. - Coast Guard cutter Sherman, a 378-foot high-endurance cutter, will return home here Sunday after completing a 25,000 mile five month deployment to Southeast Asia.

Sherman's crew participated in the 12th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise 2006. CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and naval services of six Southeast Asian countries: Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. CARAT is designed to foster cooperation between naval forces and mutually beneficial skills.

Some historic first accomplishments by Sherman's crew during CARAT 2006 included:

The first U.S. Coast Guard combined operations with the newly created Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency, which is modeled after the U.S. Coast Guard.

The first landings of an Indonesian and Philippine helicopter on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

The first towing and small boat exercises with the Royal Thai Navy/Coast Guard.

The first underway experience for four women officers from the Philippine Coast Guard.

Sherman's crew also engaged in various community outreach activities with the CARAT host nations including the examinations of more than 700 patients as part of the Medical and Dental Civic Action Program. Crew members also rebuilt schools, clinics and handed out sports equipment as part of a community relations project held at schools and orphanages in each country.

While transiting home from their CARAT deployment, Sherman's crew was diverted to assist with the Wake Island assessment mission in the aftermath of Super Typhon IOKE. Sherman crew members and Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team members from Novato, Calif., were the first to respond after Category 5 Super Typhon IOKE ravaged Wake Island. They quickly determined the extent of the damage to the fuel tanks and the mile-long landing strip on the island.

Sherman is one of four high endurance cutters based here. It's primary mission is to enforce laws and treaties and conduct search and rescue throughout the Pacific. Sherman has a crew of 20 officers and 145 crew members.

Fishing Vessel Illegally Fishing In U.S. Waters Seized

U.S. Coast Guard | September 20, 2006

Honolulu, H.I. - The U.S. Coast Guard Saturday seized a foreign fishing vessel for illegally fishing inside the 200 mile U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at Howland/Baker Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about 1,700 miles southwest of Honolulu. The Coast Guard Cutter Walnut is currently escorting the fishing vessel Marshalls 201 toward Guam for further action.

A Coast Guard C-130 airplane and crew were on patrol in the Howland/Baker EEZ Saturday when the crew spotted a purse seiner with nets in the water and crew aboard two workboats about two miles inside the EEZ. The aircrew maintained visual contact with the 210-foot Marshalls 201 as the fishing vessel's crew retrieved the nets and workboats.

The 225-foot buoy tender Walnut and crew were diverted to the Marshalls 201 position and also observed the vessel actively fishing. A Coast Guard boarding team conducted an at-sea law enforcement boarding of the fishing vessel and collected evidence of the Marshalls 201's activities. Subsequently, the Coast Guard received permission to seize the catch and vessel for illegally fishing inside the U.S. EEZ. The Marshalls 201 is carrying an estimated 500 metric tons of skipjack tuna valued at about $350,000.

The Walnut's crew will continue to escort the Marshalls 201 with its 36-person crew toward Guam. The Coast Guard Cutter Sequoia and crew, out of Apra Harbor, Guam, will rendezvous with the Walnut and Marshalls 201 to continue the escort. The vessels are expected to transit for several days before arriving in Guam.

An agent with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was aboard the Coast Guard C-130 airplane when the crew initially sited the Marshalls 201 inside the EEZ. The agent was with the aircrew to provide fisheries knowledge. A second NMFS agent is currently aboard the Cutter Sequoia will continue the joint investigation into the Marshalls 201's fishing activity.

Jurisdiction for this case is set forth in the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act, which establishes the U.S. Attorney in Guam as the lead authority for prosecution. Possible penalties include forfeiture of the catch and the proceeds from the sale of the catch, forfeiture of the vessel, additional fines and possible confinement for the master.

The master is a Taiwanese citizen, and the crew is made up of Micronesian and People's Republic of China citizens. The Marshalls 201 is a Republic of Marshall Islands-flagged vessel owned by the Marshall Islands Fishing Company.

USCG Patrol Boat Baranof Rejoins CTF 158

Navy News | PO1 David Hamilton | September 05, 2006

Mina Salman, Bahrain - Crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Boat Baranof (WPB 1318) got underway today, Sept. 1, to rejoin the Australian-led Combined Task Force 158 in the North Persian Gulf.

Homeported out of Miami, Baranof has been forward deployed to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet region for the past three years in support of maritime security operations (MSO).

"Our primary mission is to protect the oil platforms off the coast of Iraq," said Baranof's Commanding Officer, Lt. Kate Higgins, a native of Washington, D.C. "They're completely vital to the economic recovery of Iraq.

Baranof is one of several Coast Guard patrol boats assigned to Patrol Forces South West Asia (PATFORSWA). PATFORSWA's mission is to train, equip, deploy and support maritime forces conducting operations in support of MSO, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in the Naval Forces Central Command's area of responsibility.

"Our job is to establish normalcy into the region by performing Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations each day and patrolling the waters," said Higgins. "MSO allows the merchants and fishermen to pursue their livelihood."

MSO help set the conditions for security and stability in the North Persian Gulf and protect Iraq's sea-based infrastructure, to help provide the Iraqi people the opportunity for self-determination.

Higgins said the key to the ship's ongoing success is the crew members' high morale.

"Our morale and skill sets have allowed us to have a huge impact on MSO in the AOO [area of operations]," she said. "It has allowed us to perform our job at a moment's notice."

The importance of keeping spirits high is felt among the crew, as well. Coast Guard seaman Joseph Cuzynski, an engine mechanic aboard the patrol boat, has been in the Coast Guard for one year and already understands how morale affects the entire crew.

"It's important to encourage and pick each other up, whether performing maintenance on the engines, patrol boats, or conducting Khawr Abd Allah (KAA) river runs with Iraqi marines," said Cuzynski, a native of Alta Loma, Calif. "When it comes right down to it, we know we have to keep it calm, cool, and collected because we're in a war zone."

Higgins says she couldn't have handpicked a better team.

"The crew chose to come to this ship and this region," she said. "That says a lot about them as individuals. I'm blessed to have such a motivated crew."