The California Board of Pilot Commissioners (BOPC) for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun licenses and regulates the 60 maritime pilots who comprise the San Francisco Bay crew of pilots and one inland pilot.  The pilot commission, which is in the state’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, oversees all the bays and ports in the San Francisco Bay area and tributaries running to the Stockton, Sacramento and Monterey Bay ports.  It is the only state pilot commission in California. A pilot is the person in charge of navigating incoming and outgoing ships in bays, inlets, rivers, harbors and other ports, taking control of the vessel from the captain when entering and leaving local waters to avoid accidents. The eight board members are appointed by the governor.  

Pilot Commission Overview (pdf)

The Bay Area bar pilots' roots go back to when California was under the flag of Mexico. Vessels visiting San Francisco Bay required individuals with local knowledge of the water, shoals, currents, tides and winds to safely pilot these ships across the bar and into the bay. The Gold Rush and immigration of the late 1840s brought an increase in the number of ships requiring a safe shepherding through these treacherous waters. During this hectic growth, pilots met ships out on the open ocean, giving some ships priority and leaving others neglected.

Upon California’s statehood in 1850, the state legislature, in that year, created what is its oldest commission–the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Port of San Francisco that has since evolved into the modern-day BOPC.   

The term “pilot” comes from the Dutch and it describes a lead weight used to measure the water’s depth a sailor might be floating over.  In 1789, the U.S. Congress established a piloting system for the colonies and in 1837 enacted uniform piloting licenses among the current states.

In 1871, Congress enacted a “dual pilotage” system for U.S. and foreign ships.  Under this legislation, both foreign and U.S. vessels entering or leaving American ports would use a state pilot.  U.S. ships engaged in coastal trade would employ federal pilots.  In the U.S., most pilot associations require their members to have both state and federal licenses.  Regulations for pilots are found in the California Harbors and Navigation Code.

The pilots commission was originally formed as an independent board, but as a result of legislation following the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay, the board was placed under the supervision of the state’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency on January 1, 2009.

The Board of Pilot Commissioners’ primary responsibility is to license and set regulations for its pilots.  The commission, whose members serve four-year terms and may be reappointed for one additional term, meets once a month in San Francisco to discuss issues.  Minutes from its meetings, most of which are open to the public, are available on the board’s website.

In addition to licensing pilots, the commissioners recommend pilotage rates, determine  the number of pilots who can be licensed, select pilot trainees and oversee their training, control pension plans, and investigate navigational accidents.

Except for a few pilots who were grandfathered into the program, the training program for pilot trainees can last up to three years before the candidate is eligible for licensing.

The pilot commission uses a two-member Incident Review Committee (IRC) to investigate pilot error and reports of misconduct.  The IRC is composed of the executive director and one of the three public board members selected by the director. The IRC reports its findings to the full commission, which makes a final determination of fault and penalty. If the commission concludes that the pilot misconduct warrants a period of suspension or revocation of the pilot's license, it files an accusation. The pilot then has the right to a formal public hearing presided over by an administrative law judge. On average, less than one case per year goes before the full commission. Most result in a finding of misconduct, with sanctions typically including extended periods of probation, suspension or retraining.

The pilot commission covers the various bays in the San Francisco Bay Area, the tributaries all the way to Stockton and Sacramento, and Monterey Bay, with 70 separate terminals in 10 counties. Pilots on other California waters operate under the authority of their federal pilot’s license. Port of Los Angeles pilots are municipal employees. Port of Long Beach pilots work for a private contractor, while pilots in the Ports of Port Hueneme, Humboldt Bay and San Diego are commissioned or contracted with by their respective port authorities or districts.

The commissioners include three members of the public who are neither pilots nor work for companies using pilots, two board-licensed pilots and one each from the tanker and dry cargo shipping industries. One member is delegated from the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to represent the secretary.

The commission employs three full-time employees: an executive director, who is a former shipmaster with substantial seagoing experience, an assistant director who is appointed by the governor, and a secretary/administrative assistant. The commission contracts with three investigators, all of who are retired shipmasters, and an attorney specializing in maritime law.

Official Overview (pdf)

Pilot Trainee Application (ebudget)

All expenses of the board (except for pilot training and pilot trainee training) are funded by a surcharge on pilotage fees, which are set by the commission. Pilot training programs are funded by a separate surcharge on vessel movements in the area. Pilot trainees, who might have to remain on a waiting list for up to three years before being selected, receive a monthly $5,000 stipend. 

California  Board of Pilot Commissioners Budget

Tanker Cosco Busan Hits Bay Bridge

On November 7, 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan spilled more than 53,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel after striking a San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge support pier in heavy fog en route from the Port of Oakland to South Korea. The spill killed thousands of migratory birds, delayed the start of crab-fishing season and caused more than $70 million in damage to beaches, wildlife and the fishing industry. The bridge sustained damages pegged at $1.5 million.

Board-certified pilot John Cota was guiding the vessel. A year later, the pilots commission released a report saying the spill was the result of a series of mistakes by Cota. The 18-page report found Cota had made seven serious errors in piloting the ship, including failure to correctly read an electronic chart on the ship, sailing in fog so thick that he could see only 200 feet ahead and sailing at an unsafe speed.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded shortly afterward that the accident was caused by a combination of Cota’s medical impairment from prescription drugs, ineffective oversight by the ship's captain, and inadequate training and preparation of the Chinese crew. Cota negotiated a plea-bargain and was sentenced to 10 months in prison on two misdemeanor counts of polluting the San Francisco Bay. He denied that the prescription drugs impaired his performance.

