Safety projects being updated to help protect Devon's fishers
The numbers of fishers being killed has fallen, but Plymouth City Council says more could be done
It's the UK's most dangerous peacetime profession and now two new safety projects are being developed for Plymouth's fishers.
The city council has agreed funding to 'look to investigate new design and technologies in personal locator beacons and seeks to fund next generation kit with enhanced features to the local fleet'.
It comes a decade after the city’s pioneering scheme which saw fishermen issued with personal locator beacons fitted into personal flotation devices,
In the first six months of 2016 before the last motion was brought, nine lives were tragically lost - whilst two were lost in 2024 according to the latest Annual Report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.
The new motion proposed by Councillor Tudor Evans OBE, who said: "Ten years ago, we led the way in ensuring every fisherman had a personal locator beacon fitted into their life jackets, this took the search out of search and rescue,” said Cllr Evans..
“Today, the challenges are the same but the knowledge and data of risks that cause loss of life and accidents is greater, and we can hopefully use this information to help our fishermen identify those risks on their vessels and how to remove or mitigate them.
“We want to support our fishermen to be pioneers once again, moving to a culture of proactive risk management that prevents accidents.”
Fishing is “still the most dangerous peacetime occupation in the UK” said Cllr Josh McCarty, who seconded the motion.
“So it’s great to see the council once again seek funding to offer practical support to our local fleet to keep them coming home safe to their families and our community," he said.
Since its inception in 2016, Plymouth’s life jacket scheme has distributed hundreds of units, fitted with personal locator beacons and the project has been replicated and rolled out across the country and even as far afield as the Taiwan National Fishermen’s Safety Scheme.
Cllr Evans’ motion, which passed unanimously, also 'commits the council to working with the industry to seek funding to provide one to one support from safety experts to all commercial and charter vessels to help identify and remove or mitigate operational risks where needed alongside training and the development of new best practice protocols where needed'.
The proposal also 'undertakes to report on identified risks and the work to mitigate them so other fishers across the UK can once again benefit from what is learned here'.