Coast Guard unit video ranked in best of 2008
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND - A video of a U.S. Coast Guard pursuit of a Mexican fishing boat, about one mile off from the U.S.-Mexico border, has been ranked among the top 10 2008 Coast Guard videos in the nation.
Assisting vessels in distress, busting illegal foreign fishing boats and capturing it all on film are among the duties of the U.S. Coast Guard station here, Lt. Mickey Lalor said.
"That (video) was taken from a ... fixed-wing aircraft out of Corpus Christi," Lalor said. "The boat was found illegally fishing in U.S. waters. When they spotted our boat they began to run."
The incident occurred Nov. 24 when the Coast Guard pursued the vessel south of the border, off the South Padre Island coast, before confiscating the fishing gear it left behind. But the boat was no longer under Coast Guard jurisdiction once it crossed the Mexican border.
"This is a very common occurrence and we do it routinely once or twice a week," Lalor said about the chase. "We have stopped boats and made seizures in U.S. waters before. We have capabilities of stopping incompliant vessels using less than lethal tactics but they'll usually stop for us."
Coast Guard video judge Lt. Com. Chris O'Neil said the task of picking only 10 was a daunting one.
"There were hundreds of videos," he said. "We looked for videos that were interesting, compelling and that told the Coast Guard story. They're not in any hierarchy or order. They're just the 10 videos we thought best exemplified the Coast Guard."
Lalor said he was surprised to learn that his station's video had been selected.
"I didn't even know it was happening!" he said. "Usually those helicopter rescues take the cake. But it's good to show that we do have a special mission down on the border of Mexico and that what's happening down here does effect the U.S. ... when it comes to illegal fishery incursion."
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A compilation of the 10 best Coast Guard videos of 2008 can be found online at: http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId442632
