Stability is an ongoing topic of discussion in the fishing industry.
Knowing about the stability characteristics and limitations of your vessel is probably the single most important safety consideration for any vessel owner. Most vessel owners and operators have a reasonable understanding of stability, but the value of having a stability analysis completed for your vessel cannot be overstated.
Vessel operators with years of experience on a particular boat certainly have the skill and experience with the vessel in a wide variety of sea and weather conditions. They do not need a piece of paper or substantial report to tell them how to handle their boat, but a stability analysis will provide them with a written verification of the vessel’s limits.
Ultimately, this is the greatest benefit of a stability analysis.
Over the years, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has investigated far too many accidents involving the loss of vessels, as well as the crew members onboard. These investigations have resulted in recommendations that are very often related to stability.
Transport Canada has been slow in implementing many of these TSB recommendations. There are still many vessels that do not have any stability assessment at all.
To be fair, many of these vessels are used for one specific fishery and have a proven track record of safe operations. But vessels change hands, get rigged for different fisheries and are modified from their original design, such that the stability characteristics of the vessel are no longer the same as when they were first constructed.
There has been a push in recent years by Transport Canada surveyors to request vessel owners to have a stability analysis completed, particularly if the vessel has been modified or rigged for different fishing operations, such as sea cucumber or the use of live wells for example.
I believe this is a step in the right direction. But unfortunately, there are inconsistencies in what Transport Canada requests from vessel owners.
Stability requirements can be different from one surveyor, office or region to the other and this is confusing to vessel owners. Vessel owners have expressed to me that it would certainly be a great help to the industry if Transport Canada was consistent in its request for stability information.
A stability analysis can take the form of a simplified assessment, an update to an existing stability booklet or a full stability assessment involving an inclining experiment and detailed stability booklet. Each approach involves a different level of work and therefore comes at a different cost. Whatever type of analysis is conducted, based on a determination by Transport Canada and the naval architect, any stability analysis is better than none.
Most vessel owners understand this and are willing to invest in a stability analysis, but there needs to be less irregularity in the requirements from Transport Canada, as this will lead to an improvement in participation and cooperation between Transport Canada and industry participants.
I believe all vessels should have some sort of stability analysis completed, whether it is a new vessel or an existing vessel or a modified vessel. It is the only way that the operator can know the stability limitations of the vessel and this will certainly lead to a safer fishing industry.
Rick Young is a Naval Architect and Director with TriNav Marine Design.
