Fishing Vessel Losses Top U.K. Accident Statistics

The U.K. Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published its Annual Report highlighting the work of the branch during 2014. Highlighted in the report is the loss of life in the fishing sector.

Twelve commercial fishing vessels were lost in 2014 compared with 18 in 2013. This compares favourably with the average losses during the last 10 years (19 vessels per year). 75 percent of the losses were in the small < 15 metre sector.

Eight fishermen lost their lives in 2014 compared with only four lives lost in 2013. The average number of fishermen who lost their lives over the last 10 years is 8.5.

For the fifth year in succession no U.K. merchant vessels of >100gt were lost. The overall accident rate for U.K. merchant vessels >100gt was unchanged from 2013 at 88 per 1000 vessels. There were no crew deaths on U.K. merchant vessels >100gt, and a review of available records from the last 50 years suggests this has never happened before. The average number of deaths over the last 10 years was four per year.

Six small U.K. vessels (<100gt) were lost in 2014, and five crew lost their lives. Four of these were lost in a single accident when the yacht Cheeki Rafiki suffered a detached keel and capsized in the North Atlantic.

The report is available here.