Safety At Sea A Priority

Far too often we read about small boat fishermen in the Pacific Islands being lost at sea, or if they are lucky being rescued after drifting at the mercy of the wind and weather.

The usual situation is a small outboard-powered open fishing boat developing engine problems or running out of fuel while fishing or travelling outside the reef.

The fishermen may drift for days, weeks, or months as governments spend scarce money on search and rescue attempts, while families ashore become frantic over their fate.

The size of the problem is difficult to estimate since statistics on small boat accidents at sea are not kept by most countries of the region.
In Samoa where some data exists, 38 lives have been lost and 107 search and rescue incidents recorded since 1995.
What is clear from the information available is that it is the small fishing vessels that cause most of the serious incidents offshore.
An FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation) survey conducted in 2003 showed that in most countries small fishing vessels are not even covered by their safety legislations.

In response to the problem, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) have been working to improve the safety of small fishing boats.

An FAO survey in the early 1990s suggested that public awareness programmes on sea safety would be worthwhile. SPC has subsequently produced and distributed a wide range of safety awareness materials throughout the Pacific islands.
The materials are aimed at changing attitudes to sea safety and include posters, stickers videos, radio materials, laminated cards, and TV clips.

FAO and SPC recently brought together a group of specialists in Suva in a workshop environment to see what further steps should be taken to improve the safety of small fishing boats.

The unique gathering drew on expertise in the fields of fisheries, maritime law, search/rescue, community development, training, accident investigation, and boat building and design.

Participants included village-level fishermen and survivors of long drift voyages, one of whom told of his harrowing tale of survival in an open boat for more than 100 days.

The meeting discussed and made recommendations on four significant ways to improve small boat safety.
Firstly, if we are to devise effective ways of tackling loss of life at sea, it is essential to better understand the extent of the sea safety problem.

To help with this, countries need to record information on sea safety incidents.

This information will be a valuable tool for creating greater awareness and the political will to address sea safety issues and provide the necessary resources.

Reliable data can also assist countries in working out the dollar and human costs associated with sea accidents and to assess if the resources committed to sea safety are being used effectively and efficiently.

Like road safety programmes, there is no Œquick fix¹ to reducing loss of life at sea. Sea safety awareness needs to be approached with a view to long term strategies that really make a difference at the level of small boat operators.

Fishermen and others who use small boats must be made aware of the very real dangers they face each time they put to sea.
Initiatives to raise awareness should focus on why so many accidents occur and be directed not just at fishers but also at communities and governments.

Not all boats are created equal with some small fishing vessels being built more strongly and providing greater levels of safety than others. To help raise sea safety standards there is a need to develop mandatory construction standards for small vessel construction in the region.

The standards should include plan approvals, construction specifications, built-in buoyancy, engine size limits and colour of hull.
Finally, while the realities of life in remote islands where many incidents occur make regulation difficult, appropriate sea safety regulations can dramatically improve small fishing vessel safety.

Samoa serves as a prime example of how safety improvements by appropriate regulations has reduced loss of lives.
Specialists felt that even where safety legislation for small boats is difficult to enforce, there is still value in having appropriate and publicised legislation to act as a target to aim for, a basis for local rules, and a useful standard, which can be a requirement for a fishing licence and loan approval.

These regulations should be simple, easy to interpret and drafted in plain words. So, where to go from here? The studies have been done, the results have been discussed and now it is up to the governments of the region to decide the resources needed to improve sea safety for small-scale fishermen.