Please see the June 18 media advisory for this event to obtain photos and video from the cutter's arrival in Cleveland earlier this week.

Members of the official party unveil the new brow dodger for Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay during the official welcoming ceremony held at the Cleveland Moorings Facility June 19, 2013. Centered from left to right are: Lt. Cmdr. Ben Keffer, commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay; Rear Adm. Mike Parks, commander of the Coast Guard 9th District; and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher M. Yaw		Crest of Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay, with updated homeport information.

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard 9th District welcomed a new addition to the service's Great Lakes cutter fleet during a ceremony Wednesday at the Coast Guard's Cleveland Moorings facility.

Rear Adm. Michael Parks, Coast Guard 9th District commander, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, and other local and military agency representatives were on hand to welcome the ship and 17 crewmembers to their new homeport.

"She's pretty unique, but a constant has always been operational excellence, and my crew and I look forward to continuing that tradition in the Great Lakes," said Lt. Cmdr. Ben Keffer, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay. "As an Ohio native, there's no better place to be than Cleveland."

Cutter Morro Bay was commissioned in 1981, homeported in Yorktown, Va., and operated mainly on the Chesapeake Bay, until its decommissioning in 1998. However, after the 9/11 attacks, the Coast Guard wanted more resources in the Northeast for security operations and brought the ship back to service. The Coast Guard shifted its homeport to New London, where the vessel fell under the operational control of the Coast Guard 1st District.

For the past several winters, the Coast Guard has temporarily assigned one of the 1st District's Bay Class ice-breaking tugs to the Great Lakes to assist the 9th District's crews with domestic ice-breaking operations. However, these seasonal deployments were not ideal due to the high cost, the operational hours lost in transit, and the toll on personal lives of the crewmembers and their families.

The Coast Guard conducted a mission analysis in March 2011 to consider such things as search-and-rescue readiness, distribution of workload on ice-breaking assets, and overall readiness and maintenance of the cutter fleet. That study determined Lake Erie to be the best fit for a homeport. A feasibility study conducted later determined the Coast Guard-owned Cleveland Moorings facility to be the best location for the ship's homeport, where it will join Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay as the eastern-most ice-breaking cutters in the Great Lakes. There are no Coast Guard icebreakers homeported in Lake Ontario.

The crew of cutter Morro Bay will serve across the Great Lakes region, contributing to Operations Taconite and Coal Shovel, the nation's largest domestic ice-breaking operations. During the winter months, the 9th District's fleet of cutters provides ice-breaking services for search and rescue, other emergency operations, flood mitigation, and the facilitation of navigation to meet the reasonable demands of commerce. During the summer months, the cutters are still available to aid in search and rescue and other emergency operations.

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug formerly homeported in New London, Conn., moored the ship at its new homeport at the Cleveland Moorings on Sunday.

Lt. Cmdr. Ben Keffer, commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay, speaks with the media following a welcoming ceremony at the Cleveland Moorings Facility June 19, 2013. Keffer, the cutter and its crew were officially welcomed into the Coast Guard 9th District. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher M. Yaw		Lt. Cmdr. Ben Keffer, commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay, stands with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Rear Adm. Mike Parks, commander of the Coast Guard 9th District, at the Cleveland Moorings Facility June 19, 2013 following a welcoming ceremony for the cutter. Morro Bay has officially been transferred to the Coast Guard 9th District from the Coast Guard 1st District. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher M. Yaw

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard continues investigating an unknown film Tuesday that was reported in southern Lake Michigan one day earlier.

About 3 p.m. Monday, a communications watchstander at Coast Guard Station Michigan City, Ind., was notified of an unknown film in the water near Porter Beach, Ind. The station directed the reporting source to contact the National Response Center.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Chicago dispatched a response boat to the area, and pollution investigators found no visible film.

A helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Mich., was diverted from a training mission to conduct an overflight of the area from the Port of Indiana to Michigan City, Ind., and found no evidence of film. They did see a few pollen blooms.

The U.S. Geological Survey has taken water samples, and the results are pending.

Just after 4 p.m., Station Michigan City received a report that the film had reached Michigan City.

"At this point, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management is conducting a more thorough analysis of samples taken to determine what the actual materials are," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Thomas, a pollution investigator at MSU Chicago. "Preliminary results indicate it was not petroleum-based material, and an investigation is being conducted to determine the source."

Personnel from MSU Chicago is currently investigating, and they have found no sign of the film. Coast Guard investigators have reviewed a weeks worth of video from the Port of Indiana and have ruled out the port as a possible source. They have also ruled out the steel company ArcelorMittal as a source. The cause of the film remains under investigation, and the Coast Guard is working diligently alongside partner agencies, such as the USGS and IDEM, to determine any causative factors to see if there is anything that can be done to prevent similar occurrences.

