With fishing as one of the main industries in Newfoundland and Labrador, marine safety is extremely important.
One of the best-known names in the marine safety business in the province for decades was Merv Wiseman.
Known to everybody as simply “Merv,” he was probably the media’s number one contact when it came time to discuss issues ranging from lost vessels to the complex business of marine safety from a bureaucratic or political perspective.
He was a marine search and rescue coordinator with the Canadian Coast Guard in St. John’s and often the first person to hear a mayday or some other distress signals from a stricken vessel such as electronic location indicators called EPIRBs.
Navigator Magazine contributor Jim Wellman sat down with Wiseman recently to talk about search and rescue issues, including what it is like dealing with fishermen and other mariners in times when lives are in danger.
Wellman: You were often the first to hear from a captain or crewmember of a vessel in distress and in many cases, the last to talk to them when fatalities occurred. What was that like? How did you deal with someone who was staring into 30-foot seas in a vessel that is taking on water or is on fire? That is obviously stressful for the mariner, but it must be stressful for you too?
Wiseman: It is very stressful. I don’t know what it is, but I think most of us have something internally that we don’t understand or can explain, but something happens when we are faced with extreme conditions and whatever it is it allows us to stay focused and do the right things. Sometimes, it was personal for me. I have fished from longliners, I was also a ship’s officer and spent a lot of time on the water, sealing and things like that and so I knew a lot of fishermen and mariners personally, so there were times when the person I was talking to would be someone I knew well. Night shifts were hardest to deal with fatalities. I remember one night I was dealing with a man-overboard situation. It was coming on midnight and the person on the line was explaining everything that was going on and we were discussing the best approach to take. About an hour later the man called back and said it was all over — the man in the water didn’t survive. At that point I had to collect as much information about the victim as I could and when the caller told me the victim’s name, I nearly passed out at my desk. It was one of my best friends. I went home the next morning and my head was spinning, the room was spinning — I’ll never forget it.
Wellman: Do you think that those kinds of experiences shaped your life and the person you are?
Wiseman: Definitely. I easily get drawn to helping other people. In fact, if I see someone who is down on their luck for no fault of their own, I can’t rest until I try to help.
Wellman: You ran for political office a couple of times. Was your ambition to be a politician driven by your search and rescue career?
Wiseman: I ran three times, unsuccessfully. But yes, absolutely driven by that. I often thought if I could be a politician I could get new regulations passed and new policies implemented. As it was, I was always trying to convince politicians to put a new life-boat station here and something else there or asking if we can have EPIRBs made mandatory, but it always seemed to fall on deaf ears. So, I used to think; ‘by God if can get elected, I’d have that fixed.’ But I couldn’t get myself elected.
Wellman: A lot of time has passed since those political campaigns were run and many things have changed. Technology has advanced, fishing vessels are larger and fishing further offshore and so forth — is there as great a need for search and rescue improvement as it was back then?
Wiseman: The need is just as great or greater. We have the same number of marine fatalities today as we did years ago. In fact, there has been a marginal increase of marine fatalities nationally. Recent statistics and a report on inshore, small-boat incidents was interesting. Basically, it said that ‘the smaller the boat, the greater the likelihood of fatalities.’ And listen to this, about 90 per cent of small boats in Canada are in Newfoundland and Labrador. So, when I was reading that, I started thinking about small versus large and I thought that there must be a way to tune the search and rescue system to match the small boat needs differently than the larger offshore vessels, because it seems to me that the structure of the system now is sort of one size fits all.
Wellman: Why is that do you think?
Wiseman: A big part of the problem is attitudinal, both politically and bureaucratically. There seems to be a mindset that we’ve done a good job and there’s nothing more needed. But with new technology coming in every year, there is a lot more we can do. Take EPIRBs for example. There is no reason why a $300 device that would help search and rescue efforts and save lives — why aren’t they mandatory? In some cases, we’ve even gone backwards. Several years ago, CO2 alarm systems were mandatory. They are not anymore. Why? They were in engine rooms and if there was a fire there, the system would spray a fire retardant and sound an alarm that would wake the dead. They worked.
Also, we don’t do enough investigation after an accident. Let’s look at what happens when an aircraft crashes. Even the tiniest parts, right down to a small screw or nut is salvaged and inspected looking for clues as to what went wrong and help determine how an accident like that can be prevented.
But, back to politics and bureaucracies: Some of the problems are not at the top but can be found closer to home. I’ve been known to voice my opinion freely. But not everyone can handle that. I was working collaboratively with Jeanette Russell, a Labrador woman who lost her son on a fishing vessel, and she had a presentation she wanted to make to make to a Newfoundland and Labrador Safety Association (mostly fisheries) that is coordinated through the FFAW. Jeanette has done a lot of work and study on ways to improve safety at sea but when they [FFAW] heard that I was helping her, she was told that I was not allowed to attend. That’s crazy. I’ve been critical of the FFAW on some things involving safety, but I have also been complimentary on other matters as well. We need to get past that kind of petty politics and consider the greater good.
Wellman: Speaking of Jeanette Russell, she has been aggressively advocating for a primary search and rescue presence in Labrador ever since her son Marc and his friend Joey Jenkins died in 2021. Is one centre in a fishing and shipping area with such a long coastline too much to ask for?
Wiseman: No, not too much to ask. In some cases, they are in a sort of no-man’s land in Labrador with no means of communication at all. They have even lost some of the minimal coverage they did have because of downgrades to some Coast Guard Radio Stations and St. Anthony’s CG Radio has closed. I think one of the most frustrating things for people like Jeanette and others in Labrador is the fact that they have one of the best aviation facilities in the country sitting practically on their doorstep. I’m talking, of course, about 5 Wing Goose Bay at the Canadian Forces Base there. They have helicopters and much more equipment needed for search and rescue missions, but they are not designated as a primary Search and Rescue centre and so that much needed equipment just sits there while it is desperately needed sometimes.
Wellman: I want to end on a very personal note. You are suffering a debilitating illness called pulmonary fibrosis. There is no cure via conventional means, but you are on the waiting list for a double lung transplant which can only be done in Toronto. Would you tell us about that?
Wiseman: Yes, it was diagnosed almost 10 years ago and was not problematic, but last year it accelerated and now I’m on oxygen. I own a large silver fox farm, the largest in North America actually, and we believe that this illness was caused by all the dust and fur and everything else associated with that kind of farm. So now, I must go to Toronto and live near the hospital because when they have lungs that match mine available for transplant I must be at the hospital within a couple of hours.
Wellman: I’m very sorry to hear about your condition and we all wish you the very best and when you are well, come back to see us again.
