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[GRAPHIC: Cabotage]
STEVE GORDON: I'd like to talk a moment about the Jones Act. There are two sides to the Jones Act. One is the injury side and the other is what we call the cabotage side.
The cabotage side is the area that protects U.S. seamen. It requires that vessels going from one U.S. port to another U.S. port use American made vessels, U.S. flagged vessels and that are manned with American Seamen.
Well unfortunately, in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, there was a need, because there was not a lot of vessels and not a lot of seamen in that area, there was a need for foreign flagged vessels to come in and do some work into the Gulf of Mexico.
Well what happened was that, that need is no longer there. We now have the vessels and we have the U.S. seamen, however the Unnoted States Coast Guard has continued to grant exceptions to the Jones Act and there are actually, right now with the economy as bas as it is, right now there are foreign flagged vessels, foreign owned and foreign manned taking jobs away from U.S. seamen. And this is ridiculous, totally ridiculous.
And what we've done is we've set up a website for you to go to. It's really simple. And all you have to do is click on a link and you will be able to electronically send letters to your congressman, to President Barack Obama, and even the commandant of the United States Coast Guard to stop this horrendous thing that's taking place. So we urge you to go to the website.
[GRAPHIC: Gordon, Elias & Seely, L.L.P. Jones Act Injury Attorneys Call Toll-Free 800-773-6770 http://www.offshoreinjuries.com/]
