LUBEC — The Select Board was joined by Harbormaster Ralph Dennison on Wednesday for further discussion of the Ocean Provider’s collision with the commercial pier in February.
Dennison told the board he filed an incident report during the latest Harbor Board meeting and that this report would be available to the public along with the board’s minutes.
Dennison said that footage of Cooke Aquaculture’s subcontractor docking the Ocean Provider at the commercial pier on the morning of Feb. 10 was captured by a security system that he uses on the wharf neighboring the commercial pier.
Dennison and his wife, Select Board Chairwoman Carol Dennison, use the wharf, along with a building and pier leased from the town, to operate their business Downeast Charter Boat Tours. Ralph Dennison said that his security system automatically deletes footage after 16 days, and that he had only saved relevant screenshots confirming the presence of the Ocean Provider at the pier the morning of the collision.
Selectman Mark Kelley questioned the wisdom of erasing the recording in case of liability issues down the road. Dennison responded that the footage only confirmed the presence of the Ocean Provider that morning and did not document the accident itself, in part due to the bright deck lights the Provider had on while docking.
He also explained that the accident occurred at high tide, when the damage to the pilings was hidden below the surface.
The Ocean Provider, a steel‑hulled vessel about 80 feet long and owned by Cooke Aquaculture Inc., serves the company’s fish farms on both sides of the border in Cobscook Bay.
The commercial pier has its own set of security cameras. They were purchased by the Harbor Board and partially installed, Dennison said, but they have not been hooked up or turned on.
According to Dennison, the installation of the cameras was disrupted by comprehensive repairs made to the pier in January and February and they were not operational at the time of the accident. “There’s two cameras down there that are ready to go,” Dennison said.
Members of the board expressed interest in installing security cameras at other points on Lubec’s waterfront, including the gangway behind the charter boat building.
Dennison explained to the Select Board that he did not believe Cooke Aquaculture violated U.S. Coast Guard regulations when it failed to immediately report the damage done to Lubec’s commercial pier.
Two weeks after the collision with the pier, Cooke issued a written apology to the Select Board, the Harbor Board, Harbormaster Dennison and Lubec residents for the damage caused by the collision.
Repairing the damage will cost $40,000, according to communication from Cooke’s Compliance Officer Jennifer Robinson, which Dennison said is below a $75,000 assessed damage threshold that would require a report.
The USCG Code of Federal Regulations do cite a $75,000 threshold, but only as criteria the Coast Guard uses to determine whether an incident requires an investigation, not whether a report must be filed.
According to the Coast Guard’s Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular No. 01-15, the Coast Guard requests that incidents — including unintended collisions with stationary objects — be reported to the Coast Guard “immediately,” once safety concerns have been addressed.
This lines up with some of the opinions expressed during public comment on Wednesday night. “I would think anyone should report any accident, no matter what dollar value, immediately to the Coast Guard,” said Harbor Board Member John Nielsen, who was in the audience. “There could be somebody dying, or there could be an oil spill.”
Audience member John Delaney argued that the Coast Guard’s investigation into the incident implied that Dennison might be wrong about the reporting requirements, and that there may have been some malfeasance on Cooke’s part in not reporting the accident promptly.
Dennison responded by claiming the USCG investigating officer had told him that the investigation had already been closed and suggested to him that some members of the Lubec community, in Dennison’s words, “really don’t like Cooke and have a dog in the fight because they don’t want Cooke to be here.”
Reached by phone, USCG Investigating Officer Joey Dore denied that the investigation into the Ocean Provider incident had been closed. He confirmed that he had spoken to Lubec’s harbormaster, Lubec residents, and Cooke Aquaculture employees, but said that he could not comment on those conversations since the comments are part of an ongoing investigation.
Dore said his mandate is to compel compliance with regulations, and that the investigation could result in a warning or civil penalties if wrongdoing is discovered.
