December 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 21. U. S. NAVY NEWS Continued from Page 8.


push to develop capabilities and concepts that make us more agile and resilient.” In July, it was announced the Navy led the government category in an annual ranking of patent portfolios published by the Intellectual Property Owners Association. This was the 16th consecutive year that the service ranked fi rst among U.S. government agencies.


The Navy also surpassed government agencies around the world for the size and quality of its collection of patents in IEEE Spectrum Magazine’s 2014 Patent Power Scorecard, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Warren Duffi e is a contractor for ONR Corporate Strategic Communications.


Navy Releases Defi nitive History of Naval Aviation Online


By Jim Caiella, Naval History and Her- itage Command, Communication and Outreach Division


WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy re- leased online Nov. 4, its recently-published, two-volume history of U.S. naval aviation. United States Naval Aviation 1910- 2010 by Mark L. Evans and Roy A. Gross- nick (2015, ISBN 978-0-945274-87-2, hardback, two volumes) is the Naval History and Heritage Command’s fourth update to the original history which was initiated in 1960. That fi rst issue celebrated the fi rst 50 years of United States naval aviation and this two-volume set commemorates the centenary.


Previous editions have proved an in-


valuable fi rst-stop research tool to aviation, naval and military historians. This latest update breaks U.S. naval aviation history into two volumes: Chronology and Statis- tics. Both have greatly increased content over the previous version beyond simply including years not previously covered. New and expanded research makes these the defi nitive volumes on U.S. naval aviation’s fi rst century.


This and other free Naval History and Heritage Command publications can be found at www.history.navy.mil/research/ publications/recent-publications.html. Hard bound copies of the book are available from the Government Publishing Offi ce website, https://bookstore.gpo.gov/ products/sku/008-046-00297-5


Mark L. Evans is a Navy veteran and historian who researches and writes the histories of the Dictionary of American


Naval Fighting Ships for the Naval History and Heritage Command. His professional writing also includes several books: The Most Illustrious Name The USS Enterprise (CVN-65); Volume I of United States Naval Aviation 1910-2010 (with Roy A. Gross- nick); and Great World War II Battles in the Arctic; as well as numerous papers and articles. He resides in Virginia. Roy A. Grossnick, former head of


the Naval Aviation History Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, is a Navy veteran and holds degrees from the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, Stevens Point and Madison. He is a recipient of the Arthur W. Radford Award for Excellence in Naval Aviation History and Literature for creating the Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons series and authoring the fi rst volume in 1995. Mr. Grossnick worked on the third edition of United States Naval Aviation, 1910-1980, and was the guiding author for the 1910-1995 update. After his retirement in 2008, he continued to work for the command as a historian/archivist consul- tant and is responsible for researching and updating Volume II, the statistics for United States Naval Aviation, 1910-2010.


Navy Lays Keel of Future LCS Billings From Program Executive Offi ce Littoral Combat Ships Public Affairs


MARINETTE, Wis. (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy held a keel laying ceremony for the future USS Billings (LCS 15) at Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard, Nov. 2. Mrs. Sharla Tester, Billings’ sponsor and wife of Sen. Jon Tester, authenticated the ship’s keel. As the ship’s sponsor, Tester serves as an advocate and honorary member of the crew.


The littoral combat ship class consists of the Freedom variant and Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin (for the odd-numbered hulls). LCS 15 is the eighth Freedom-variant and will be approximately 388 feet in length and have a width of nearly 58 feet. The Independence variant team is led


by Austal USA (for LCS 6 and follow-on even-numbered hulls).


Both variants are being purchased under an innovative block-buy acquisition strategy. There are currently 12 LCSs under construction.


LCS is a modular, reconfi gurable ship with three types of mission packages includ- ing surface warfare, mine countermeasures, and anti-submarine warfare. The Program


GAMAGE SHIPYARD Continued from Page 7.


build side as a systems tech. I ended up being a lead on the boats and after about a year of doing that I ended up being the system side oversight on the new builds in general. I would have a lead mechanic on each boat and I would just keep an eye on what was going in the big part of the design process. After Lyman-Morse changed management, I left and went back to designing electrical systems for local builders. Then JB started Front Street Shipyard and we hooked up pretty quick, I was employee number two. There I was tasked with building the system side of the company. So I was there four years until I got the opportunity to come here. The irony of this place is that when I fi rst came to Maine in about ‘85, to buy a boat, the boat I bought was sitting right under the oak over there. So this is the fi rst yard I ever encountered when I came to Maine. “It is kind of a convoluted story,” said


Mike, “but the farming has served me well. My father and grandfather on my mother’s side were plumbers and there was a family plumbing business which I was technically supposed to be part of, but I just didn’t want anything to do with plumbing. But that said I grew up with a father who I helped many a weekends on plumbing projects, so plumb- ing kind of rubbed off. As a farmer you have to fi x everything on the fl y and that kind of rubbed off. Woodworking I am self-taught but it is probably the one thing I have loved the most over the years. So it all just kind of culminated to here we are. Boats are a great place to exercise a wide range of skills. You are not limited to just one thing. The Gamage Shipyard has been moving slowly in a positive direction, but with Mike as general manager it just got a big shove forward. With new upgrades, new fi nger piers, a renovated offi ce space, several new storage customers, and a number of great winter projects, the future looks very good.


