An agreement reached last summer, after substantial boating issues on Lake Erie off the coast of Ashtabula County, has been extended, said Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere and Lt. Phillip Gurtler, a spokesperson with the U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District.
Timonere said it was his understanding the Coast Guard planned to continue weekend staffing of the station during the summer months. Early in the 2024 boating season, there were a series of major incidents that local officials brought to the attention of the Coast Guard.
The Ashtabula Station had been reduced from being staffed seasonally to relying on coverage from Fairport Harbor and Erie before the start of the 2024 boating season.
By mid-summer of that year, the station was staffed on the weekends after a fatality and major rescue operations on a windy July day.
“The Coast Guard will continue to utilize Forward Operating Location Ashtabula to support Coast Guard operations in the area in the same way it did during last summer’s boating season,” Gurtler said.
“Ashtabula was identified during our extensive analysis as an area with multiple overlapping coverages consisting of Coast Guard units and our local, state, and federal partners for Search and Rescue,” he said. “The transition from a seasonal station to an FOL allowed us to better consolidate Coast Guard personnel and assets to provide a more resilient coverage, even if the Coast Guard has a slightly less visual presence in a particular area. FOL Ashtabula will be manned as required by operations.”
Last year, local and state officials asked the Coast Guard to increase their presence, including a campaign stop in Ashtabula by then-Senator Sherrod Brown.
Gurtler said any mariner or boater in distress should use VHF Channel 16 or call the Sector Command Center at 888-230-4703.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources also operates a vessel out of the Geneva State Park Marina and the Ashtabula County Water Rescue team also responds to search and rescue missions.
The city of Ashtabula also has a boat that can be utilized.