With regards to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch’s latest annual report, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) is concerned that efforts to improve safety appear not to have been recognised.
The MAIB report revealed that 24 fishing vessels were lost in 2011 – the most since 2005 – while eight fishermen lost their lives in the course of the year. Whilst the SFF is extremely concerned at the level of accidents, it also pointed out that the fishing industry is working pro-actively to improve safety at sea.
Derek Cardno, SFF safety officer, said the SFF agreed with the report in the sense that if the safety record of the fishing industry is to improve, more focus is needed from all industry stakeholders on how to provide fishermen with effective education and guidance on issues such as basic stability, watch keeping, navigation and safe working practices.
But he added that the SFF is disappointed that work and effort that has gone into launching several industry led initiatives hasn’t been recognised by the MAIB.
For example, the report highlights a seriously high rate of machinery failures leading to a variety of incidents.
“The industry recognised several months ago the need for better machinery training", Mr Carno said. " Work has been underway in this area for over a year with the MCA looking at the Class 2 engineering course and Seafish developing improved short courses, which will hopefully lead to important improvements in fishing vessel safety."
