NTSB issued a Marine Accident Brief on the flooding and sinking of the fishing vessel ‘Aaron & Melissa II’ while 70 nm southeast of Portland, Maine, in November 2018. The key cause of the sinking was a combination of the Captain’s decision to proceed in heavy weather and of a clogged bilge system.
There is a wide range of different vessels. The international dry cargo and tanker markets are immense and are served by numerous ships of several types and of various sizes. Some of them follow standard designs and can carry a variety of cargoes while others are more specialized and able to carry commodities which the standard vessels cannot. According to the UNCTAD, in early 2019 the total world fleet stood at 95,402 ships accounting for 1.97 billion dead-weight tons (dwt) of capacity.
Representatives from the ITF Fishers Rights Network presented a petition, signed by more than 1,200 migrant fishers, calling on the Thai Government to directly implement and enforce the ILO Convention 188, which the country ratified in January 2019.
Global satellite communications provider Inmarsat and its partners, Addvalue Innovation Pte Ltd and Network Innovations, launched the first type-approved IP-based terminal and Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for fishing vessels operating in US waters, marking a significant milestone for sustainable fishing in the region.
Even though the waters off Scotland’s west coast, home to some of the richest marine habitats around any of the more than 5,000 British Isles are under strict protection, the staggering biodiversity of Scotland’s west coast still remains at risk. In fact, Wester Ross, a place called Scotland’s answer to the Great Barrier Reef and a powerhouse of biodiversity, an algae forest sheltering millions and millions of baby fish and protects them from predators is still under threat due to illegal industrial fishing.
Following an EU ban on cod fishing in Baltic Sea in late July, the Commission has recently made a new proposal in an effort to reinforce control and data collection in the area and assist all fishermen affected by the closure of the Easter Baltic cod fishery. Namely, the Commission suggests that from 2020, those vessels should be equipped with a vessel monitoring system or other equivalent electronic monitoring system and have observers onboard. This would allow scientists to gather more and better data on the stock.
48 states signed a public declaration to indicate their determination to ratify the 2012 Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety at a Ministerial Conference held in Torremolinos, Spain. This is a significant regime to create much-needed safety standards for fishing vessels.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister, General Prawit Wongsuwan, during a meeting with the Environmental Justice Foundation’s Executive Director, Steve Trent, committed to protect and build on recent fisheries reforms.
The reduction and prevention of deaths of fishermen along South Africa’s coastal area is among key priorities of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA). Now, efforts towards this goal are beginning to pay off, due to strategic partnerships domestically and abroad.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration released photos from a fire incident involving the Russian trawler ‘Bukhta Naezdnik’. The NCA was called to assist in the extinguishing work when a fire erupted on the Russian trawler, while at the quay in Tromsø, on 25 September.