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard is investigating a sheen Tuesday that was reported in southern Lake Michigan one day earlier.

About 3 p.m. Monday, a communications watchstander at Coast Guard Station Michigan City, Ind., was notified that people were coming out the water with an oily substance on them at Porter Beach, Ind.

The station directed the reporting source to contact the National Response Center.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Chicago dispatched a response boat to the area, and pollution investigators found no visible sheen.

A helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Mich., was diverted from a training mission to conduct an overflight of the area from the Port of Indiana to Michigan City, Ind., and found no evidence of sheen. They did see a few pollen blooms.

The U.S. Geological Survey has taken water samples, and the results are pending.

Just after 4 p.m., Station Michigan City received a report that the sheen had reached Michigan City.

MSU Chicago is currently on scene investigating, and they have found no sign of sheen. Coast Guard investigators are also reviewing a surveillance video provided by the Port of Indiana and have not noticed any signs of pollution.

The cause of the sheen remains under investigation, and the Coast Guard is working diligently alongside partner agencies to determine any causative factors to see if there is anything that can be done to prevent similar occurrences.

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard assisted two people Friday when they reported the vessel they were on was on fire in Lake St. Clair.

The names and hometowns of the individuals assisted are not being released, and there is no Coast Guard imagery.

At 8:48 a.m., a search-and-rescue controller at Coast Guard Sector Detroit received a call on VHF-FM marine radio channel 16 that a 26-foot vessel with two people aboard was on fire near Nine Mile Tower in Lake St. Clair.

A boatcrew launched from Coast Guard Station St. Clair Shores, Mich., aboard a 25-foot Response Boat-Small.

The RB-S crew arrived on scene, and the boat engineer secured power to the batteries on the vessel, which ended up extinguishing the fire.

A commercial salvage company towed the vessel to Miller Marina in St. Clair Shores.

The Coast Guard conducted a post-case boarding on the vessel and found no violations.

No injuries or pollution were reported.

The Coast Guard reminds mariners to check their vessels prior to getting underway to ensure their vessel and safety equipment is in proper working order. Taking a few extra minutes to look over your equipment dockside, before getting underway, can help ensure that you have a fun and safe outing on the water.

Capt. Matthew Sibley, commander of Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan, awards Erik Bailey, a Michigan Department of Natural Resources officer, the Coast Guard Public Service Commendation at Coast Guard Station Holland, Mich., June 13, 2013. Bailey received the award for his rescue of 19 swimmers who were caught in a rip current on July 7, 2012, near the Holland Beach pier head. U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Station Holland

More information about this rescue can be found on a news release, by the Coast Guard 9th District External Affairs Division, dated July 8, 2012.

More information about how swimmers can detect and escape rip currents can be found on a news release dated June 5, 2013.

One of the unmanned kayaks rests on shore of Lake Erie near Fairport, Ohio, June 10, 2013. Two kayaks were returned to their owner due in part to the orange stickers located on the back half of the kayak, which allowed response agencies to track down the owner. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Sean Caffrey

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard conducted a search Monday morning after two kayaks were found washed ashore in Lake Erie.

At about 11:30 a.m., a search-and-rescue controller at Coast Guard Sector Buffalo, N.Y., received notification of two red kayaks unmanned and beached near the HTP Marina in Fairport, Ohio.

A boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Fairport, Ohio, aboard a 25-foot Response Boat-Small responded and conducted searches of the area with negative results.

A Fairport lifeguard unit completed a shoreline search also with negative results.

One of the kayaks was Ohio registered and also had a Coast Guard Paddle Smart sticker. Sector Buffalo and the Fairport Police Department were able to use the registration and sticker to locate the owner of the kayaks.

The owner stated that three kayaks, three oars and one life jacket had been stolen from his residence sometime this past weekend.

Two oars were located a short distance from the kayaks and a life jacket was found farther inland.

There are no reports of overdue or missing persons.

The owner will retrieve both kayaks, both oars and the life jacket.

The name of the owner is not being released.

The Coast Guard wishes to remind boaters of the importance of properly registering their vessels.

Ohio law requires all paddlecraft, like kayaks, to be registered. That is not necessarily the case throughout the 9^th Coast Guard District. The Coast Guard’s Operation Paddle Smart program assists with that by providing free, waterproof stickers that can be affixed to a canoe, kayak or other paddlecraft.

The sticker is intended to enable the Coast Guard to rapidly link abandoned or drifting paddlecraft to their owners. These stickers help rescuers to determine if a mariner is truly in distress and, in many cases, the best search area.  

Even if it is determined that the owner is not in distress, as in this case, these stickers can ensure that lost or stolen property gets back to its rightful owner. Paddle Smart stickers can be obtained by contacting your nearest Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla.