RedactedNarrative: Vessel 1 impacted Vessel 2 in very intense fog on Great Salt Lake.
  
  FACTORS:
  Weather conditions on Great Salt Lake consisted of very dense fog. Visibility was less than 30 feet and navigation on the lake was done with electronic navigational equipment.
  
  INCIDENT:
  Vessel 2 was preparing to lay out booms during the brine shrimp season upon the Great Salt Lake.  Vessel 2 had established its shrimp area with the proper amount of spotting vessels and CRO permits.  As Vessel 2 was idling as it was putting out booms, operator observed Vessel 1 appearing from the dense fog.  Vessel 1 was in route to set up commercial activities and was using navigational equipment on board.  Speeds for Vessel 1 were between 10MPH - 15MOH.  OPERATOR2 quickly hit throttle for Vessel 2 and quickly tried to steer Vessel 2 to starboard to get out of the way of Vessel 1.
  
  OPERATOR1 was operator of Vessel 1 immediately turned port side once he observed Vessel 2 was in his path of travel.  Due to the dense fog and short sight distance, Vessel 1 impacted Vessel 2 on its stern side.  It appeared Vessel 1 tried to steer to its port side in the short reaction distance time, and Vessel 2 saw Vessel 1 coming toward them and tried to steer out of path to its starboard side, which saved the potential for a much more serious accident.  Due to the actions of both operator's only the stern of Vessel 2 was impacted instead of the middle of Vessel 2 or launching of Vessel 1 onto Vessel 2.  Due to actions of operators injuries were avoided.
  
  When Vessel 1 front bow made contact with Vessel 2 starboard stern, it caused damage to starboard stern motor, railing, vessel arm and motor protector.  It was a low impact hit between the vessels due to low speeds already, but enough speed to cause damage.  Estimates to Vessel 1 is $500 and Vessel 2 over $3000.00.
  
  DAMAGE:
  Vessel 2 received damage to starboard engine cover, inner cover broken and engine damage was bad enough it won't work.
  Vessel 2 received damage to starboard stern arm which is broken in a downward position.
  Vessel 2 received damage to starboard stern railing that was completely broken off.
  Vessel 2 received damage to starboard stern motor protection railing.
  Vessel 2 port side motor cover had damage to it.
  
  Bow of Vessel 1 has several large deep grooves due to impact with other vessel. No indentations or vessel body breaks.
  
  CONCLUSION:
  Due to the weather conditions of intense fog neither vessel was able to avoid the contact with the 30 feet of visibility and reaction time of vessels moving course of travel.  I responded to the area and gathered information and pictures of vessel damage as well as operator information.  Vessel inspections were performed and no violations found from vessel inspections.  Neither operator owned vessel but each has over 500 hours of vessel operator experience.  Vessel 1 is owned by Ocean Star International and Vessel 2 is owned by Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Co-op.  Both vessels are used for commercial brine shrimp activity on the waters of Great Salt Lake.  Both companies work closely with each other and details of getting vessel fixed and sharing insurance information will be done by the companies.  Both company CEO's have been notified and are aware of incident.
  