US Coast Guard Commercial Fishing Vessel Examiner
After several years of conducting
Fishing Vessel Safety Dockside Exams throughout Alaska, I’ve concluded
that there are three elements that must be present to be successful
in any commercial fishing endeavor. They are:
I like to call these three concepts the “Triangle of Safety.” These three concepts may seem obvious; however, nearly every fishing vessel casualty I’ve investigated or studied was lacking in at least one side of the triangle. Let’s look at these three sides in detail:
Plainly speaking, the vessel
must be able to get its crew from point “A” to point “B” and
back home again. This sounds simple. Who in their right
mind would take an unfit vessel to sea? Believe me, there
are reams of paperwork detailing vessel casualties where the skipper
believed his vessel was seaworthy. Use this simple checklist to
help determine if your vessel is seaworthy:
Is the hull sound, not leaking, can you see daylight through the planks?
Bilge pumps and bilge high water alarm operable.
Is the vessel’s engineering plant in good working order?
Hatches operable and secured to ensure the vessel is watertight.
Freeing ports unblocked to allow flow of water off the deck.
Deck loads and bait shacks properly secured so that they won’t break loose.
Bin boards in place to keep the load from shifting.
Deck cargo stowed down low and not atop the house.
Liquid loads topped off.
Professional
Mariner
Sure you are! I bet you’ve
been fishing most of your life! Does that make you a professional?
Webster defines a professional as “One who is participating for gain
or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by
amateurs.” Three traits separate a professional mariner from
an amateur mariner: attitude, skill, leadership.
Attitude – You recognize
it when you see it; a family member or an old skipper you worked with.
They all seem to carry themselves differently than others. He
is confident but not overly confident. She is steady and reliable,
and knows when to joke around and when to be serious.
Skill – This guy knows
the “pointy end from the blunt end” and everything in between.
He can feel the way the boat is handling in his legs. He knows
the fishing grounds like the back of his hand. He can navigate
without relying solely on the electronics. He is constantly aware
of his surroundings, and knows his vessel and his own limitations.
Leadership - Many books
have been written describing what is or what isn’t a good leader.
Some say that one is born with the ability to be a leader. Others say
leadership is a quality we all have, more in some and less in others.
Leadership in the professional mariner goes beyond the ability to hire
and fire crewmen, or getting the boat and crew back in one piece.
A professional mariner must be a leader. He or she must focus
on the task ahead, meet deadlines, provide structure, give instruction,
handle emergencies, stick firmly to the final decisions he or she makes,
give direction and develop challenging goals for him or herself.
I’m sure you can think of other qualities to add to the list.
Ultimately, a leader is accountable to his crew and his boat.
A leader gains legitimacy through task completion, skill application,
and growth in proficiency.
Good Fishermen
A good fisherman catches many
fish! That’s one definition. There are probably a hundred more.
Basically, if he doesn’t catch many fish, he won’t make any money.
And if he doesn’t make any money, the first thing that suffers is
the very same thing that makes him money, his boat. We all know
what goes into the up-keep of a fishing vessel. It doesn’t take
long for the deferred maintenance to get out of hand. Good fishermen
realize this. He or she takes the time to maintain not only the
boat, but safety equipment as well. A good fisherman can
be judge by the amount of fish he catches, but it’s safe to say that
a good fisherman knows that if he doesn’t come back, then he won’t
be paid. It would be an injustice to try to describe the
traits of a good fisherman in just a few words. Perhaps there
is no definitive definition. However, I am confident you will
agree, good fishermen always hold up their side of the triangle.
I’ve thought about this “Triangle
of Safety” idea for a long time. I have kicked it around
and used it to evaluate many vessel accident reports I’ve written
or read about. I even ran it past some of the old crusty
fishermen I know. In my attempt to find a pattern of events and
to make a concrete point, I have found that this triangle of safety
makes sense. It’s important to remember that if one side or
more of this triangle is missing it collapses.
The triangle of safety is only as strong as its weakest side, and safety is the key
component of each of those
sides. People die needless deaths! How many fishermen
have you known who have died while fishing? Who, with a little
training and the proper lifesaving equipment, could be fishing today?
Nobody thinks an accident could happen to them, it’s always the other
guy. Try not to be the other guy! Answer these few questions and
see where your weakest side of the triangle is:
When was the last time you looked at your safety equipment?
Do you test your EPIRB monthly?
Do you maintain your life raft and have it inspected annually?
Does your immersion suit or PFD fit?
Are there enough Immersion suits for everyone?
Are there enough fire extinguishers aboard?
Can every crewman make a distress call on the VHF?
Do you and your crew conduct monthly drills?
Do
you participate in the courtesy dockside exam program?
If you answered no to any of
these questions, then you need to reevaluate your triangle. But
if you think that you’re not the other guy then the only advice I
can give is… well, my friend… maybe you should drive a truck for
a living.
Tim Clepper is the Commercial
Fishing
Vessel Examiner for Southern
Southeast Alaska.
Assigned to the Marine Safety
Detachment in
Ketchikan, Alaska.
Mr. Clepper retired from
Active service in the US
Coast Guard in 1993
after 21 years. In
1994 he was hired as a
vessel safety examiner.