Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke met with representatives from the Coast Guard, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and port partners on Yerba Buena Island in early October.
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke speaks with Ed Wernicke (right) and Eric Moore, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey team members aboard a NOAA survey vessel. The Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke met with representatives from the Coast Guard, NOAA and port partners on Yerba Buena Island. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Erik Swanson
The Port of Oakland is currently the fourth busiest container port in the United States, and VTS San Francisco is responsible for monitoring and coordinating those ship movements in an effort to prevent accidents and the associated loss of life and damage to property and the environment.
Coast Guard Sector San Francisco conducts a variety of missions including homeland security, search and rescue, law enforcement, boating safety, aids to navigation and marine environmental protection with a vast area of responsibility reaching into the San Joaquin Delta, out to Lake Tahoe, north to Bodega Bay and south to Monterey.
Federal maritime leaders in attendance for Locke’s visit included Capt. Cyndi Stowe, captain of the port and commander of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco; Sean Kelley, director of Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service San Francisco; Richard Edwing, director of NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services; and Gerry Wheaton, NOAA coast survey regional navigation manager.
Local, state and port partners in attendance include Heather Kerkering, coordinator of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System; Joan Lundstrom, mayor of Larkspur and chair of San Francisco Bay Region Harbor Safety Committee; Esam Amso, of Valero Marketing and Supply Company and member of the Harbor Safety Committee; Peter Stone, chief commercial officer of Ports America SVP; Captain Lynn Korwatch, director of the San Francisco Marine Exchange; and Alan Steinbrugge, project manager for PORTS representing the San Francisco Marine Exchange.
