THE NAVAL Service's monitoring system for policing fishing activity should be also used for safety purposes, the jury at an inquest said yesterday. Verdicts of accidental drowning were yesterday returned by a jury at the inquest of an Irish trawler skipper and his Polish crewman who perished when their fishing vessel, the Honeydew II, went down in stormy seas off the southeast coast in January 2007.
The jury at the inquests into the deaths of Ger Bohan and Tomasz Jagla also recommended that the Minster for Defence would ask the Naval Service authorities for closer attention to be paid to its Vessel Monitoring System at Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork Harbour.
The inquest heard from Mr Bohan's friend and skipper of the Rachel J, Johnny Walsh, who said that all trawlers are monitored by the VMS system with an automatic signal or "polling" being sent every two hours from a trawler giving its location, speed and direction. Mr Walsh accepted that the system was primarily used by the Naval Service to monitor fishing activity, but in Iceland it was also used as a safety system and he could see no reason why it could not be used in a similar way in Ireland.
The last recorded polling from the Honeydew II was at 11.36pm on January 11th, 2007, but the VMS operation failed to pick up the fact that trawler was not sending two hourly polls and it was only when he contacted Mr Bohan's wife, Mary the next day that the alarm was raised. Mr Walsh said he had been in touch with Mr Bohan at about 11.55pm on January 11th when Mr Bohan told him that he was going to dodge or steer into the gales that were hitting the southeast coast around Mine Head. The inquest heard from survivor Vladamir Kostyr, who told how he was on the stairs in the boat at about 3am on January 12th when he heard a huge bang and the boat went sideways.
Mr Bohan shouted at him to wake fellow crew members Mr Jagla and Viktor Losev. Mr Kostyr said he and Mr Jagla then launched a life raft and Mr Bohan was still in the wheelhouse sending out a Mayday signal when a huge wave came and cracked the window of the wheelhouse and the boat went over on its side.
He saw his friend Mr Losev dive under the boat to try to get to Mr Bohan in the wheelhouse but he was unable to do so and by the time that he (Vladamir) reached the life raft, he could see two figures in the dark whom he took to be Mr Losev and Mr Jagla.
Mr Losev told gardaí in a statement how he was urging Mr Bohan to get out of the wheelhouse, but he had stayed at the radio calling for help when a huge wave came in and pressed him against the wall before the boat turned over.
Mr Losev also told gardaí how Mr Jagla made it to the life raft but was impeded from climbing into it because of a life ring that he had around his head and arm and he was washed away by a huge wave.
Mr Kostyr and Mr Losev managed with great difficulty to put up the roof on the life raft and used a cup to bail out water and they spent 15 hours at sea in treacherous conditions before they were finally spotted and rescued.
The inquest heard evidence from Declan Geoghegan of the Irish Coast Guard and Sgt John Bruton of the Garda Water Unit how they spent several days diving on the wreck of the Honeydew II but found no trace of either Mr Bohan or Mr Jagla's bodies.
A Naval Service spokesman said the VMS system was never intended for search and rescue, and any such system proposed by the Minister would have to be separate and introduced by the Coast Guard.
