Towards a fishing vessel safety strategy

Department of Transport outlines a ten-year plan to improve fishing vessel safety

SOUTH AFRICA: The fishing industry has until 7 August to submit comments on a document outlining the Department of Transport’s (DoT) plan to produce a Fishing Vessel Safety Strategy.

After a month-long series of consultations that culminated in a virtual session yesterday, the DoT has extended the deadline for submissions and provided a useful template to guide stakeholders in collating their responses.

Noting the upcoming entry into force of the Cape Town Agreement in February next year, Dumisani Ntuli, Chief Director of Maritime Transport Policy and Legislation within the DoT, told participants yesterday that the strategy represents South Africa’s commitment to put the Agreement into practice.

Despite South African Maritime Safety Authority’s (SAMSA) role in addressing safety in the fishing industry, Ntuli acknowledged that the DoT had previously not been completely involved. “We are coming in now. We should have been more active, but we are now announcing our active engagement and involvement in the fishing sector as the Department of Transport,” he told the meeting. “This strategy should be seen as us connecting back with the sector so that we can address safety issues together.”

This move to develop a South African Fishing Vessel Safety Strategy (FVSS) follows on from last year’s fishing vessel safety audit undertaken by SAMSA. Reacting to a spate of fatalities in the sector, the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, directed SAMSA to undertake the audit and establish the groundwork to address fishing vessel safety.

The audit helped highlight the ageing fishing fleet and now serves to position the FVSS to help address fleet renewal options as well as other areas of concern including skills, emergency preparedness and risk assessment in the fishing sector.

Ntuli outlined the seven pillars that underpin the FVSS, as well as the implementation phases and delivery timelines that the DoT expects will improve the safety statistics. The draft document also proposes the establishment of a Fishing Vessel Safety Improvement Fund to support the delivery of harbour infrastructure, safety equipment, training programmes, assessments and community safety initiatives.

During the virtual session, however, Ntuli noted that funding mechanisms do already exist and are available to address many of the current issues facing the industry.

While the efforts to address safety concerns in the industry are welcomed, fishing sector stakeholders at the meeting used the opportunity to seek clarity on several issues as well as highlight areas of misalignment that are impacting on fishing operations.

The FVSS aims to establish, within the first two years, a dedicated Task Force and Secretariat that will oversee the work of technical working groups to establish a national safety baseline assessment as well as a national casualty database.

History has already shown that consistent engagement and effort are required to maintain safety in the fishing sector. In some instances, this current initiative mirrors the reaction to a sharp increase in incidents in the early 2000s that prompted Ministerial intervention and saw the establishment of the National Fishing Forum (NFF) as well as the hosting of the national Fishing Safety Indaba.

Both the NFF and the Safety Indaba have faded from the fisheries landscape over the last few years and the establishment of an FVSS needs to ensure that the longevity of structures is written into the plan. Currently, the proposed timeline suggests that the Task Force could face disbandment in 2037.

The industry should note that submissions are due next week and take advantage of the opportunity to provide input.