The fisheries accident management process

Book excerpt: This circular describes the fisheries accident management process. It contains guidelines for national agencies (competent authorities) involved in fisheries accident investigations. It provides competent authorities and their investigators with a structured approach to meeting their legislative requirements to record, investigate, analyse, and report on accidents in the fishing sector. These guidelines are based on international standards, models and lessons learned from various countries where similar accident management processes are in use. The draft guidelines were discussed and finalized at a Train - the - Trainer workshop on safety at sea for small-scale fishers in the Caribbean, which was attended by 30 professionals on safety at sea and fisheries from seven Caribbean countries and was held in Castries, Saint Lucia in January 2020. The fisheries accident management process outlined may also be useful for other regions, which have similar safety challenges and opportunities for safety improvements in fisheries. These guidelines are intended to apply to a wide range of undesired events, such as accidents involving minor and serious injuries, fatalities, vessel damage, incidents involving damaged equipment and near misses.