S.** T OF c »* ^TES 0* Single copies available from: National Marine Fisheries Service, Financial Services Division, F/M22, Washington, D.C. 20235 Introduction Title IV of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments of 1978 established the Fishermen's Contingency Fund (FCF) to compensate commercial fishermen for property or economic loss caused by oil and gas obstructions on the U.S. Outer Con- tinental Shelf (OCS). The FCF is funded by fees assessed oil and gas companies operating on the OCS. The program is administered by the Financial Services Division of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington, D.C. What can the Fishermen's Contin- gency Fund do for me? The Fund can pay you if your commerical fishing operations suffer a casualty because of energy obstructions on the Outer Continental Shelf. If you damage or lose your fishing equipment or vessel, the Fund can pay you for your property loss. If you lose fishing time, the Fund can pay you for your economic loss. What will the Fund pay me for Property Loss? If your fishing gear can be repaired, the Fund will pay you the repair cost. If your fishing gear must be replaced, the Fund will pay you the replacement cost. For fishing vessel loss or damage, the Fund will only pay the deductible on your vessel insurance. If, for example, you have $45,000 worth of damage to your vessel and your hull and machinery policy has a $5,000 deductible, the Fund will pay you $5,000. Your insurance company should pay you the other $40,000. What will the Fund pay me for Eco- nomic Loss? The Fund will pay you 50 percent of the gross income you lost as a result of the casualty. This covers gross income you otherwise would have earned from the date the casualty occurs to the date you reasonably should have been back fishing. • How do you Calculate what the Fund can pay for Lost Fishing Time? Determine the amount of lost fishing time. This begins on the day and time the damage was first discovered and ends on the day and time you should reasonably have been back fishing. Determine your average daily income based on the trip tickets for the three trips immediately before the trip on which the casualty occurred. Do this as follows: (1) Add the total days for each of the three trips. (2) Add the value of the catch for each of the three trips. (3) Divide the total trip value by the total trip days to get the average income per day. Multiply the days lost from fishing by the aver- age income per day. You get 50 percent of this amount as compensation for lost fishing time. Do I have to Calculate this myself? You should just so you'll have a good idea what you're owed for lost fishing time. But we'll check your calculations anyway. So, if you prefer, you can just include the necessary information in your claim and rely on us to do the calculation. Here's the information you must include in your claim to allow us to calculate lost fishing time: (1) Trip tickets for the last tf ree trips before the trip on which the casua :y occurred and for the trip after the casualty (2) The day and time each of these trips began and the day and time each of them ended. (3) The day and time you were first back fishing after the casualty. Will the Fund pay me for Anything Else? Yes. The Fund can also pay you for some other incidental costs. The fees of attorneys, account- ants, or other consultants in connection with a claim can be paid from the Fund. Any other consequential damages can also be paid if it can be demonstrated that they resulted from the casualty. Do I have to Prove that my Casualty was Caused by an Obstruction Re- lated to Energy Activities on the Outer Continental Shelf? Yes, you must prove this by a preponderance of the evidence if you didn't file a 15-day report. Preponderance of the evidence simply means something is more likely to be true than it is to be untrue. If you did file a 15-day report, however, you generally don't have to prove this because your casualty is presumed to have been caused by an obstruction related to energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. In addition to filing the 15-day report, you must also meet a few other conditions to quality for this presumption. These are: (1) You were commercially fishing at the time the casualty occurred. (2) You were, at the time the casualty occurred, within a 3-mile radius of any portion of a leased block, pipeline, easement, right of way, or other oil or gas production, explor- ation, or development activity on the Outer Continental Shelf. (3) There was no record of an obstruction at the casualty site on the most recent nautical charts or in the Notice to Mariners. This does not apply to casualties caused by pipelines, which will be paid whether or not they were charted or in the Notices. (4) There was no proper surface marker or lighted buoy at the casualty site. If you filed a 15-day report and if you meet the four conditions above, your casualty will be presumed to have been caused by energy activ- ities on the Outer Continental Shelf. If not, you'll have to prove that it was. What is a 15-Day Report? This is what you send to us in order to help qualify for the presumption that your casualty is eligible for payment from the Fund. You must send it to us no later than the 15th day after you first return to port from the trip when the casualty occurred. If it's later than this, you can't qualify for the presumption. The 15-day report must briefly contain the following information: (1) What kind of damage occurred. (2) Where the damage occurred. (3) When the damage occurred. (4) The name of the fishing vessel involved. (5) Your name, an address, and social security number or tax identification number. You can file a 15-day report by phone, in person, by telegram or by mail. These reports must be filed with the Financial Services Division, National Marine Fisheries Services, 3300 Whitehaven Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20235, (202) 634-4688. Our telex number is 467-856, (answerback is US-Com-FISH- Cl). If you file a 15-day report, we suggest you use our form to do so, but you don't have to. • Do I have to do anything else in order to get paid? Yes. You must file a claim. You must do this whether or not you filed a 15-day report. You must file your claim no later than 90 days from the date the casualty occurred. If you don't do this, you can't be paid. Remember, your claim must be filed no later than 90 days from the date the casualty occurred (not 90 days from the date you filed a 15-day report). • What has to be in this Claim? We suggest you use our claim form because it indicates all the required information, but you don't have to. Generally, all forms of claims must contain the fol- lowing information: (1) The exact location of the casualty in Loran C coordinates (or the next best locational device if you don't use Loran C). (2) How the casualty occurred (what happened) and what you think caused it. (3) How much damage there was (what got dam- aged