As news spreads of the ice strengthened, 63m fishing vessel, Antarctic Chieftain, stuck in ice with damaged propellers and 27 people on board necessitating another Antarctic rescue operation across hundreds of kilometres, ASOC calls for work to commence on the development of a Polar Code for fishing vessels as a matter of urgency.
Members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN body responsible for developing the rules and regulations for international shipping, commenced work on a Polar Code for cruise and cargo vessels in 2010. While the Polar Code is expected to be completed this year and take effect from January 2017, fishing vessels and other types of vessels, such a motorised yachts, which also frequent Antarctic waters during the summer months, were not included in the first phase of the Polar Code. A second phase of work is due to commence in 2016, but it could be some years before the measures required to address the safety of fishing vessels in the remote and hazardous waters are finalised.
This latest incident is one of a string of fishing vessel incidents in Antarctic waters in recent years, some of which have sadly resulted in loss of life or loss of the vessel and pollution of the immediate environment. In December 2010 the Insung No. 1 capsized and sank in the Ross Sea with the greatest loss of life in the Antarctic in the past decade. The Sparta was holed by ice in December 2011 and following a rescue response, repaired and escorted from the ice by an icebreaker. In January 2012 the Jeong-woo 2 caught fire and sank with the loss of 3 lives, while in April 2013, the Chinese-flagged, krill fishing vessel, Kaixin, caught fire and sank near the Bransfield Strait on the Antarctic Peninsula. Everyone on board was fortunately rescued before the vessel sank. Then in March 2014, the Australian Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) initiated a search for a 75 metre fishing support vessel, thought to be the Tiantai, following detection of an emergency beacon signal in the Australian Search and Rescue Region. The vessel and crew were not located but debris was seen in the area that the signal had been received from, and it is assumed that the vessel foundered.
In addition to the urgent need for work to commence on a Polar Code for Fishing Vessels, ASOC urges Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to adopt a conservation measure requiring a minimum level of ice strengthening for all vessels fishing in Antarctic waters.
In the meantime, ASOC thoughts are with the crew of the Antarctic Chieftain and the crews of vessels involved in the rescue operation. ASOC fervently hopes that this latest rescue operation will have a swift and successful conclusion.
Source: ASOC
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