Keep crew to a minimum - report
Published Tuesday December 2nd, 2008
HALIFAX - The coast guard should make it standard practice to leave the "absolute minimum" of crew aboard small vessels when they tow them through ice, says a report into the deaths of four sealers from Quebec.
The 102-page independent report, prepared for the Fisheries Department, says the captain of the coast guard ship Sir William Alexander decided to leave all six sealers on board L'Acadien II last spring believing it was too dangerous to transfer them over treacherous pack ice to the larger ship.
With the exception of one man at the helm, all of the crew from the Iles de la Madeleine had gone below for rest when the accident occurred.
When the vessel smashed into a piece of ice at 1 a.m. on March 29, three of the men were trapped below and drowned. A fourth man was never found.
The Fisheries Department report written by retired rear admiral Roger Girouard recommends the development of a singular towing policy for the coast guard.
Girouard said that should include a fresh set of seamanship standards, such as when to bring crew members from a stricken vessel on board.
His report concludes the coast guard followed set procedures by leaving the six sealers on board and conducting the tow.
He said it was "reasonable" to leave the crew of L'Acadien II on board, given that the tow started in the dark, and there was a "very real risk of someone falling through the ice."
But the retired naval officer said in the future, coast guard commanders should make taking crew off sealing vessels a higher priority.
"The default mode now is, leave the people aboard. What I'm proposing is make the default be to get them off," he said at a news conference.
The final report also stands by a finding in a draft report, which stated the crew on the coast guard icebreaker could have done more than read a liability waiver to the fishermen about the dangers of being towed.
The Fisheries Department report is the second investigation to be released in less than a week on the accident.
In a separate report released last Wednesday, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said the clutch on the sealing boat that was likely engaged when it sank, causing it to fatally veer sharply off course and into the path of a large ice pack.
Officials with the safety board said L'Acadien II either intentionally or accidentally had the clutch engaged in idle mode just as it emerged from pack ice into open water.
Both inquiries conclude that forward motion was enough to cause the vessel to veer sharply to port, and into the path of the oncoming piece of ice.
Girouard's study suggests that if the clutch was engaged by a crew member, it was likely by accident.
His key recommendation for a fresh set of towing policies largely echoed those of the safety board, which also called upon the Fisheries Department to develop safe towing practices for fishing vessels operating in ice.
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said a special team would be set up to analyze the two reports, as well as a search and rescue operations report produced by the Defence Department's Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax
The team will be led by a senior coast guard officer, Shea said in a statement.
"The team will report regularly to me on its progress and their plan will be made public early in the new year," the minister said.
"We will also share with the public the actions we take to ensure that this kind of tragedy is never repeated."
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