| UK. Two fishing skippers fined for collision in the Irish Sea |
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| Friday, 06 October 2006 | |
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Maritime & Coastguard news: In Newtonards Magistrate's Court yesterday, William Orr, owner and skipper of the fishing vessel 'Boy Stuart' pleaded guilty to a breach of Collision Regulations in that he that he did not properly determine the risk of collision. Phillip McMullen, co-owner and skipper of the fishing vessel 'Aspire' pleaded guilty to three charges :- 1. A breach of Collision Regulation Rule 5, in that he failed to keep a proper lookout 2. A breach of the merchant shipping and fishing vessel safety training regulations. 3. He failed to secure the safe operation of the ship because the foreign crew could not communicate effectively. On the 20th June 2005 both vessels were in a group of about twelve boats fishing for prawns off the North West coast of the Isle of Man. The 'Aspire' and 'Boy Stuart' were found to be using a GPS system that converted the signal into decca lane readings. The 'Boy Stuart' was operating to the south of the 'Aspire' then altered course to the North North East. This put her on a reciprocal course with the 'Aspire'. At about 10.00hrs the skipper of 'Aspire' had gone to make a cup of tea. Both vessels collided head on causing severe damage to the 'Boy Stuart'. The 'Aspire' had employed two Slovakian and one Lithuanian crew members for between ten and twelve months. In that time they had not attended any of the safety training courses required for fishermen. These courses include survival at sea, fire fighting, first aid and safety awareness. In sentencing the Magistrate Mr King said: "Both men come from fishing families and they were both fathers who lived and worked in the same community. It was vital that the standards must be kept to the high levels that have been set. It was clear that Mr Orr was carrying out his responsibilities and did observe the 'Aspire', but then made an assumption that he would give way. Mr Orr did not know that Mr McMullen was not on the bridge of his ship. He felt that he would take a lenient view and fined Mr Orr #500 with #500 costs." "Mr McMullen has a previous conviction which would be reflected in his sentence. Mr McMullen was fined #1000 on the first charge and #500 for each of the two other charges with #500 costs." Captain Bill Bennett, Area Manager (Survey and Inspection) of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "It is very unfortunate that we have to prosecute fishermen in order to get them to understand that the consequences of their actions can result in injury and death to their crew. In this case it is fortunate that there were no injuries to the crew of either vessel." Paul Fairbrother, Head of Fishing Vessel Safety said: "Some GPS displays are quite capable of outputting positions in Decca format. Apparently, some fishermen are using Decca coordinates as their preferred display option, perhaps because their regular fishing grounds (ones that they, or their forebears, have fished for decades) are most familiar to them as Decca lanes and positions. The practice of following Decca lanes is unacceptable and can easily lead to head on collisions." "Fishing, and any other vessels using Decca coordinates, must understand that this is not an acceptable position reporting system as Decca lattice charts are no longer produced by Hydrographic Offices (Decca having been switched off in year 2000) and the Coastguard no longer holds charts to plot Decca coordinates onto. Also, in the event of an emergency, use of Decca coordinates may significantly and dangerously impede rescue operations. Users of Decca displays could be putting their own, and others, lives at risk by continuing to use Decca coordinates." Editors note: Mr McMullen pleaded guilty to failing to keep a lookout in Newtonards Magistrate's court on 26th May 2004 when he collided with the Mariscos, which sank. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 06 October 2006 ) |
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