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Author Topic: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry  (Read 2208 times)

DavieTait

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Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« on: July 20, 2009, 11:21:20 pm »

I've just heard that a Scallop Dredger has capsized with the loss of 3 lives ( one man saved by a passing yacht ) off the West Coast of Scotland. Yet another bad day for the fishermen of this country. My thoughts go out to the families of the men who have been lost

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8160191.stm
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Davie Tait,
Scotland

over_powered84

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2009, 12:32:37 am »

My Thoughts Are With The Families At This Tragic Time Aswell Bud :((
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gondolier88

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2009, 06:56:37 pm »

My condolonces to the family. Brave men, they died doing the thing they loved.

Greg
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DavieTait

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2009, 07:49:58 pm »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8161106.stm

The vessel is the Aquila BA379 which was owned by a Maryport , Cumbria , skipper who was sadly lost in this accident.

The men who have been lost are

Skipper Tony Hayton , 45
Crewman Thomas Sanderson , 52
Crewman Peter Hilton , 52

From the TV reports by the 2 men who alerted the Coastguard the boat was fishing 1.5nm off the land and was hit by a wave which led to her capsize. The hull is still afloat upside down and the Coastguard tug Anglian Sovereign is standing by her. I guess they will need divers to cut away the wires to the gear before towing her into Mallaig so she can be righted and the investigation into this tragedy can begin.

I have set up an online condolence book for the men who have been lost once that has gone live I will post the url here

Yet again the true cost of fish , or in this case prime Scallops , the sea is a cruel mistress
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Davie Tait,
Scotland

Shipmate60

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2009, 10:07:06 pm »

It just reminds me how dangerous the sea can be.
My sincere condolences to the families.

Bob
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2009, 11:21:27 pm »

A tragedy certainly, but the point has been made publicly that the men were not wearing lifejackets. At a recent Boat Show I discussed this with one of the senior people at the RNLI who pointed out in no uncertain terms the potential lifesaving potental of modern lifejackets. They do not restrict normal movements and inflate automatically once immersed. I have worn them myself and can confirm this but I have noticed that fishermen don't tend to wear them. Is this just a macho thing or is there a good reason for it?

If a small boat like this one is trawling then if the trawl is snagged on something then it seems to me there is a risk of the boat being pulled rapidly over as seems to have been the case on this occasion. The underlying implication from the TV interviews is that if the crew had been wearing lifejackets then their chances of survival would have been significantly higher.

I would welcome some informed comment on this as I am simply posing questions that the average uninformed person would ask.

Colin
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wbeedie

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2009, 07:11:25 pm »

A sad day alright was only speaking to Tony and the boys a couple of weeks back in Mallaig , not a pleasant experience for the survivor either having been through it myself
RIP and homeward bound boys
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DavieTait

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2009, 09:07:53 pm »

Colin there is a very very good reason that lifejackets are not worn on fishing boats , they actually make the job MORE dangerous just now.

A lifejacket for a fisherman would have to be MCA approved ( cheapest currently in the £200 range ) , comfortable to wear ( current ones are far from comfortable and the plastic clip that is used to fasten them digs into your body and hurts like hell if you bump into anything ) , the straps cannot be external to the oilskin jacket ( wires have a habit of getting small strands breaking and sticking up to 2'' from the wires and its more than possible to be jolted by a wave and have your oilskins torn by a wire so think of the consequences of a wire catching a lifejacket strap..... man through roller or straight overboard with the gear... ). The covers would have to be made of a new material that was extremely tear resistant and resistant to oil , mud , mild acid ( fish stomach acid ) and to the cleaning agents in use onboard fishing vessels and the cover would have to be removable so it can be cleaned without unpacking the lifejacket as you have to just now.

All in a lifejacket would have to be able to last for 3-4 years with all of the above problems fixed. About the only way to do it just now would be to build it into the oilskin jacket and although that is possible it still makes it only suitable really for bad weather as in the summer months on these types of boats ( along with prawn trawlers ) most of the crew work without the jacket on when clearing up the catch because its too hot to do anything else.

It really annoys the hell out of me that when disasters like this happen the MCA/MAIB harp on about lifejackets when they know all about the problems above and yet they do not issue a demand to the manufacturers to fix all of these problems and produce a viable and worthwhile lifejacket that would help men who go overboard instead of sitting in their Ivory Towers pontificating and spouting forth this drivel without any real life experience of the fishing industry. To my knowledge there is only 1 ex-fisherman in the MAIB so they are limited to always having to ask the fishermen for advice instead of having ex-fishermen in their organisation with the real world experience needed.
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Davie Tait,
Scotland

Colin Bishop

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2009, 09:25:56 pm »

Thanks for that explanation Davie, I'm well aware that there is more to these things than meets the eye which is why I asked the question. You learn something new every day.

Like everyone else, I am saddened by this tragedy. Truly, fishing is the most dangerous occupation.

Colin
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DavieTait

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2009, 09:41:31 pm »

Thats ok Colin , reading back my post just now... reads like I was angry well guess I am as its always these people that spout on about it and have no idea of whats involved in working with the gear and the catch with all of the needs to be as free as possible to move about the deck without having a lifejacket that gets in the way of your arms and had a bad habit of inflating at random ( thats the reason I never wore the lifejacket I had issued to me by the Marine Lab , it was just not practical and I had it inflate once on the deck just with a splash of water and then a few months after getting it back from being repacked and serviced it went off again in heavy rain - at Mallaig when it rains... boy it rains and the air is very heavy with moisture which dissolved the crystal setting off the gas bottle ), I wasn't the only member of staff to have this happen and the lifejackets we had were serviced ( COSALT in Aberdeen I think and they are about the best as far as I know ) every year and as we didn't work the gear they never got damaged by wires or dredges.

I am passionate about the fishing industry and if something could be done to allow the crews to wear a practical lifejacket on the deck ( incorporating the new RNLI M.O.B. Guardian system as well ) at a reasonable cost , something the EU should pay towards as it is a safety issue and they do give out modernisation grants for safety improvements , then the sooner the better. Until that happens I will always be angry at these "qualified experts" claims.
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Davie Tait,
Scotland

Colin Bishop

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2009, 10:27:16 pm »

Your post came across as perfectly reasonable and informative Davie. Nothing wrong in being passionate about things - without that nothing would ever get done. I can see from what you have said that working in a physically demanding and potentallly dangerous environment when wearing a lifejacket is a world away from wearing one in a leisure boating situation. The thought of getting a strap caught in the "works" makes me shudder!

Colin
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Seaspray

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Re: Another disasterous day for the Fishing industry
« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2009, 09:01:21 am »

My  condolences to the families.

Even with the best gear, boats and crew it is a very very dangerous job.


Martin (Seaspray)
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