This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Saving lives at sea
17/05/2006
The Executive is offering to cover almost half the cost of a new life-saving device designed for fishermen and fish farmers.
An average of 30 people in the fishing industry die at sea each year. The Man Overboard Guardian vessel alerting system could reduce that number by cutting the time it takes rescuers to locate anyone who has fallen into the water.
It works by transmitting an alert from a personal safety device to rescuers, allowing them to pinpoint the man overboard to within metres of their location.
At the Fishing 2006 Exhibition at the SECC in Glasgow today, Deputy Rural Development Minister Rhona Brankin said:
"I hope that by offering to cover 40 per cent of the cost of fitting the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's lifesaving Man Overboard Guardian device to fishing boats we will drive up safety standards in the sector and better protect the wellbeing of Scottish fishermen while they are at sea.
"We want to see a sustainable, profitable and well managed fishing sector in Scotland and by providing this financial encouragement we are helping owners of single crewed and larger vessels to make the industry a safer one to work in.
David Smith, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Fishing Safety Coordinator for Scotland, says:
"The RNLI developed MOB Guardian in an effort to increase safety amongst commercial fishermen. We are therefore delighted to have such a positive response from SEERAD and DEFRA who have announced very positive funding arrangements to assist fishermen purchasing MOB Guardian."
Grants are being made available under the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) with individual applications expected to be made through trade bodies such as the Sea Fish Industry Authority (SFIA). Simlar applications are invited from those in the aquaculture industry through their respective trade organisations.
Fitting a base unit and provision of a Personal Safety Device (PSD) will cost approximately £1,000 per vessel. With funding from SEERAD, plus other funding initiatives, it is expected that fishermen will pay no more than £300 + Vat per unit to install the device.
It is estimated that there are potentially 3,000 users of this new technology across the UK. A significant percentage are single crewed vessels.