[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 22, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51051-51052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-21259]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG 2000-7693]


Guidelines for Assessing Merchant Mariners Through Demonstrations 
of Proficiency as Officers in Charge of Navigational Watches on Ships 
of 500 Gross Tonnage or More as Measured Under the International 
Tonnage Convention (ITC)

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of, and seeks 
public comments on, the national performance measures proposed here for 
use as guidelines when mariners demonstrate their proficiency as 
Officers in Charge of Navigational Watches on ships of 500 gross 
tonnage ITC or more. A working group of the Merchant Marine Personnel 
Advisory Committee (MERPAC) developed and recommended national 
performance measures for this proficiency. The Coast Guard has adapted 
the measures recommended by MERPAC.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before October 23, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Please identify your comments and related material by the 
docket number of this rulemaking [USCG 2000-7693]. Then, to make sure 
they enter the docket just once, submit them by just one of the 
following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001.
    (2) By delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
Notice. Comments and related material received from the public, as well 
as documents mentioned in this Notice, will become part of this docket 
and will be available for inspection or copying at room PL-401 on the 
Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, 
DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays. You may also find this docket on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The measures proposed here are also available from Mr. Mark Gould 
or Mr. Gerald Miante, Maritime Personnel Qualifications Division, 
Office of Operating and Environmental Standards, Commandant (G-MSO-1), 
U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, telephone 202-267-0229.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this Notice or on the 
national performance measures proposed here, write or call Mr. Gould or 
Mr. Miante where indicated under ADDRESSES. For questions on viewing or 
submitting material to the docket, call Ms. Dorothy Beard, Chief, 
Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-9329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

What Action is the Coast Guard Taking?

    Table A-II/1 of the Code accompanying the International Convention 
on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers 
(STCW), 1978, as amended in 1995, articulates qualifications for 
ensuring merchant mariners' attaining the minimum standard of 
competence through demonstrations of their proficiency as Officers in 
Charge of Navigational Watches on ships of 500 gross tonnage ITC or 
more. The Coast Guard tasked MERPAC with referring to the Table, 
modifying and specifying it as it deemed necessary, and recommending 
national performance measures. The Coast Guard has adapted the measures 
recommended by MERPAC and is proposing them here for use as guidelines 
for assessing that proficiency. Next we set forth the Five Skills by 
which a mariner must demonstrate that proficiency and we give an 
example of a Performance Condition, a Performance Behavior, and three 
Performance Standards for one of the skills.
    Five Skills: Plan and conduct a passage and determine position; 
Maintain a safe navigational watch; Use radar and ARPA to maintain the 
safety of navigation; Transmit and receive information by visual 
signaling; and Maneuver the ship.
    The Performance Condition for the skill entitled, ``Plan and 
conduct a passage and determine position'' is: On a ship or in a 
navigational laboratory, given notices to mariners and uncorrected 
charts and publications.
    The Performance Behavior for the same skill is: The candidate will 
correct five charts and three publications, including the Light List or 
the List of Lights.
    The Performance Standards for the same skill are: Charts and 
publications needing correction are identified; Corrections are 
correctly made to the affected charts and publications; and All 
corrections to charts are recorded on the chart, and in the chart-
correction record or on the chart-correction spreadsheet, and all 
corrections to publications are recorded on the correction page of the 
publication and on either the publication-correction card or the 
publication-correction spreadsheet.
    If the mariner properly meets all of the Performance Standards, he 
or she passes the practical demonstration. If he or she fails to 
properly carry out any of the Performance Standards, he or she fails 
it.

Why Is the Coast Guard Taking This Action?

    The Coast Guard is taking this action to comply with STCW, as 
amended in 1995 and incorporated into domestic law at 46 CFR Parts 10, 
12, and 15 in 1997. Guidance from the International Maritime 
Organization on shipboard assessments of proficiency suggests that 
Parties develop standards and measures of performance for practical 
tests as part of their programs for training and assessing seafarers.

How May I Participate in This Action?

    You may participate in this action by submitting comments and 
related material on the national performance measures proposed here. 
(Although the Coast Guard does not seek public comment on the measures 
recommended by MERPAC, as distinct from the measures proposed here, 
those measures are available on the Internet at

[[Page 51052]]

the Homepage of MERPAC, http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/advisory/merpac/merpac.htm.) These measures are available on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov. They are also available from Mr. Gould or Mr. Miante where 
indicated under ADDRESSES. If you submit written comments please 
include--
     Your name and address;
     The docket number for this Notice [USCG 2000-7693];
     The specific section of the performance measures to which 
each comment applies; and
     The reason for each comment.
    You may mail, deliver, fax, or electronically submit your comments 
and related material to the Docket Management Facility, using an 
address or fax number listed in ADDRESSES. Please do not submit the 
same comment or material more than once. If you mail or deliver your 
comments and material, they must be on 8\1/2\-by-11-inch paper, and the 
quality of the copy should be clear enough for copying and scanning. If 
you mail your comments and material and would like to know whether the 
Docket Management Facility received them, please enclose a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard or envelope. The Coast Guard will consider all 
comments and material received during the 60-day comment period.
    Once we have considered all comments and related material, we will 
publish a final version of the national performance measures for use as 
guidelines by the general public. Individuals and institutions 
assessing the competence of mariners may refine the final version of 
these measures and develop innovative alternatives. If you vary from 
the final version of these measures, however, you must submit your 
alternative to the National Maritime Center for approval by the Coast 
Guard under 46 CFR 10.303(e) before you use it as part of an approved 
course or training program.

    Dated: July 27, 2000.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 00-21259 Filed 8-21-00; 8:45 am]
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