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WATERWAYS – Waterfront Business In brief… Snap decision saved fishermen The skipper of a sinking trawler has praised his crew after they were forced to abandon ship in total darkness off the coast of south Taranaki in 30 knot winds and 3m swells. Lyle Jenkins, aged 42, lost sight of his two crewmen after they abandoned their trawler, the 17m South Seas. "As soon as I took her out of gear she rolled over. I went off one side of the boat and the crew went off the other," Jenkins said. He said he was relieved to see the liferaft's red light as the trawler sank. "Once we were in the liferaft I knew we were safe. "They're only young fellas, they responded really well. They didn't panic and they did everything I asked of them," he said. The South Seas was returning to Port Taranaki and Jenkins was asleep when a deckhand woke him to say they had slowed and taken on water. Jenkins made two mayday calls to the Rescue Co-ordination Centre before abandoning ship. A rescue helicopter found the crew in the raft and winched them to safety. The cause of the loss is being investigated. Good ideas reeled in to save seabirds A toy high-pressure water gun earned Aucklander Kevin Eddington first prize in a competition run by Southern Seabird Solutions to find ways to help save seabirds. Eddington says he came up with the idea after fooling around on Christmas Day with a Super Soaker in a friend's swimming pool. "I bought one and it worked really well. You squirt water at seabirds when they get too close and they just move away." The lead judge was seabird bycatch mitigation expert Barry Baker, who also heads an international team of experts set up by Southern Seabird Solutions to assess and mentor promising ideas. Eddington won a charter trip on the Ocean Ranger for himself and three friends. Runner-up Lew Hill chucked a bucket of water over the side of his boat and it accidentally went over some seabirds. "I noticed they flew away, that they didn't really like getting splashed," Hill said. 44 Professional Skipper March/April 2012 Fire kills Korean crew THREE CREWMEMBERS ARE believed to have died in a fire in the accommodation area of the Korean fishing vessel Jeong Woo 2 early on January 11 off Antarctica. The 51m ship was in the Ross Sea about 600km northeast of McMurdo Base with about 40 crew were on board when the fire broke out. Another Korean fishing vessel, the Hong Jin 707, responded to the Jeong Woo 2's distress call and relayed it to the New Zealand vessel Antarctic Chieftain to the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand by just before 0300 on January 11. The Jeong Woo 3 and Hong Jin 707 evacuated the Jeong Woo 2's crew. Seven were badly burnt and were transferred to the United States research vessel Nathaniel B Palmer, whose medical staff treated the injured crew before taking them to the US base at McMurdo Sound. A United States Airforce Hercules aircraft airlifted them to Christchurch for further treatment. The uninjured crew were transferred to the icebreaker Araon. The Jeong Woo 3 was to tow the burnt wreck to a position north of 60 degrees south, where her future would be decided. FROZEN WAIT FOR STRICKEN CREW THE CREW OF the 48m Russian fishing vessel Sparta finally made it into Nelson on January 9 after becoming stuck in Antarctic ice in the Ross Sea on December 16. The Sparta, with 32 crew on board, had issued a distress call about 2000 miles south-east of New Zealand after she hit ice which gouged a 300mm hole in her hull, 1.5m below the waterline. She began taking on water and listed 13 degrees. The crew attached temporary patches to the damaged section of hull, but these failed and she again took on water. A Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules made a seven-hour flight from Christchurch to drop off extra pumping equipment and fuel. This equipment enabled them to get on top of the water ingress again and they were able to fix the patches more securely. The stabilisation work was vital, Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand coordinator Dave Wilson said during the rescue. "They have liferafts, but with the conditions down there, it's much safer for them if they can wait for rescue on board their vessel." Heavy sea ice impeded progress by two nearby vessels, the Sel Jevaer and the Chiyo Maru No. 3 to help the Sparta, and the New Zealand vessel San Aspiring also withdrew after her crew confirmed the conditions were too difficult for them to proceed, said Wilson. Sparta's owner commissioned the South Korean icebreaker Araon to go her aid and she arrived from New Zealand after a voyage of about eight days. In the meantime, the crew manoeuvred the Sparta alongside the ice shelf and attached mooring lines to the ice. Once the Araon arrived, repairs to the hole were completed. A smaller hole was also found in the hull. The Araon then escorted the Sparta and opened a lane to allow both vessels to make their way through the ice shelf to open ocean. The Port Nelson company Diverse Engineering is to carry out repairs after a full inspection and assessment.