Inaction on fishing safety criticised

The chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation, Mr Joey Murrin, has criticised continued inaction on fishing vessel safety and has called on the Minister for the Marine to implement the key recommendations of a Government report on the issue.

Many of the proposals in the 1996 Fishing Vessel Safety Review Group report, which was commissioned in the wake of the Carrickatine disaster, had still not been implemented, he said yesterday. Although he had not had an opportunity to study the Carrickatine report in detail, Mr Murrin said it underpinned the need for the whitefish renewal scheme, as recently announced by the Minister. It also underpinned the need to take action on crewing shortages, which now meant that untrained "backpackers" were being recruited on to fishing vessels, he said. "I am not referring to the Carrickatine here, as that vessel had an experienced crew. But one of the Fishing Vessel Safety Review Group recommendations is that no skipper should be allowed to take deckhands on board without basic training. A single inexperienced person can put everyone else's life at risk."

Relatives of the crew of the Carrickatine, who were given copies of the report at the weekend, were understood to be reserving comment yesterday and there was some anger in Greencastle, Co Donegal, at the way in which the report's release was "flagged". Mr Seamus Bovaird, manager of the Foyle Fishermen's Co-op, said that families were upset at the presence of so many reporters.

"We welcome the report, even after three years," Mr Bovaird said, commenting before studying a copy himself. "In relation to some of the recommendations, all of our boats have EPIRBS and quick release life rafts, as this was a coop policy decision."

The report was issued under a policy change, initiated by the Minister, Dr Woods, during his previous term in office, in which legally vetted versions of investigations can be released to the public. Expressing his sympathy to the relatives at their loss, the Minister said yesterday that he profoundly regretted that no cause could be identified.

The Minister said that while progress in issuing marine casualty reports was "slower than he would like", he intended to improve matters when the new Marine Casualty Investigation Board was established.

The new board will be given enhanced powers to investigate marine casualties and to set deadlines for report publication.

A report into the sinking of the Dunmore East fishing vessel, Jenalisa, is due to be issued shortly. Meanwhile, in Donegal there is still no sign of the bodies of the two fishermen from Rosbeg who went missing in calm weather over a week ago. The 36-foot halfdecker was located in over 120 feet of water two miles offshore.