SCI's Center for Seafarers' Rights publishes regular electronic bulletins, eCurrents, to ensure that those serving mariners (port chaplains, volunteers, and others) remain up-to-date on issues impacting mariners. Relying on reports from the field, CSR recommends steps individuals can take in their ports to protect seafarers’ rights.

The following are synopses of the most recent topics. To join CSR's eCurrents distribution list, email csr@seamenschurch.org

• Preliminary Guidelines: Post-Piracy Care for Seafarers
  
  In conjunction with first ever Post Piracy Trauma Assessment and Treatment study, SCI has prepared preliminary guidance for caring for seafarers affected by piracy. Our Preliminary Guidelines: Post-Piracy Care for Seafarers offers practical guidelines for the maritime industry, based on cutting-edge mental health research and ongoing discussions with shipowners, crewing agencies, representatives of governments, and other stakeholders in the industry. SCI recently introduced them at the United Nations Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and will submit them to the International Maritime Organization. The guidelines will be updated as appropriate based on experience gained through the clinical study and stakeholder responses. View the guidelines here.
  
  SCI needs your help documenting seafarers’ experiences of piracy, including attacks, hostage-taking, or simply sailing through high-risk piracy areas. If you encounter any seafarers who have experienced piracy, please ask them to contact Dr. Garfinkle, or, alternatively, get their permission and contact details for Dr. Garfinkle to contact them. SCI researchers strictly protect privacy. Dr. Garfinkle can be reached at +1 212 349 9090 ext. 240 or by email at mgarfinkle@seamenschurch.org




• Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010
  
  On October 26, 2009, the House of Representatives passed its version of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, H.R. 3619. The Bill, which must be reconciled with the version pending in the Senate (S. 1194), contains several interesting features, including a provision to protect merchant mariners from civil liability for their reasonable actions while protecting a vessel from acts of piracy.
   
  The Act also addresses the important issue of shore leave and access to terminals in two separate sections. Section 1115 would require each port facility security plan submitted to the Coast Guard to provide a system for seafarers, representatives of seafarer welfare organizations, and others to board and depart the vessel through the facility in a timely manner at no cost to the individual. Section 1113 calls for a study of the methods used to conduct background security investigations of persons holding ILO-185 biometric identification cards and compare them with those used for visa applicants. SCI has long promoted the ratification of ILO 185 and the use of seafarer identity documents as an alternative to a visa, and if passed, this study could help pave the way for US ratification.
   
  A final section impacting seafarers involves an amendment to the Seaman’s Wage Act. The change would limit the amount of penalty wages to ten times the unpaid wages in class action suits by seafarers on passenger vessels. The section also allows employers to make direct deposits of wages of seafarers working on passenger vessels to a accounts designated by the seafarers upon written request.
   
  The text of H.R. 3619 is available at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-3619
  




• SCI’s Multi-Year Piracy Trauma Study
  
  After the 2008 ICMA resolution last October calling for an examination of the effects of piracy on seafarers, SCI has taken the lead in creating a study in conjunction with the Disaster Psychiatry Outreach at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. The first of its kind in the maritime industry, the study explores the clinical assessment and treatment of piracy attack survivors.
  
  In August 2009, Douglas Stevenson traveled through the piracy zone to learn from the experiences of mariners who routinely sail through pirate-infested waters, using Twitter to chronicle his journey in real time. His observations from the trip contribute to SCI’s understanding of merchant mariners’ perspectives and needs, adding to the clinical study of piracy's effects on merchant mariners and their families. Click here for more information.

• Swine Flu and Shore Leave
  
  Last spring the rapid spread of H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) caused great concern within the shipping industry, leaving ship operators to struggle with how best to protect their mariners from contracting and spreading the virus. Unfortunately, some operators resorted to limiting or eliminating crewmembers’ shore leave in US ports.
  
  Although ship operators have an obligation to take reasonable measures to protect their crewmembers’ health and safety, restricting shore leave does little to prevent or control the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control recommend a few everyday health precautions to limit the spread of swine flu, such as covering the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing and washing hands often with soap and water.
  
  For more information on prevention and control of Swine Flu, please see
  http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
  http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

• Shore Leave Survey 2009
  Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) recently released the results from its eighth annual survey of seafarers’ shore leave detentions and restrictions on access through terminals in United States ports. During the week of 17-23 May 2009, seafarers’ centers in twenty U.S. ports participated, with twelve ports detailing instances of shore leave denial for seafarers.
  
  As in years past, the lack of a visa remained the primary reason seafarers did not have access to shore leave. Concerns about H1N1 virus also led to a substantial number of shore leave restriction instances. While many improvements had occurred with regard to terminal access, implementation of the TWIC program resulted in an adjustment period with attendant delays and limitations on seafarers’ shore leave. Restrictions imposed by the ship’s management, CBP detentions, terminal restrictions, and a few other miscellaneous factors comprised the remaining reasons for denials. Click here to read more.

• ICMA Resolution on Piracy
  
  With piracy on the rise, in October 2008 the International Christian Maritime Association adopted a resolution expressing port chaplains’ concerns regarding a lack of understanding of the effects of piracy attacks on merchant mariners and their families. The resolution asked for a study of the effects of piracy on seafarers, called upon the IMO and ILO to develop guidelines for shipowners on caring for seafarers after piracy incidents, urged the creation of a resource center for piracy survivors, and pledged ICMA members support in accomplishing the initiatives.
  
  The Seamen's Church Institute has continued its work to improve piracy trauma awareness through numerous presentations on piracy, distributing an information sheet on piracy that contains the text of the ICMA resolution, and by spearheading a petition drive that collected 737 signatures calling for more resources to care for those affected by piracy.

• Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC)
  
  After gradual implementation in ports across the U.S., on April 15, 2009, the Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) became a requirement for unescorted access to secure areas of marine terminals throughout the United States.
  
  CSR received numerous questions from chaplains regarding TWIC implementation in their ports, and offered guidance outlining standard TWIC security provisions. The TWIC program requires that anyone who wants unescorted access to a secure area of a marine terminal in the United States must have a TWIC, which includes many foreign seafarers. All U.S. merchant mariners must posses a TWIC. Anyone who does not have a TWIC but needs access to a secure area must be escorted by someone who has a TWIC. Holding a TWIC does not entitle entrance to a secure area, and procedures may vary from terminal to terminal. Federal regulations also require that anyone seeking to escort non-TWIC holders must undergo training. Additional information about the TWIC program on the Transportation Security Administration’s website at: http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/twic/index.shtm