Media Advisory: Coast Guard Cutter Maple patrols Oregon coast

ASTORIA, Ore. – The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Maple, a 225-foot Juniper-Class buoy tender homeported in Sitka, Alaska, have spent the last three weeks along the West Coast repairing and replacing buoys vital to safe navigation and the flow of commerce.

Maple is now near the Oregon coast in the area normally patrolled by the Coast Guard Cutter Fir, homeported in Astoria, Ore.

The Fir is currently in the Gulf of Mexico and scheduled to return home in the next few months. Until then, the Maple’s crew is busy maintaining buoys near many of Oregon’s coastal communities.

“We are more than happy to backup our fellow buoy tenders wherever we are needed," said Lt. Cmdr. Dan Gray, commanding officer of the Maple. “These buoys serve the mariners, their livelihoods and allow the safe movement of goods across the nation. As global commerce grows the largest volume of goods still moves across the sea, which is why we need reliable buoys and beacons.”

In addition, Maple’s crew spent several days more than 600 miles offshore servicing scientific and weather data buoys with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Commissioned Oct. 19, 2001, Cutter Maple is operated by seven officers and a crew of 46 men and women. To find out more information about Coast Guard Cutter Maple visit, http://www.uscg.mil/d17/cgcmaple/.

For more information or to interview a member on the Maple, contact Lt. Colin Bronson at (907) 966-5470.

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