Executive Offi ce Littoral Combat Ships is responsible for delivering and sustaining littoral mission capabilities to the fl eet. Delivering high-quality warfi ghting assets while balancing affordability and capabilit,y is key to supporting the nation’s maritime strategy.


Navy Divers Survey Historic WWII in Sunda Strait


From Task Force 73 Public Affairs


BAY OF BANTEN, Indonesia (NNS) -- U.S. Navy divers, assisted by personnel from the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL), sur- veyed the World War II wreck of the cruiser USS Houston (CA 30), Oct 16-24. The nine-day operation was held aboard USNS Safeguard (T-ARS 50) with embarked divers from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 11, Mobile Diving and Salvage Team Seven (MDS 11-7). The pur- pose of the diving survey was to assess the current condition of the vessel and document any patterns of unauthorized disturbance of the grave site.


Houston was sunk during the World


War II Battle of Sunda Strait on Feb. 28, 1942. The ship remains sovereign property of the U.S. under customary international law, and is a popular dive site.


The survey mission concluded Oct 24. Divers found no evidence of recent salvag- ing. The ship’s condition remains relatively unchanged since the previous survey oper- ations in 2014. Sailors from Safeguard and Navy divers completed the current phase of survey operations with a wreath-laying ceremony in waters near the wreck of USS Houston.


The Naval History and Heritage Com- mand (NHHC), located in Washington D.C., is responsible for the preservation, analysis and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage.


It provides the knowledge foundation for the Navy by maintaining historically rel- evant resources and products that refl ect the Navy’s unique and enduring contributions through the nation’s history, and supports the Fleet by assisting with and delivering pro- fessional research, analysis and interpretive services.


MISC. COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS Continued from Page 13.


org/species/atlantic-striped-bass.


AMERICAN EEL MANAGEMENT BOARD (NOVEMBER 3, 2015) The American Eel Management Board


met to review and approve Maine’s Life Cycle Survey design and Addendum IV im- plementation plans that detail how states and jurisdictions plan to monitor and manage a state-by-state yellow eel quota if triggered. The Board also accepted the 2014 and 2015 FMP


Reviews, as well as a deadline waiver


request for an Aquaculture Plan from the State of North Carolina. The Technical Committee presented its


acceptance of Maine’s Life Cycle Survey to the Board noting it will review the survey design after the fi rst year of implementation to address any challenges that occur through the fi rst fi eld season. The Technical Com- mittee (TC) notes the sampling framework was approved specifi cally for the Cobbo- seecontee Stream drainage in Maine, and future life cycle survey designs for other river systems will need to be reviewed and approved by the TC separately. The Board also approved Addendum IV implementation plans for the potential im- plementation of yellow eel state quotas. In- cluded in the Board’s approval was the TC’s recommendation to use harvester reporting to monitor the quota as well as requiring the states to submit preliminary landings data for the previous fi shing year by March 1 so the quota triggers can be evaluated by the Board at its May meeting. The Board approved the 2014 and 2015


FMP Reviews and approved de minimis status for New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, and Georgia yellow eel fi sheries. The only notable compliance issue was Delaware’s non-compliance for failing to not implement management measures contained in Addendum III (the Commis- sion had found the state out of compliance in August 2015). A moratorium will occur in Delaware state waters on March 18, 2016 unless the Commission fi nds that Delaware has implemented the necessary measures to come back into compliance with Addendum III.


In the Board’s fi nal action, it approved a deadline waiver request from the State of


North Carolina allowing the state to submit an Aquaculture Plan by December 1. This plan will be reviewed by the Law Enforce- ment Committee and TC and submitted to the Board for its consideration at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in February 2016. For more information please contact Mike Waine, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mwaine@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.


ATLANTIC MENHADEN MANAGE- MENT BOARD (NOVEMBER 3, 2015) The Atlantic Menhaden Management


Board met to discuss progress on the de- velopment of Draft Amendment, including committee recommendations on ecosystem reference points (ERPs), revisiting alloca- tion, and upcoming socioeconomic analysis of the menhaden fishery. The Amendment will consider both ERPs and revisit allo- cation. As the fi rst step in the amendment process, a public information document will be developed to scope both allocation options, and available ERPs in early 2017, followed by a Draft Amendment document in mid-2017 for potential implementation of fi nal measures in 2018. The reason for the extended timeframe


is to provide the opportunity to conduct a socioeconomic analysis to further charac- terize the Atlantic menhaden fi shery. The socioeconomic analysis will be conducted through a request for proposals with the goal of providing much needed informa- tion on the importance of menhaden to its stakeholders to help inform allocation dis- cussions. The socioeconomic analysis will be conducted throughout 2016, and will rely on stakeholder engagement to obtain socio- economic data to conduct the analysis. Simultaneously, the Biological Eco-


logical Reference Point Working Group will continue to work on the development of ERPs through multi-species modeling approaches. Although the development of ERPs by the Working Group are not anticipated until 2019-2020, the Board will consider any available ERPs in 2017 when moving forward with Amendment 3. In its fi nal action, the Board extended


a provision to allow cast net fi sheries to be managed under the bycatch allowance pro- vision of Amendment 2 for 2016. For more information, please contact Mike Waine, Se- nior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mwaine@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.


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