Following the Cosco Busan collision, California state officials, including State Auditor Elaine Howle, began taking a closer look at the pilot commission’s operations.

The 68-page auditor’s report sharply criticized the board for a number of shortcomings not necessarily related directly to the accident. For example, a pilot was licensed 28 days before he received a required physical examination and piloted vessels 18 times before the exam was completed.  The board did not investigate reports of suspected safety standard violations of pilot boarding equipment as required by law. The board failed to ensure that all pilots completed required training within specified time frames.

Other issues raised by the auditor included findings that the board completed only seven out of 24 safety investigations before the required 90-day deadlines; it failed to follow state privacy procedures and released information to the public that included a pilot’s home address and Social Security number; and it paid for business-class airfare for pilots taking part in training in France that might have constituted misusing state funds.

NTSB Report on Cosco Busan (pdf)

Cosco Busan Accident (Wikipedia)

Cosco Busan Incident Report (pdf)

It Needs to Develop Procedures and Controls Over Its Operations and Finances to Ensure That It Complies with Legal Requirements (State Auditor) (pdf)

The state auditor’s Cosco Busan report suggested several reforms. It recommended: creating a process, as state law requires, for accessing confidential information, such as board records containing information on board members, board staff or pilots; conducting a yearly audit of both the pilot board and pilot pension surcharges; and creating a procedure for approving and monitoring board-appointed physicians. The pilot commission generally accepted most of the recommendations as valid and has implemented some of the suggestions in varying degrees.

Investigators of the Cosco Busan crash in 2007 blamed the bar pilot’s use of pharmaceutical drugs, including Vicodin and Valium or generic equivalents, as a cause of the accident. Although bar pilots can be tested for illegal drugs they aren’t tested for prescription drugs. The policy conforms to federal policies. Michael Miller, president of the Board of Pilot Commissioners, said a board committee is investigating whether the drug policy should change.

List of Drugs Obtained by John Cota in the 60 Days Prior to Cosco Busan Incident

Should the Federal Government Exert More Control?

After the Cosco Busan accident, there were suggestions that a vessel management system similar to air traffic control be put in place, shifting more oversight responsibility from the state to the federal government. The U.S. Coast Guard already employs an advisory Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) that is used by the bar pilots, and a question was raised in a report to Congress just months after the incident whether VTS could operate more like an air traffic control center. Despite the federal government’s prominent role in regulating interstate commerce, it has largely left management of coastal shipping lanes to the states. The report at times made a spirited argument for incorporating the air traffic control model, lauding the Coast Guard and noting that its VTS is often likened to an air traffic control tower and in some busy waterways actually enforces a traffic management plan. But it acknowledged that the issue has staunch opponents, among them the bar pilots themselves.

Capt. Peter McIsaac, who was president of the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association in 2007, thought the idea shortsighted. He said adding another layer of bureaucracy would not increase safety and could actually have the opposite effect. Arguing that bar pilots have “a safety record unrivaled by any other professional transportation association,” he called the Cosco Busan accident an isolated occurrence.

In an article published in The San Francisco Chronicle, McIsaac wrote, “Unlike aircraft, ships operate in only two dimensions. A complex number of forces acting upon a ship's movement, including vessel hydrodynamics, wind, current and water depth, make remote control of a large ship impossible. Also, in an air-traffic system, most if not all, small craft participate in the system. On any given summer weekend, 95 percent of the small craft on San Francisco Bay are not checked into the vessel management system. The wide range of vessel classes, sizes and abilities further argues against a uniform approach to shipping traffic control.”

One website for maritime professionals labeled the suggestion of federal control “Ridiculous Item of the Month.” John Conrad at gCaptain.com said, “If the Coast Guard wants final say then they need to be aboard the vessel and if that happens they will be hard pressed to fill the position with anyone more qualified than the competent and experienced San Francisco Pilots.”

Coast Guard Cmdr. Kevin Mohr, who was in charge of the federal Vessel Traffic System and predictably confident of its capabilities when he testified before the NTSB in 2007, said VTS and air traffic control was an apples-and-oranges comparison. VTS programs vary across the country, don’t employ licensed mariners, and their employees lack the kind of information that air traffic controllers possess.

Ship Navigation in Harbors: Safety Issues (by John Fritelli, Congressional Research Service) (pdf)

Capt. Patrick Moloney

March 1993–October 2009. Moloney, who was executive director at the time of the Cosco Busan incident, attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy where he received a bachelor of science degree in Marine Transportation in 1974 and, subsequently, a master’s degree. He was with the U.S. Navy’s Military Sea Command from 1982-1991 before joining the Board of Pilot Commissioners in January 1993. Two months later he became the executive director. 

After Moloney’s resignation in 2009, the state Fair Political Practices Commission fined him $4,000 for accepting an unreported gift from the San Francisco Bar Pilots. The gift was two years of free parking at the port pilots' parking lot in San Francisco. Total value: $5,268.

List of Commissioners