MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Fishing, highly dangerous profession”

The European Parliament is calling for a gradual phasing out of fishing vessels over 20 years old from the EU fleet. The recommendation is one of 37 separate measures adopted by the Parliament at a meeting in Strasbourg last week which also considered shocking evidence of the danger of EU fisheries. With 1347 vessel causalities, including 160 deaths, in 1998, fishing “is a highly dangerous profession and a high risk sector”.

Euro MPs discussions were based on a report drawn up for the Fisheries Committee by Rosa Miguélez Ramos, which contained 34 recommendations including for increased safety training and skippers to be made aware of their statutory responsibilities.

Among the key points adopted by the Parliament were:

·A common European inspection system to take account of the differences between fishing fleets, which would also make stricter and more systematic vessel checks possible for smaller and older boats ·A gradual ban on fishing to be applied to vessels older than 20 years, except for those that have passed annual safety tests ·The Commission should continue co-financing the replacement of fishing vessels older than 20 years that fail health and safety standards ·The fishing industry should be urged to co-operate with the Member States and the Commission to establish a culture where safety is given the highest priority and existing safety rules are properly implemented Parliamentarians heard that there were 160 deaths and 2527 injuries to EU fishermen in 1998 alone. But the shocking statistic was dwarfed by an International Labor Office estimate of 24,000 deaths in the world wide industry every year. This makes "fishing a highly dangerous profession and a high-risk sector" the Ramos report states.

EU vessel casualties in 1998 stood at 1347 compared with 1250 in 1996, representing an increase of 3.7 per cent. The highest percentage of accidents involved engine failure (33 per cent), followed by sinking (nine per cent), groundings (nine per cent) and collisions (seven per cent). The least frequent accidents were those involving leaks (four per cent), fires and explosions (three per cent), capsizing (two per cent) and weather conditions (one per cent).

One fishermen in seven in the EU is involved in an occupational accident in any given year. In Denmark the fatal accident rate for fishing is 25-30 times higher than the rate for those employed on land. Other EU countries recorded similar disparities.

FIS/MP.