WHY FISHERMEN
DIE IN SILENCE
BY KEITH INGRAM
EPIRB's with integrated
GPS receiver provides
the last piece...
A
Be found fast!
Search and Rescue authorities will have your GPS
co-ordinates accurate to less than 100m within
minutes, which means you get rescued quicker.
> 16 channel Quadrifilar
Helix GPS receiver.
> COSPAS-SARSAT
worldwide operation.
> Float Free available.
> High intensity strobe
For further information, visit www.gme.net.au
or contact our GME New Zealand branch:
AUCKLAND (09) 274 0955
NZ318
light.
VIP.S93
ttending the recent coronial enquiry into the loss of
the cray fishing vessel K-Cee and the inshore trawler
Governor at Te Anau, highlighted the need for all fishing
vessels within the coastal waters from Dunedin, south
to Foveaux Strait–Stewart Island, around Fiordland and up the
West Coast towards Greymouth, to carry the new generation float
free 406 Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon EPIRBs.
All commercial boats are required by survey to carry a manually
activated 406 beacon.
Unfortunately, as coroner
FV K-Cee
Justice David Crerar pointed
out in his deliberations, these
beacons are only any good
if the crew has the time to
retrieve and activate the
beacon. In the case of both
vessels Justice Crerar was
satisfied that the evidence
presented clearly showed
that the K-Cee suffered a
catastrophic event while picking up pots in heavy seas on the
exposed rocky shore of Secretary Island and was lost before the
crew could raise the alarm. Justice Crerar was also satisfied that
the Governor which was trawling in a following sea off Yates
Point, when the net became snagged and held fast. This suddenly
changed the vessels situation from being in a following sea to an
overtaking sea resulting in the Governor becoming overwhelmed
from the awash deck aft and swamped before the crew could raise
the alarm or activate the vessels EPIRB.
In both cases the crews
never made it to the vessel
life raft, which automatically
deployed via their hydrostatic
release systems.
Sadly, it would take 25
hours before the alarm was
raised on the missing K-Cee
and five hours in the case
of the Governor, by which
time the vital golden hour
Govenor "aka " Governor
for emergency response was
long past. The court was told that had the vessels carried the
appropriately fitted auto release float free EPIRBs, rescue
services may have been alerted and able to respond much earlier.
Evidence was presented to the court pointing out the
unexplained loss of some eight fishing vessels in these waters
within the last decade, along with the loss of some 27 missing
crewmembers. In this case, as in many cases, no bodies have
been recovered. In all incidents the alarm was not raised nor the
vessels reported missing – for up to four days in one situation.
These losses do not include fishing vessels lost on the Grey
River bar during this time.
In his summary Justice Crerar advised the friends
and families present that he would be making a strong
recommendation to the Minister that all fishing vessels
working these southern waters be required to carry
correctly installed float free EPIRBs.
May/June 2013 Professional Skipper 71
