The Ministry of Public Works’ Board of Inquiry (BoI) into the sinking of a Noble House Seafoods trawler last month and the disappearance of three of its crew has unearthed major breaches and this has triggered safety inspections of all vessels and scrutiny of captain’s licences
The findings have led Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill to declare that there must be changes in the system to minimise the chance of a recurrence.
The report containing the findings of the inquiry was presented to Edghill yesterday and while the findings are yet to be fully made public, the minister disclosed that there were glaring breaches in the licences held by the captain, certification of the vessel’s seaworthiness, plus Noble House Seafood’s failure to alert authorities, among others.
“I am determined that it cannot be business as usual. Lessons learnt must be on our minds… I hope we could list those lessons learnt and strengthen the whole system,” Edghill underscored.
The Board of Inquiry’s report into the disappearance of the vessel “World Friend 307” and its occupants on February 19 is expected to be released over the weekend to the media and family members of the missing men.
Those missing are Captain of the vessel, Harold Anthony Damon, 45; Ronald Burton, 78; both of Agricola, and Winston Sam, 46, of McDoom, East Bank Demerara. It was reported that the vessel capsized and sank some 18 miles off the Mahaicony Coast in the Atlantic Ocean after taking on water.
In light of the revelations in the report, Edghill, during a simple handing over ceremony, disclosed that Marine Inspectors at the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) have been given a mandate to inspect and certify all fishing vessels before they can operate at sea. The Minister stated that apart from the measures to tighten the operations, fishermen will be subjected to safety training and their licences verified.
“As a result of this incident, there can be no guessing that it will not be business as usual as it relates to the regulatory framework in which the fishing industry operates in Guyana, and it cannot be business as usual as it relates to the use of waterways, what we do and how we do it.” Edghill added that moving forward, “safety and the establishment of strong minimum standards to ensure safety and capacity to respond and the establishment of protocols must be clearly defined.”
It was revealed that while the boat was given clearance to return to sea after being in the dry dock for a period, the Minister said the team was unable to ascertain who certified the boat. He noted that the regular procedure is to have a MARAD-certified Marine Surveyor give clearance but during the investigation no records were provided to back up the information from the company.
“There is no record to show if this boat was adequately inspected by a marine surveyor… So a boat has disappeared and gone down, we don’t know because there is no record to show if this boat was adequately inspected by a competent marine surveyor, deficiencies were found or not found, corrective actions were taken or not taken,” Edghill pointed out.
According to the Minister, from the list of employees on the company’s register, they could not prove that they have a suitably qualified person internally to conduct such examinations on the vessels.
The Public Works Minister went on to add that the BoI has also found that the captain’s licences provided by the company are not reflected in MARAD’s records. This, he said, raises serious concerns as to what is happening in the sector.
“This finding will encourage me as minister to examine the licensing system and if we do have rogue elements that are offering licences or fake licences that are being created…” he said, warning that such persons will be dealt with.
He stated that while Noble House Seafoods permitted the captain to operate, chances are they were unaware the captain’s licence was fraudulent.
Touching on the need for crew members to be certified in basic safety practices, Edghill stated that they will have to look at ways to safeguard the lives and welfare of people before they go out into dangerous waters.
“I know the argument can be made that these are men that go out there all the time, what kind of training they need [because] they have the experience but when something happens is when everybody wakes up,” the minister stressed.
When asked by this newspaper if Noble House Seafoods faces any sanctions for failing to report the distress call from the vessel early in the morning, Edghill responded, “once culpability or negligence is established, I’ll have the Attorney General examine that because if there is a matter of negligence, culpability, and families are suffering then there may be a need for compensation.” He stated that after perusing the report he will engage the state legal advisor Attorney General Anil Nandlall for advice on the way forward.
The BoI found that the company failed to inform the authorities of the distress the crew members were in resulting in a delay of the search and rescue plan. It was reported that it was some nine hours after the distress call was made to Noble House Seafoods, that the authorities were informed.
This, the minister pointed out, resulted in an approximately 24-hour delay in activating the search and rescue operation.
MARAD’s Director General Stephen Thomas related that the company should have informed authorities immediately and the lighthouse would have sent out an emergency notice directing all vessels in the area to render assistance.
He stated too that if a flare was used or a distress call of “May Day” was made to the light house, the resources would have been directed to the area.
Inspections
At present, maritime officers are engaged in inspecting all vessels to determine their seaworthiness and checking to ensure captain’s licences are valid. Two other vessels from Noble House Seafoods were found to be in breach of operating regulations.
The Minister informed that the exercise does not only target fishing vessels but the small boats heading out to sea. Close to two thousands boats are expected to be inspected during this process.
And with just six inspectors to conduct such an exercise, both MARAD’s Director General and Director of Safety, Captain John Flores stated that they will have to boost their capacity to meet the needs of the sector.
On Monday last, Edghill announced the suspension of the search for the three Noble House Seafoods fishermen.
He made the announcement at a meeting with family members and informed them that there had been no substantial leads from the searches.
“At this point, I do not know what else I can do in terms of search. It is a tough decision but we would have to suspend the search and go into a new phase of being on the alert while we continue to traverse the areas praying that we find something”, he told the Department of Public Information (DPI).
This newspaper learnt that apart from the search being suspended, the computer to read the sonar scans picked up by the MARAD vessel is not functioning. Stabroek News was told that the computer has to be replaced as it was damaged when one of the windows on the vessel broke. This occurred during one of the searches.
“MARAD has assured me, that the sonar equipment which scans the river bed, was damaged during the search. As soon as we could get the parts, we will do a scanning of the sea bed again once we get that fixed,” Edghill assured in the DPI report.
The Public Works Minister said that the search crew spent 936 hours at sea and scanned over 1,800 nautical miles for the men and the vessel.
The families have said that the stories being told by the lone survivor, Vincent Dazell, and the men who rescued him are inconsistent.
Dazell last week told Stabroek News that when he was rescued he was clinging to the life raft from the vessel.
“I don’t know what happened to them I honestly don’t. When the boat was going down [Ronald] Burton and [Winston] Sam were on one side of the boat and I was on the other side… Nobody was standing close to me…Anthony had run back inside the boat to get his phone but I never see him back because the boat deh start sinking from the back and then it toppled,” he related.
“I momentarily went down and when I come up back I see the baskets and fishing tub floating around me. I was still holding on to the life raft but when I look I didn’t see nobody around me nor I didn’t see the boat… I float for like 45 minutes before they come and rescue me,” he recounted.
According to Dazell, when he was rescued by the fishermen on a small boat, they had to lift him out of the water because “I had no strength to pull myself up. I deh catching cramps.” The survivor explained that even when he was in the boat he lost consciousness for some time.
The multi-agency BOI team was chaired by Flores and comprised of Yurlander Hughes, of the Transport and Harbour Department; Ronald Charles, of the Ministry of Public Works; Rawle Williams, of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard; Ewart Wray, of the Guyana Police Force Maritime Unit; Dwayne Vyphius, an Occupational Safety and Health Officer at the Ministry of Labour; and Denzil Roberts, head of the Department of Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture.
