U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman on Thursday introduced the Small Marine Business and Fishing Guide Relief Act, legislation that would exempt fishing guides, charter captains and other small boat operators from needing an additional Transportation Worker Identification Credential.
The bill was a cause for concern in the area as an unnecessary requirement for the charter industry.
The bill, coauthored by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, would protect Minnesota’s fishing guides against additional costs and processes from excessive government regulations. The only small boat captains required to have a TWIC would be those required to submit a vessel security plan to the U.S. Coast Guard.
“While the TWIC program is an important tool to ensure the safety of our nation’s ports, it places an unnecessary financial burden on Minnesota’s fishing guides and small boat operators,” said Coleman. “This an issue that was brought to my attention last summer when fishing guides from Rainy River and Lake of the Woods told me that it posed an additional burden on their ability to maintain their bottom line.
“These guides already go through a substantial background check and pay a minimum of $140 for their Coast Guard licenses,” he added. “Given these factors, it doesn’t make sense to ask them to pay an additional fee — especially with the recent downturn in the economy and the rising cost of gas.”
The TWIC’s are tamper-resistant biometric credentials for workers that require unescorted access to secure areas of ports, vessels, outer continental shelf facilities and credentialed merchant mariners for unescorted access into areas designated as secure in port areas.
TWIC was approved by Congress under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 and the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act. It is administered by the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard. The number of TWIC cardholders is expected to double to 750,000. They include dock workers, truckers and other shore personnel for access to secure areas.
Alan Elias, a Coleman staffer, said TWIC is aimed at large vessel captains in ports with security areas to use this authorization in addition to their valid Coast Guard licenses and certificates of registry. Under current law, any individual with a Coast Guard-issued license or document is required to also purchase a TWIC card by April 2009.
“The changes will say that if an operator of vessel is not required to submit a vessel security plan then they should not be required to have Transportation Worker Identification Credential,” said Elias, who hopes to see the legislation passed by the end of the year.
Rainy Lake fishing guide Mike “One Doggie” Lessard has held a U.S. Coast Guard captains license for the past 15 years. He has not been told to apply for the TWIC yet, but said that it would become an issue with him were he told to apply for one, along with his Coast Guard license renewal this September. Lessard said that he is pleased that the additional time and expense of an unnecessary TWIC process would be avoided with the legislation.
“Any time that we can eliminate some of that paperwork that is already covered with the Coast Guard license, then that would be great,” he said.
Lessard travels to Duluth to be re-fingerprinted with each license application, and it puzzles him that they need to update prints with each license renewal.
Steve Havluck, of Havvy’s charter service, also said he had not heard of the TWIC program yet. He has held a Coast Guard license since 2003. He said that license fees to carry up to six passenger, along with a $150 annual commercial use authorization for Voyageurs National Park, fuel and other operating expenses does not make for a very lucrative operation.
“I am just small, part time operator and I don’t see any reason to keep banging us to pay more of these fees and am not in favor of that,” he said. “I am lucky if I make 15 trips in a season, and I don’t take in that much income.”
An additional provision to the bill calls for a report to examine the feasibility of refunding or crediting small boat operators that unnecessarily purchased a five-year TWIC for $132.50 before the bill was signed into law.
“We need to make sure our local fishing guides and other small marine operators are not being subjected to excessive government regulation and this legislation will provide that relief,” said Coleman. “Common sense tells us that a fishing dock on Lake of the Woods, for example, is vastly different from a major commercial port receiving cargo containers.
“Recognizing that some folks who already purchased a TWIC may not need it once this legislation passes, my bill also asks the Department of Homeland Security to look at the feasibility of locating these mariners so a refund or credit could be provided down the road,” he added.
