The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport reminds all concerned in the fishing industry of the existing requirements for drills and musters for man overboard recovery systems on all fishing vessels.
The legal requirements for these are laid out under the Merchant Shipping (Musters) (Fishing Vessels) Regulations 1993 SI No. 48 of 1993 and Merchant Shipping (Safety of fishing Vessels) (15-24 metres) Regulations 2007 SI No 640 of 2007.
These regulations require the skippers of fishing vessels to draw up muster lists for their vessels and exercise the crews of their vessels in the use of lifesaving appliances and firefighting appliances carried on their vessels.
The notice comes on the foot of a report published earlier this year by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board into a fatal incident involving the FV Kerri Heather in Arklow in November 2016.
Existing requirements in relation to drills/musters for vessels under 15m are included in Chapter 8.9 of the Code of Practice for the Design, Construction, Equipment and Operation of Small Fishing Vessels of less than 15m.
The skipper of every fishing vessel has overall responsibility for ensuring their crew know the location of the lifesaving and firefighting equipment on the vessel and are instructed, trained and drilled in the use of such equipment.
Full details of such skills — and the related DTTAS recommendations — are outlined in Marine Notice No 40 of 2018, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.