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Transport Canada Response to Fishing Boat Capsizing Unsatisfactory: TSB

Posted on: Monday, 21 November 2005, 18:00 CST

By DENE MOORE

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - Transport Canada has been criticized for failing to implement recommendations made after a fatal boating accident in British Columbia three years ago.

The Transportation Safety Board, in an interim report into another sinking, said Transport Canada has failed to remedy a gap in safety rules for small vessels. "The TSB has long had a concern for the stability of fishing vessels and has made recommendations on this issue in the past," Charles Simpson, acting chairman of the board, said in the report issued Monday into the September 2004 sinking of the Ryan's Commander off Newfoundland.

Two crewmembers died in that accident.

"Simply stated, not enough has been done by Transport Canada to improve this unsafe condition," Simpson continued.

In 2002, five people died when they became trapped in the hull of the Cap Rouge II after it capsized in August 2002 at the mouth of the Fraser River.

The TSB made several recommendations after that tragedy, but they have not been adopted by Transport Canada and five similar vessels have gone down since.

The shrimp dragger, Ryan's Commander, went down on Sept. 19, 2004, in stormy seas off Cape Bonavista.

The skipper and several marine engineering experts immediately blamed a flawed construction common in the small-vessel fishery.

Under federal rules, vessels more than 20 metres in length are subject to more stringent safety rules than those under 20 metres.

Many owners keep their vessels under 20 metres but build them high and wide to accommodate large catches, meaning they can be more prone to capsizing. There is currently no stability assessment required of those vessels.

"We had a 45-footer before," skipper Ron Furlong told the media after the time the Ryan's Commander sinking. "If we'd been in that, we would have come home."

According to the safety board, instability was an issue in the sinking of 76 vessels between 1990 and 2003, and at least five incidents since the Cap Rouge report came out in November 2003.

Three Victoria fishermen died when the Hope Bay went down in Queen Charlotte Sound in February 2004.

In July, two men died when the Ocean Tor sank off the coast of British Columbia, and in September four crew died when the Melina and Keith II went down off Newfoundland.

The safety board wants Transport Canada to require stability data and testing for small fishing vessels.

An official with Transport Canada said the agency had received the report and has 90 days to respond.

"The department is working towards modernizing the stability requirements and establishing stability standards for all small fishing vessels," said Anne-Marie Bouchard.

"These changes are scheduled to come into force in mid-2007 at this point."

Earle McCurdy, president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union in Newfoundland, said the problem is Transport Canada doesn't have the staff to undertake the testing.

"When people say 'cut, cut, cut,' there's payback somewhere," McCurdy said.

Source: Canadian Press

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