The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) says that the new Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) accident statistics underlines why fishermen should advantage of funded training.
According to the MAIB report, eight fishermen lost their lives in 2014, compared with four in 2013. The average number of fishermen lost over the last decade is 8.5 per year.
Derek Cardno, SFF safety and training officer, said: “If we study the statistics in the MAIB report we can see that ten of the vessel losses were due to capsizing, foundering or flooding. Stability issues and maintaining vessel stability is recognised as a problem area that the RNLI fishing safety team has been promoting in its ‘Keep it Stable, Bring it Home’ campaign. Seafish also has a very good voluntary short course on stability.”
Seafish has a training fund in place for UK fishermen who hold their mandatory certificates and the organisation will consider providing funding for any course that a fisherman feels will improve his/her fishing safety awareness or knowledge of the workings of a fishing vessel.
The training fund offers provision for up to £1500, which can be drawn down in a lump if studying for a certificate of competency or drawn down piecemeal when studying for short courses like ECDIS, MCA Approved Engine Course, Medical First Aid at Sea, Advanced Fire-fighting or General Operators certificate in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) to name a few.
The MAIB Annual Report 2014 can be viewed online.
