Marine Accident Investigation Branch
Accident Investigation Report 8/2024
Read our marine accident investigation report, which includes what happened, subsequent actions taken and recommendations:
Summary
On 18 June 2021, the UK registered stern trawler Angelena capsized and sank about 8 nautical miles south-east of Exmouth while its fishing gear was being recovered by the lone skipper. The end of the net was full of sand, mud and fish and, once lifted clear of the water, the net swung to away from the vessels side and Angelena capsized. The skipper did not have time to raise the alarm before entering the water. The skipper was wearing a lifejacket fitted with a personal locator beacon and managed to swim to the vessels liferaft, which had floated free. The skipper activated the personal locator beacon once in the liferaft and was rescued unharmed by a nearby vessel.
Safety issues
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Angelena was not required to meet any stability standard. Consequently, the skipper did not understand the stability performance of their own vessel
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By operating the fishing vessel alone, the skipper could not maintain a safe navigational watch, operate the fishing gear and deal with any difficult situations
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The liferaft was not secured such that it could automatically float free, inflate and break free
Recommendations
Recommendations (2024/125, 2024/126 and 2024/127) have been made to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to improve fishers understanding of stability, require risk assessments that define minimum crewing levels for fishing operations and align definitions across its notices and publications. A recommendation (2024/128) has also been made to the skipper of Angelena to attend the Seafish Advanced Stability Awareness course.
Related publications
A safety flyer to the fishing industry was produced with this report, highlighting the importance of undertaking a full stability assessment following modifications to fishing vessels.
Photograph credit
Photograph of Angelena courtesy of TelsWeb.