Coast Guard National Security ship docks in Juneau before Bering Sea fisheries mission

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) - With cruise ships months away from docking into Juneau’s now-rainy harbor, the port welcomed a new visitor Wednesday: the USCGC Waesche, a national security cutter stopping in Alaska’s capital before heading into the Bering Sea.

“It’s basically a small town,” Capt. Michele Schallip, the Coast Guard’s Arctic Chief of Staff said onboard the ship. The Waesche’s crew was grabbing lunch while she spoke to reporters.

At 481 feet long, the Waesche was the largest visitor in Juneau’s rainy harbor Wednesday afternoon as the vessel and her crew geared up for the next leg of their trip into the Bering Sea.

“What we’re trying to do, by doing fisheries law enforcement, is keep the fishing community in compliance with our laws,” Cmdr. Charlie England, the Waesche’s Executive Officer, said on the ship’s bridge. “That’s going to keep a sustainable and thriving fishery to maintain that vital part of our commerce.

“There’s a $16 billion fishing industry in Alaska that is vital, not just to Alaska, but to all of America.”

Steep stairs guide your way to the bridge, with Coast Guard members in many of the doorways. While they may not all have been onboard about an hour after docking, she carried a crew of 150.

The bridge is a room clearly well versed by the Waesche’s crew. The signs were visible from the dry-erase writing on the windows, the complex instrumentation filling its space and a wooden placard hanging above the window facing the bow.

“KNOCK,” the placard reads. “SAILORS ARE A SUPERSTITIOUS GROUP”

The superstition may be valuable. England said the crew is typically on the ship for about 180 days of the year, and it can be an action-packed half of the year.

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