WSF weekly update includes warning about crab pots in ferry lanes

||| FROM PATTY RUBSTELLO for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES |||

Fourth of July holiday ferry travel

If your Independence Day weekend travel plans include a ride on our ferries, double check our sailing schedules as many routes are operating on timetables different from Fourth of July weekends prior to the pandemic. In addition, be aware that we will no longer enforce COVID-19 vessel and terminal capacity limits with the state lifting most pandemic-related restrictions yesterday.

A face mask is now required only in indoor areas of vessels and terminals in compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s order for public transportation. Closed off seating is being reopened. 

If coming aboard in a vehicle, prepare for the possibility of long waits during peak travel times. Riders are encouraged to sign up for ferry email alerts and check terminal conditions. Our Anacortes/San Juan Islands and Port Townsend/Coupeville routes also offer vehicle reservations. People using state highways to get to the ferry terminal should plan ahead for potential backups and delays with real-time traffic information on the WSDOT traffic app for mobile devices.

WSF Teamwork Award

Congratulations to our dispatch team for winning this year’s WSF Teamwork Award! This award goes to a team that had a significant and positive effect on the organization while exemplifying the values of trust, cross-functional collaboration and service. The small team of 10 worked under immense pressure to crew our vessels while responding to numerous effects of the pandemic including unplanned service disruptions, boat moves and personnel shortages. One of their many duties is to quickly find a replacement when a crewmember is unable to report to work. Their work is not seen by the public but without it we could not provide service to our customers. Congratulations and job well done!

Our dispatch team made more than 115,000 phone calls last year to fill both deck and engine room positions on our vessels.

New fishing pier opens at new Mukilteo terminal

The Port of Everett recently opened its new fishing pier on the Mukilteo waterfront. We built it, in cooperation with the Port, as part of our new Mukilteo terminal and incorporated the wood railing from the old fishing pier, which was torn down when we demolished the old terminal.

Chief of Staff Nicole McIntosh was among the speakers for the Port of Everett’s opening ceremony for its new fishing pier.

Nicole highlighted the pier’s sleek modern and ADA-compliant design and its nod to history with the inclusion of that old railing, with its carved initials and crab pot notches, and she paid tribute to the original people who fished and clammed at that site, the Coast Salish People.

Crab pots and ferries don’t mix

Ferries and crabbing are synonymous with the Pacific Northwest, but that doesn’t mean they should tangle with each other. With most areas of Puget Sound opening for recreational crab fishing July 1, we want to remind crab fishers to avoid our ferry lanes. The Northwest Straits Initiative has more strategies for a successful crabbing experience.

Crab pot line entanglements have led to costly repairs for us and hundreds of canceled sailings for our customers.