(Washington, DC, February 16, 2006) — Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen was told by U.S. Coast Guard officials today that they will temporarily move their fingerprinting operation to St. Thomas in light of the new requirement that boat captains must appear in person to obtain licenses and certificates of registry. The closest Coast Guard Regional Exam Center (REC), where V.I. captains could go to be fingerprinted for a criminal background check is located in Miami. Christensen requested a meeting with Captain Ernest Fink, Commanding Officer of the National Maritime Center, who attended today’s meeting along with Commander William Milne and Sara Moser of the Coast Guard’s Government and Congressional Affairs Office. 

“I am pleased to report that even before I was able to express the concerns of the boating community about this regulation, I was informed that officials of the Regional Exam Center were in the process of making arrangements to have the equipment and staff necessary to conduct the entire license renewal process transported to St. Thomas to accommodate those captains in the territory who need to renew their license,” Christensen said.  “This will be an interim step until the process is centralized in the near future and a determination is made on whether processing needs to be done in San Juan or in the Virgin Islands depending on demand. I would like to thank the Coast Guard for their prompt response to our concerns,” Christensen said. Delegate Christensen strongly urges all concerned to submit comments to the Coast Guard so that they can take into account the impact of the rules on the territory before they become final.  This interim rule took effect January 13, 2006 for applications received by the Coast Guard on or after that date. Comments and related to the rule must reach the Coast Guard Docket Management Facility on or before April 13, 2006.

On a related matter, Delegate Christensen took the opportunity of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s appearance before the House Committee this morning to question the efficiency of the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) with regards to the territory’s charteryacht industry.  Christensen asked Chertoff if he thought that APIS regulations that require all vessels to transmit a passenger and crew manifest to U.S. Customs and Border Protection prior to arrival at a U.S. port were meant to apply to charter boats that were rented for only a few hours a day for passage between the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.  She asked him if he would be willing to support an exemption for the Virgin Islands in this instance.  Secretary Chertoff promised to report back to her on the issue.