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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 32 Number 7
March 2005
Stop the losses: Focus on safety standards
FAIRHAVEN, MA - Prompted by the shocking loss of five crewmen in the Dec. 20 sinking of the Northern Edge, marine safety experts and policy makers will meet with commercial fishermen from around the region on March 19 for a summit on safety at sea.
The Fishing Vessel Safety Forum is being hosted by the Northeast Maritime Institute, a school that has provided safety training and Coast Guard certification for merchant mariners for more than 20 years.
But with the deaths of eight Massachusetts fishermen between late December and late February, concern over commercial fishing safety has become razor sharp, and the forum has drawn more than a dozen co-sponsors, including the Fisheries Survival Fund, the Trawlers Survival Fund, the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, and the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association.
“This has to be a forum from which real fishermen are heard,” said Eric Dawicki, president of the Northeast Maritime Institute. “We need to introduce professional standards to this community and start educating and training people to meet those standards.”
Dawicki added that he’s not necessarily advocating additional government-imposed requirements on fishermen.
“The goal is not to regulate,” he said. “It’s to motivate self-regulation.”
A frank exchange
The forum format has been designed to encourage a frank exchange of ideas.
While a variety of experts and government officials will present talks on safety from their unique perspectives, a panel of fishermen and vessel operators, as well as another panel of wives and mothers who have lost loved ones at sea, will present their views on safety issues.
Time has been scheduled throughout the day for question-and-answer exchanges.
Among the invited speakers are the following.
• Peggy Barry, a safety advocate who, after the loss of her son Peter in the 1985 sinking of the Western Sea off Alaska, was key in pushing the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988 through Congress. She will discuss safety from a historical prespective.
• Rear Adm. David Pekoske, commander of the Coast Guard First District, will talk about fishing vessel safety and search and rescue issues.
• Bill Hogarth, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), will address the place of safety in fisheries policy decisions.
• US Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the congressman who represents the port of New Bedford/Fairhaven, will talk about “the safety challenge.”
• John Womack, a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Fishing Vessel Safety Panel, will discuss fishing vessel stability. And
• Cliff Goudey, director of the Center for Fisheries Engineering Research with Sea Grant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will give a talk entitled “Are we fishing with dinosaurs? Fishing vessel safety from the keel up.”
Long-time scallop vessel captain Chris Wright will head up the panel of fishermen and vessel operators. Barry will guide the wives and mothers panel.
Classes, sponsors
The forum will be followed by a closed-door fishermen’s roundtable on March 20 and six one-day, no-cost fishing vessel safety classes.
The classes, geared toward vessel operators and crew, will be held Saturdays from March 26 through April 30 at the institute. Each class will cover personal survival, safety equipment, and stability guidelines.
In addition to the four fishing industry groups that have signed on as Fishing Vessel Safety Forum sponsors, as of late February other sponsors included: Commercial Fisheries News; New Bedford Standard-Times; WBSM Fairhaven; MIT Sea Grant; US Coast Guard First District; NMFS; Virginia Institute of Marine Science Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program; Transport Canada; US Marine Safety Association; and SNAME Fishing Vessel Safety Panel.
With the exception of small grants from the Sea Grant programs to help pay for advertising, the Northeast Marine Institute is covering the cost of the forum, fishermen’s roundtable, and the one-day safety classes.
“After the Northern Edge, my brother, who’s in the Coast Guard, came in here and said, ‘You’re not doing anything in your own community,’” said Dawicki. “That really hit me. We’re not in this for the money. What we want to see is a safer industry.”
There is no charge to attend the forum, which will be held at the Fairhaven Town Hall, although organizers would appreciate hearing from those who intend to attend for planning purposes.
For more information, contact: Northeast Maritime Institute, 32 Washington St., Fairhaven, MA 02719; phone (508) 992-4025; or e-mail <[email protected]>.
Lodging is available at the Fairhaven Hampton Inn. Call the inn at (508) 990-8500 and mention that you are attending the Northeast Maritime Institute event when making reservations.
Lorelei Stevens
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