Ottawa accepts call for tougher inspections of fishing boats after NS sinking

Transport Canada will tighten inspections of fishing vessels in the wake of the inspection a deadly sinking Nova Scotia in 2020but the widow of a lost crew member says the reform doesn’t go far enough to prevent future tragedies.

Six crew members died on December 15, 2022, when the Chief William Saulis capsized when heavy seas crashed into the rocking boat and 2,700 pounds of uncaptured scallops slid across a deck and blocked the drain.

The bodies of Eugene (Geno) Michael Francis, Aaron Cogswell, Leonard Gabriel, Dan Forbes and Captain Charles Roberts were never recovered after the 17-meter ship sank off Delaps Cove, in the southwest of the county. Crew member Michael Drake’s body was dragged onto the rocky shoreline.

The federal transportation department said in an email Thursday that it has agreed to a March 22 recommendation from the Investigation of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada in the sink. The Safety Board recommended that inspectors verify that “required, written safety procedures” are available to the crew, such as methods of storing catch in a manner that does not block runoff.

Stability assessments needed

But Michelle Nickerson-Forbes, Dan Forbes’ widow, said in an interview Friday that the federal department is failing to move forward with what she and other families consider a root cause of repeated fishing tragedies: unstable vessels going out to sea.

“It’s great that you have the manuals and everyone should have them on deck, but if they don’t know if your boat is safe to begin with, why could it leave the dock?” said Nickerson-Forbes, adding that her two sons lost a father when the William Saulis sank.

The Security Council noted in its findings that since the sinking of the Caledonia, off the west coast in 2015, the Board has repeatedly recommended that Transport Canada direct “all” small fishing vessels to have stability assessments performed by naval architects and that crew receive training on the resulting manuals.

The Security Council has noted that poor stability played a role in the sinkings of five small craft since 2007. In its report on the Chief William Saulis, the Board also found that the boat should have undergone a stability assessment as the owners had put the vessel through a severe Add A-frame construction for towing.

Nickerson-Forbes said she and other families plan to continue pressuring Transport Canada for legal reform to ensure the ship’s stability.

“At every stage of this process you feel a little bit more defeated and people forget. But we will never forget. I don’t want other people to have to go through what I went through when something as simple as a change in the law could happen.” it,” she said.

The March Security Council report said it had repeatedly called Transport Canada to ensure all small fishing vessels have stability assessments, with the results “readily available to the crew”, a recommendation known as M16-03. On its website, the board continues to view Transport Canada’s response as “unsatisfactory”.

Board chairman Kathy Fox told reporters in March that ensuring stability “remains the only way the crews of these ships will know the safe operating limits of their boats.”

Marc-Andre Poisson, a professional seaman and former director of marine surveys at the Security Council, said in an interview Thursday that Transport Canada’s acceptance of the council’s recommendation “raises the bar” as inspectors would have to ensure fishing companies provide in crews with basic procedures.

However, he agreed with Fox that the move is incomplete without Transport Canada adopting the Security Council’s long-standing recommendation for stability assessments by naval architects.

Poisson, who is also the author of “Whodunit: Investigating Industrial Accidents,” said these assessments result in a stability booklet that would tell the captain and crew very precisely about a boat’s load limits under different weather scenarios.

Testing ‘not feasible’, department says

He suggested that the Senate Permanent Committee on Fisheries and Oceans investigate the matter, including costs, and make recommendations to the federal government. “If safety is your priority, why wouldn’t you want to do it?” he said.

A spokeswoman for Transport Canada said in an email that the agency remains of the view that requiring a stability assessment for all fishing vessels “would not be feasible due to the limitations of the number of available competent individuals qualified to conduct stability assessments, and the sheer number of fishing vessels in the Canadian fleet.”

Melanie Sonnenberg, president of the Canadian Independent Fisher Harvesters Federation, has said mandatory stability assessments are not the answer and Transport Canada needs to expand education programs first.