News Release

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard announced the winner of its 2011 Video of the Year  contest Tuesday, a contest that highlighted the year's most compelling cases from the work done every day by America's Coast Guard.

The winning video features Coast Guard members partnering with Moody Garden's Aquarium and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to release eight Kemp's Ridley and two Loggerhead turtles off the coast of Galveston, Texas.

The second place video features airborne canine training involving the Coast Guard and various law enforcement agencies in San Francisco.

The third place video features a helicopter crew rescuing a man and his dog from their sailboat 120 miles southwest of San Diego.

Voting for the annual contest was done by the public between Dec. 21, 2011 and Jan. 13. Each day of the contest people voted for their favorite videos by choosing “Like” on the Coast Guard's Facebook page or on the Coast Guard’s YouTube 2011 Videos of the Year playlist.

“This year’s top three videos exemplified the multi-faceted nature of the Coast Guard’s service to the nation,” said Capt. Ron LaBrec, chief of Coast Guard public affairs. “From returning wildlife to its natural habitat, to partnering with state and local agencies and their canine units to protecting life, all life, at sea”

Video of each case, as well as the Top 10 video compilation, is available for viewing and download from the Coast Guard visual information site.

In 2011, the Coast Guard:

• Responded to more than 22,000 search and rescue cases and saved more than 4,300 lives.
• Screened more than 257,000 commercial vessels carrying 71 million crewmembers and passengers prior to arrival in U.S. ports.
• Investigated 4,650 marine casualties, including two marine boards of investigation.
• Seized more than 37,000 pounds of marijuana and more than 200,000 pounds of cocaine bound for the United States.
• Conducted more than 11,000 inspections on U.S. vessels and 9,000 port state control safety and environmental exams on foreign vessels.
• Interdicted more than 2,000 undocumented migrants attempting to illegally enter the United States from the sea.