An advocate for safety on the seas has gotten word back from the Transportation Safety Board that it will not be doing an investigation into the sinking of a boat off Harbour Round on the Baie Verte Peninsula a month ago which claimed two lives. A third person in the boat made it to shore.
Merv Wiseman, the chair of the Food Fishery Committee, wrote the board asking for a full investigation into the incident but has gotten nowhere.
He says there seems to be a two-tier standard when it comes to fatal incidents. Anything involving aircraft is fully investigated whereas fatal fishing accidents are not.
Wiseman says we need to know the dynamics of the situation in order to try to improve safety.
“Was it structural issues to do with the type of vessel, was it to do with safety equipment that was being carried or not being carried, or has it to do with practices, was it because of the weather, was it because of pressure on fish harvesters to get out there and get their catch in a short period of time because i they didn’t, they would lose out on revenue,” he wonders.
Listen to “VOCM's Linda Swain speaks to Merv Wiseman” on Spreaker.
