The NRC panel’s overall conclusion is that this 
system of licensing and retraining can and should be 
improved. The panel found 15 factors that are either 
actual or potential causes of casualties or near-cas- 
ualties.°* They are: 
( 1) inattention, 
( 2) ambiguous pilot-master relationship, 
( 3) inefficient design of ships’ bridges, 
( 4) poor operational procedures, 
( 5) poor physical fitness, 
( 6) poor eyesight, 
( 7) excessive fatigue, 
( 8) excessive alcohol use, 
( 9) excessive personnel turnover, 
(10) high level of calculated risk, 
(11) inadequate lights and markers, 
(12) misuse of radar, 
(13) uncertain use of sound signals, 
(14) inadequacies of the rules of the road, and 
(15) an inadequate data base regarding marine 
casualties. 
The repert also makes recommendations on each 
factor. These include suggestions that the Coast 
Guard require periodic physical examinations, man- 
date new equipment to prevent collisions and acci- 
dents, and improve rules of the road. They also 
suggest that MarAd improve education, training, and 
retraining programs; develop a system for qualifying 
crew members by vessel type; study of job satisfac- 
tion, fatigue, and abuse of alcohol and drugs; estab- 
lish new standards regarding radar; and work with 
the Coast Guard to improve navigation aids and 
markers.°$ 
The maritime safety issue took on a new urgency 
during the winter of 1976-77, when the Argo Mer- 
chant and a number of other tankers were involved 
in major accidents off the U.S. coast. President Car- 
ter discussed these accidents in a March 18,-1977, 
statement announcing actions to reduce maritime 
oil pollution. This statement called for new crew 
standards and training, as well as stricter construc- 
tion and operating standards for tankers and stricter 
Coast Guard enforcement of such standards. Speci- 
fically, the President directed the Departments of 
Transportation and Commerce to review the draft 
agenda for Inter-Governmental Maritime Consulta- 
tive Organization’s 1978 Conference on Standards 
of Watchkeeping and Training and consider possi- 
ble additional requirements. Furthermore, the 
President directed Transportation to take immediate 
regulatory action to improve standards for U.S. 
crews, including requirements based on class and size 
of vessel and more emphasis in licensing examina- 
tions on demonstrating important skills, such as radar 
operation and interpretation. These requirements will 
apply to both issuance and renewal of licenses for 
shipmasters, mates, and federally-licensed pilots.” 
Both the Coast Guard and MarAd now are taking 
steps based on these orders. At the same time, the 
controversy over present Federal policy continues. 
Major Current Issues 
It is likely that some debate regarding both mari- 
time safety and the supply of maritime officers will 
continue. For despite recent actions dealing with these 
issues, some observers believe that the underlying 
problems have yet to be addressed fully. 
For the moment, the maritime academies and the 
maritime unions appear to be at peace on the 
question of who should supply merchant marine offi- 
cers and how they should be admitted to the unions. 
The reason, however, is that there appear to be 
enough jobs for everyone now, not that underlying 
questions about the roles of the academies and the 
unions have been resolved. If present officers con- 
tinue to retire in large numbers and employment op- 
portunities for new officers continue, as MarAd 
predicts, then the debate probably will simmer at a 
low level. However, if the job market becomes de- 
* Panel on Human Error in Merchant Marine Safety, op cit. 
note 50, pp. 7-11. 
pressed, it is likely that the old debates that plagued 
the maritime manpower community during the first 
part of the 1970s will reappear. It is also likely that 
both MarAd and others will continue to find it diffi- 
cult to resolve the problem, given the fragmented 
nature of the system that both trains and hires mari- 
time officers. 
Maritime safety will continue to be an issue. Of 
course, it involves questions of ship construction and 
maintenance as well as personnel, but these person- 
nel questions will be debated further because human 
error continues to be a major cause of marine acci- 
dents. In 1978 it is likely that the focus will shift 
from national policy to the international discussions 
at the meetings of the Inter-Governmental Maritime 
Consultative Organization (IMCO). 
“Tbid., pp. 15-18. 
See the President’s March 18, 1977, message to the Congress 
regarding actions to reduce maritime oil pollution, as weil as 
the accompanying “fact sheet.” 
VIII-22 
