The last weekend of June brought a string of unfortunate news for the fishing community, with three fishing accidents being reported within two days. The incidents that saw six dead have highlighted the need for fishermen to follow safety and compliance standards when they go out to sea.
On 28 and 29 June, three fishing vessels faced accidents on the southern coast. In Matara, on 28 June, a multi-day fishing boat was struck by a commercial vessel in the night, when the crew had gone to sleep. The Sri Lanka Navy was only able to save two of the five fishermen on board the vessel in the aftermath of the incident. Two lives were saved by the Navy, while two dead bodies were recovered and one is still missing.
Off the coast of Tangalle, another multi-day trawler set out to sea around 1 a.m. However, within 30 minutes, the boat turned back as one of the six crew members had fallen sick. Disaster struck when the boat collided with a rocky ledge, causing the boat to topple over, leaving two dead.
A few hours later, a single-day small boat left to sea carrying two fishermen – brothers – from Kalutara. Within 500 metres of the shore, the boat toppled over and only the life jackets of the fishermen washed ashore.
A committee was appointed shortly after, which included representatives from the Navy, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Merchant Shipping Secretariat, and Fisheries Department.
“The committee is to investigate shortcomings in fisheries operations and recommend amendments and short- and long-term solutions for the safety issues faced by fishermen at sea,” said Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director General S.J. Kahawatta.
The recent incidents have revealed a number of safety and compliance problems, according to Kahawatta, and the recommendations are likely to address those.
Life jackets
In all three incidents, the fishermen had not been wearing their life jackets, noted Kahawatta.
Observing that the Sri Lanka Navy and SLAF took a few minutes to reach the site of an accident after it occurred, Navy Spokesperson Commander Buddhika Sampath said that fishermen must wear life jackets at all moments they were out at sea.
“It is a personal responsibility to follow these safety and compliance standards,” said Commander Sampath.
SLAF Director of Media Group Captain Eranda Geeganage said the Air Force was responsible for two areas after it received word of an incident at sea through the Air Force control centre.
“We both monitor the incident and engage in rescue efforts using aircraft. However, we have limitations as our helicopters have certain fuel and performance capacities. For instance, an operation 75 nautical miles from the coast can be implemented, as we did on 30 May in Balapitiya where three fishermen were rescued,” he said.
However, during that incident too, fishermen had not been wearing life jackets.
Capt. Geeganage recommended that fishermen wear brightly coloured life jackets such as ones in orange for easy identification in the water.
In the recent Kalutara incident too, the life jackets washing ashore indicated that the fishermen had not been wearing their life jackets. Kahawatta said the requirement was not merely to have life jackets in the boat when fishermen left the coast, but also to wear them when at sea.
Equipment
In the Hambantota incident, where a commercial vessel crashed into the boat, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) of the boat had been turned off. Kahawatta explained that the AIS allowed for both foreign vessels to be identified by the boat’s radar and for the boat to be identified by other vessels close by.
Merchant Shipping Director General Asanga Deshapriya said the non-operation of the AIS could also impact the compensation process.
“If the incident is with a commercial ship – international or Sri Lankan – we intervene to provide compensation for the harm caused due to the incident. These things happen at sea, so the country’s law doesn’t apply at sea. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international laws apply in such cases, and we have to work accordingly.”
In such an incident, the identification of the commercial ship is vital for the Merchant Shipping Secretariat to initiate discussions about compensation with the shipping company and the country where the ship is registered.
“If we identify the ship and have technological evidence for the accident, there are methods to obtain compensation. We have done this before. However, in this incident, the vessels had not activated the AIS so we haven’t been able to find which ship it was.
“We are still conducting investigations and if we can identify the ship, we can engage in the compensation process. When equipment is turned on, ships can also identify other vessels in the area,” said Deshapriya.
Kahawatta said the committee appointed to investigate the safety of fishermen would look into shortcomings that had been exposed in the three incidents. Hence, recommendations are most likely to focus on life jackets (quality and colours), decorations on the front of boats that block windows and affect visibility, and travel in shipping lanes at night.