or lost, what it cost to repair or replace, how much fishing time was lost, and how much gross income was lost). (4) Proof that you owned the property lost or damaged in the casualty. (5) Evidence that the casualty was caused by an obstruction related to energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. (You don't have to submit this evidence if you filed a 15-day report and meet the other four con- ditions required for the presumption). (6) The necessary documentation for your claim. This includes: (a) Witness statements, if you have any. (b) Receipts or other evidence that you owned the property lost or damaged. (c) Estimates or receipts for repair or replace- ment of the property lost or damaged. (d) Trip tickets to help establish how much gross income you lost. (We need trip tick- ets for the three trips before the casualty and the next trip after the casualty). • Can I Send an Incomplete Claim if all the Information Isn't Readily Avail- able? Yes. Don 't get too close to the 90-day deadline just because you don't have all the required information. In general, your claim should be as complete as possible when you send it. But, if some items are missing, send an incomplete claim. Whatever you do, get a claim (complete or incomplete) mailed to us before the 90th day following the date the casu- alty was discovered. If we get an incomplete claim, our claims adjustors will write you a letter telling you what's missing and asking you to send it within 30 days of their letter's date. If you don't send the additional information within the additional 30 days, your claim can 't be paid. So, you've got 90-days from the date you discov- ered the casualty to mail a claim. And you can have another 30 days from the date we notify you to send any required information which may not have been in your claim. Meeting these deadlines is essential. • Where do I Send A Claim? Send it to us. The address is: Chief, Financial Ser- vices Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, 3300 Whitehaven Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20235. • Can I Call Somebody if I Need Help? Yes. Call us anytime at (202) 634-4688 if you need help. • How Long Will it Take to Process my Claim? We'll process your claim within 60-days from the date all required information is received by us. • Can I Appeal Your Decision on my Claim? Yes. But you must appeal to us no later than 30 days from the date of our letter giving you an initial determination on your claim. If you appeal later than this, your appeal can't be considered. You have an additional 30-days from the date you appeal to submit any further evidence needed to support your appeal. We must process your appeal within 60 days from the date you submit it. • Outline the Critical Times Involved —Day No. 1. You first discover your casualty. — 15 days after first returning to port. This is the last day you can submit your 15-day report (but you should submit it earlier just to be safe). — 90-days after the casualty was first discovered. This is the last day you can submit your claim (but you should submit it earlier just to be safe). —30-days after the date of our letter notifying you that your claim is incomplete. This is the last day you can submit the additional information (but you should submit it earlier just to be safe). — 60-days after we have a complete claim. This is the last day we have to send you an initial deter- mination on your claim (but we'll try to do it earlier). — 30-days from the date of our letter notifying you of our initial determination. This is the last day you can appeal our initial determination. — 30-days after you appeal. This is the last day you can submit additional evidence to support your appeal. — 60-days after you appeal. This is the last day we have to send you a determination on your appeal. • How do you Determine if I met my Time Deadlines? If you phone us, we use the date of your call. If you come to us in person, we use the date of your visit. If you mail something to us, we use the postmark date on the envelope you mailed it in. In What Situations Can my Claim be Denied? If your claim is submitted late, we must deny it. If the evidence indicates you are negligent, we may deny all or part of your claim. If you didn't submit a 15-day report, we must deny your claim unless it proves by a preponderance of the evidence that your casualty was caused by an obstruction related to energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. If you did submit a 15-day report, your casualty will be presumed to have been caused by an obstruction related to energy activities on the Outer Continen- tal Shelf. Nevertheless, we may still deny your claim if any of the following are involved: (1) You weren't commercially fishing at the time of the casualty. (2) The obstruction (excluding pipelines) which caused your casualty was recorded on nauti- ical charts, published in the Notices to Mariners, or marked by a proper surface marker. (Casualties occurring within a 1/4 mile radius of charted or published ob- structions are presumed to have been caused by them). (3) If the casualty occurred in State waters (rather than Federal waters on the Outer Continen- tal Shelf), we must deny the claim unless you can establish that the obstruction (even though in State waters) was more likely than not related to energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. An example of this might be heavy surface traffic through State waters to energy activities on the Outer Continen- tal Shelf. (4) The casualty didn't occur within a 3-mile radius of on a leased block, pipeline, ease- ment, right of way, or other Outer Continental Shelf oil or gas production, exploration, or development activity (in this case, you would have to prove that the casualty was caused by an obstruction related to offshore energy activity). When Do I Get Paid? As soon as we make a favorable determination on your claim, we'll send you a letter telling you how much we'll pay you. We'll also send you a settle- ment agreement and a subrogation agreement at the same time. The settlement agreement is your agreement not to appeal our decision and to repay any amount should the claim be subsequently reduced. The subrogation agreement is your agree- ment to transfer to us your right to sue the party causing your casualty and to assist us if we pursue recovery of damages from that party. If you sign these agreements and send them back to us, we'll pay you immediately. If not, you'll have to wait until 30-days after our initial letter telling you how much we'll pay you. Payment will be by U.S. Treasury check. v U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1985 - 490-100 - 227/20031 gpgjjOS^ U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Anthony J. Calio, Administrator National Marine Fisheries Service William G. Gordon, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries October. 1985 PENN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES lillllllllllll