The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has urged the Minister for Marine and Bord Iascaigh Mhara to provide stability awareness and safety training for small fishing vessels in the light of the death of a crewman after a razor clam vessel capsized and sank in Dundalk Bay, Co Louth in December 2023.
These recommendations were made by the MCIB in investigations into two similar incidents in 2015 and 2020.
Its report into the capsize and sinking of the 9.68 metre steel razor clam vessel Ben Thomas on or around December 12th, 2023 says that failure of the crew to wear personal flotation devices (PFDs) was a “causal factor”.
The “likely cause” of the vessel capsizing and sinking was the overturning effects of a heavily laden dredge cage as it was being recovered onboard, it says.
“ A contributory factor is likely to have been the vessel’s low level of residual stability at this stage of the fishing operation,”it says.
The loss of a crewman’s life and the threat to the life of another crewmember due to the vessel’s capsize, occurred because of a combination of factors, it says.
These included “inadequate safety systems for the operation of this vessel”; failure to wear PFDs; failure of the liferaft to inflate; failure of the EPIRB to operate promptly; the omission of personal locator beacons;and cold water immersion.
The report notes the first casualty managed to retrieve a PFD that floated close by after the vessel sank and secured it to his body, whereas the second casualty who did not have access to a PFD died.
The circumstances that arose in this marine casualty have arisen in previous MCIB investigations in 2015 and 2020 - the sinking of Quo Vadis razor clam fishing vessel in Rosslare Harbour, Co. Wexford on February 11th, 2015, and the sinking of the FV Alize off Hook Head, Co. Wexford on January 4th, 2020, the MCIB notes.
The British Marine Accident Investigation Board (MAIB) reported on a similar casualty in 2022, when three crew members died after a whelk potter Nicola Faith foundered on January 27th, 2021.
An MAIB report 8/202223 included “a list of previous marine casualties investigated by the MAIB with similar stability / capsize circumstances, and set out the various recommendations made over the years as a result”, the MCIB says.
The skipper and the crewmember had begun fishing operations on the Ben Thomas on December 11th, 2023, one day prior to this incident.
The vessel initially operated in Skerries until June 2022, before being operated from Wexford and Rosslare until November 2023, the report notes.
In November 2023 the owner entered into an arrangement with a third party to operate the vessel, and apparently by extension the vessel’s sea-fishing boat licence.
“That third party engaged the skipper of the FV Ben Thomas and the other crewmember. The skipper was in charge of the vessel for a number of days before the marine casualty occurred,”it says.
The skipper had completed BIM basic safety training and had been involved in the fishing industry in Ireland for 18 months, and before this in Egypt, it says.
The skipper was not a holder of a Certificate of Competency, it says.
The crew member who died had been involved in the fishing industry for two years, and had completed basic safety training at the Hellenic Marine Training Centre Ltd, Greece.
The MCIB repeats recommendations to the Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine, and BIM made in its previous reports into the Quo Vadis and Alize sinkings.
It says BIM should provide stability awareness training for operators and crew of vessels less than 24m, with a focus on vessels less than 15m, and the Minister should amend the BIM safety training syllabi for its Basic Safety Training Course (vessels less than 15 m) to include a module on stability awareness, factors affecting stability, dynamic stability and the instability warning signs and precautions available to avoid such situations.
The full report is here
