Wearing lifejackets on trawlers should be law, marine investigators say
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Version 0 of 1. Marine investigators are calling for the wearing of lifejackets to be a legal requirement on commercial trawlers after a spate of deaths at sea. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch took the unusual step of recommending legislation as it released reports into four of the nine commercial fishing deaths so far this year. CI Steve Clinch, who heads the branch, said: “The MAIB rarely recommends the introduction of new legislation to solve safety problems, but the rate that commercial fishermen are losing their lives due to drowning shows no sign of reducing. “This has been a particularly bad year: the MAIB has investigated the deaths of nine commercial fishermen, and today [Thursday] is publishing three reports covering the deaths of four. All four might well have survived had they been wearing a lifejacket when they entered the water.” Clinch said in the cold waters around the UK survival time can be measured in minutes unless a lifejacket is being worn. “However, this message is not getting home despite a three-year campaign that has seen almost every commercial fisherman in the UK receive a free lifejacket,. “Evidence from other countries shows that education campaigns alone have little effect on behaviour, but when backed by legislation the change is both significant and sustained,” said Clinch, adding that all trawler crew members should wear lifejackets when working on deck at sea. Those who have died this year include father and son Gareth and Daniel Willington, whose boat Harvester grounded on rocks off Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, in April. Daniel’s body remains missing. The MAIB report says a likely scenario is that one of the men became entangled in a rope; the other went to his aid and both fell overboard. It adds: “Neither crew member wore a personal flotation device [PFD], significantly lowering their chances of survival.” In the same month Craig Reid fell from the stern of a fishing vessel called Apollo as its trawl net was being hauled in heavy seas north-west of Orkney. The water temperature was 9C. Crewmates flung a lifebuoy to him but he could not cling on to it. His body was found months later. The report says Reid was young and fit but could not survive in the cold water. The report adds: “MAIB analysis of many similar accidents shows that in UK waters a person who falls overboard, without a lifejacket, typically loses the ability to help themselves within 10 minutes of entering the water.” In October 2015 Gerard Gillies was lost overboard from the Annie T in the Sound of Mingulay, at the southern edge of the Western Isles of Scotland. He is thought to have had a heart attack. Three working lifejackets – which had been supplied to the trawler’s crew free of charge by the Scottish Fishing Federation – were still in their original packaging and had never been used. According to the MAIB, the likelihood of surviving an overboard incident is five times greater if a lifejacket is worn. By law, lifejackets have to be worn in certain circumstances in Ireland, France, Norway, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Iceland. Many fishermen resist wearing lifejackets because they feel they restrict their movement as they work on deck or are uncomfortable. Some argue they can be dangerous if they snag on equipment. |