Overview:
Fishing is the most dangerous industry in the UK, and most countries of the world. Although there are many causes of accidents, most of the fatalities are caused by capsize or swamping because they occur without warning and with little prospect of survival. Safety is dependent on the stability and seaworthiness of the vessel, and its size in relation to the seastate. Small vessels, therefore, are particularly vulnerable, but they are the ones for which no stability calculations are required.
Deaths on UK fishing vessels under 15m, 1991 - 2007
Stability Notice:
The guidance information described here is intended to provide fishermen with some indication of their level of safety in terms of their loading and lifting, and in relation to the seastate. The method was developed in
Research Project 559 conducted for the MCA. Although it is simple for the user, the development incorporated the findings of extensive model tests on a wide range of hull forms and loading cases, and may be applied to any type of vessel.
The basic recommendation is for all vessels to display a Stability Notice in a prominent position in the wheelhouse. This notice provides guidance on how certain loading or lifting operations will reduce the safety of the vessel, and on the limiting seastates in which such operations should be conducted. Three safety zones are defined, and assigned the colours green, amber and red on the Stability Notice to represent their relative levels of safety.
For vessels with no stability information the guidance is based on the residual freeboard when loaded or lifting heavy loads, and the freeboards referred to on the Stability Notice should be marked on the side of the vessel using a standard Freeboard Guidance Mark. The mark should be positioned at the lowest freeboard, or where the freeboard becomes lowest when lifting.
The only vessel dimensions required for the calculation are the overall length and beam. A simple form is available here which will calculate the freeboards and associated seastates for your vessel, and can be used to print a Stability Notice to be placed on board. It also provides the dimensions of the Freeboard Guidance Mark.
Freeboard Guidance Mark - Size and Location
It is not expected that fishermen will attempt to view the freeboard guidance marks when loading at sea, but that they will become familiar with their location to increase their awareness of how the residual freeboard affects their level of safety. Capsize prediction cannot be precise because there are too many changing factors. This approximate method of guidance should help to increase awareness of the dangers of low freeboard, and of heeling vessels to large angles by lifting heavy loads.
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