N.B. Proposing to Make PFD Usage Mandatory on Fishing Boats
New Brunswick is set to make changes to its Occupational Health and Safety Act, part of which will mandate the wearing of personal flotation devices (PFDs) for the commercial fishing industry.
The proposed legislation would come into effect in June 2024, allowing for affected enterprises to adjust to the change in regulations. Currently, the only law affecting New Brunswick is a federal regulation, dictating that PFDs be made available for every person on board a vessel. The devices are not ...
This Lobster Season, Just Wear a PFD
Above: Capt. Andrew Titus of Mersey Seafoods sporting his personal floatation device dockside, October 2021. Contributed photo
The preparation is over and Nova Scotia’s two largest lobster fishing areas’ (LFAs 33/34) captains and crews are now catching the prized crustaceans.
For months, fishermen have been fixing gear, getting life rafts inspected, doing oil changes, arranging for bait and so much more to what some say is an endless list of things to do before the traps ...
The Saga of Recommendation M16-05
On September 5, 2015, the fishing vessel Caledonian capsized 20 nautical miles west of Nootka Sound, British Columbia.
At the time, the vessel was trawling for hake with four crew members onboard. Following the capsizing, the master and mate climbed onto the overturned hull and remained there for several hours. When the vessel eventually sank, the master and mate abandoned it and the mate swam toward and boarded the life raft.
The Canadian Coast Guard subsequently rescued the mate and ...
PFDs: A Regulatory Disconnect
On September 5, 2015, the fishing vessel Caledonian capsized 20 nautical miles west of Nootka Sound, British Columbia.
At the time, the vessel was trawling for hake with four crew members onboard. Following the capsizing, the master and mate climbed onto the overturned hull and remained there for several hours.
When the vessel eventually sank, the master and mate abandoned it and the mate swam toward and boarded the life raft. The Canadian Coast Guard subsequently rescued the mate and ...
Safety – Everybody’s Job
Safety in the fishing industry is different than in other industries.
Statistically, fishing is still the most dangerous occupation in the country outside the military and policing. We lose, on average, nearly a dozen fishermen every year. That high number is due in part to the fact that some accidents at sea cause multiple deaths, especially in these days of larger boats.
While no two fatal accidents are alike in the inshore fishing industry, there are often similarities. I once wrote ...
On the Waterfront – March 2017
Increase in Turbot TAC for Nunavut
The Nunavut Offshore Allocation Holders Association (NOAHA) has stated it is pleased with the recent announcement by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) of an increase in total allowable catch (TAC) for Greenland halibut (turbot) in NAFO Divisions 0A and 0B.
The Total Allowable Catch for Division 0A will increase from 8,000 tonnes to 8,575 tonnes and Nunavut will receive 100 per cent of the increase. The total allowable catch for NAFO Division 0B will ...
Belliveau to Introduce Legislation to Improve Regulations on Personal Floatation Devices
MLA for Queens-Shelburne Sterling Belliveau is preparing a Private Member’s Bill to strengthen Occupational Health and Safety regulations to mandate the workplace use of a personal flotation device (PFD) while “on deck on the water.” The bill coincides with concerns raised recently by the chairperson of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada about weak standards for PFD use.
“The fishery in Nova Scotia is a national leader in terms of its economic performance. We can also be a ...
Fishing Industry Participants Working to Help Their Own
When Stewart Franck began working with the Fisheries Safety Association of Nova Scotia (FSANS), he said seeing a fisherman wearing a personal flotation device was a rare thing.
Now, five years after getting the conversation going about implementing safe fishing practices in the commercial fishing industry, it is the opposite.
“It’s at the point now that fishers that don’t wear the PFDs are in the minority,” said Franck, the executive director of FSANS.
When asked how the ...
Incentives, Risks and Safety
Safety is a big concern in the fishery, as this issue of The Navigator illustrates.
Fishing is widely reputed to be the most dangerous occupation in the world. There are certainly long histories and many stories of tragic losses of vessels and crews. And the danger is probably a big part of the reason reality TV shows like The Deadliest Catch and Coldwater Cowboys attract substantial audiences.
So why are people willing to fish for a living, despite the dangers?
Essentially, people ...
PFDs: Pure Idiocy Not to Wear Them
I have a lot of photographs of vessels leaving port on the annual ‘dumping day’ in south west Nova Scotia’s winter lobster fishing season.
There is always one thing that stands clear — fishing boats are heavily laden with lobster gear, there are usually three or four men aboard and in recent years the stern has a ramp instead of a rail — it’s wide open.
A crewman aboard one of the vessels in my collection, when discussing ship-board accidents, stated that the issue wasn’t if ...
