Cape Town - Fishermen have responded angrily to suggestions that a lack of training had led to the loss of lives among the crew of the Viking Fishing trawler Lincoln.
Thirteen fishermen died on Sunday when the Lincoln’s crew of 21 abandoned ship after the vessel was swamped fore and aft by massive seas about 30 nautical miles out to sea from Cape Hangklip.
Soon after the tragedy became publicly known, there were suggestions that fishermen aboard trawlers were inadequately trained.
The Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) were among those accused by fishermen of making such claims.
On Monday, the Trawler and Linefishermen’s Union strongly refuted claims by Fawu that the training of the crew lost in the tragedy may not have been adequate.
The Trawler and Linefishermen’s Union represented all the crew members of the MFV Lincoln and other sea-going workers at Viking Fishing.
“No one can go to sea without completing pre-sea training and we have the facts to prove that there is training going on at Viking Fishing on a day-to-day basis,” said Gert Christie, general secretary of the Trawler and Linefishermen’s Union and the chairman of the Bargaining Council for the Fishing Industry.
“This is a time of tragedy, not just for the families and loved ones of the men who have lost their lives, but for the entire South African fishing industry.
“We ask that individuals and organisations refrain from making alarmist and ill-informed statements at this time.”
According to the union, every sea-going employee at Viking Fishing was required to complete safety familiarisation training on a regular basis, to ensure that they fully complied with the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) safe manning regulations.
Safety familiarisation training included formal fire-fighting, survival and first-aid courses.
All officers (skippers, first, second and third mates and chief engineers) were required by Samsa to ensure that their safety training courses were up to date.
Viking Fishing invested R3.5 million a year in training and up-skilling its employees, said training manager Trevor Wilson.
Although only one-third of Viking Fishing’s employees actually worked at sea (the company has substantial interests in seafood processing and aquaculture) by far the largest proportion of the training budget (R2.4m) was dedicated to ensuring that sea-going employees were trained to work safely at sea and well prepared for any eventuality, he said.
Viking Fishing was a registered training provider with the Transport Seta and Samsa, Wilson said.
The company not only trained its own fishing crews, it also offered training to the employees of other companies in the maritime industry.
“Contrary to popular opinion, fishermen working in the deep-sea and in-shore trawl fisheries are not exploited or under paid,” said Christie.
“Their interests are protected by a bargaining council for the fishing industry. Viking Fishing is one of the founder members of the bargaining council.”
Meanwhile, Siphokazi Ndudane, acting deputy director-general of the fisheries branch says news of the accident shocked the fishing sector.
“We are in contact with Viking Fishing and will be making contact with family members of the deceased fishermen once we have all their particulars.
“We urge for a thorough investigation to get to the cause of this tragedy.”
Cape Argus