The Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company is outfitting 70 boats after accident concerns
Seventy fishing vessels are set to be outfitted with emergency position indicating radio beacons this season.
The Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company is outfitting dozens of vessels between Cartwright and L’Anse au Clair that are under 40 feet and harvesting for them.
The move comes less than a year after two fishermen died near Mary’s Harbour and shortly following a Transportation Safety Board report into the loss of the FV Sarah Anne in Placentia Bay.
The TSB report found the Sarah Anne was not equipped with a vessel monitoring system. The director of marine investigation said the absence of life-saving equipment and distress alerting devices has contributed to 42 deaths from 2010 to 2020.
“We’ve come to a time when we feel that somebody has to take the initiative,” Gilbert Linstead, general manager of the Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company, told CBC News.
The devices transmit signals to a satellite, which alerts search and rescue services in case of an emergency at sea and allows them to pinpoint the beacon’s location. Linstead said the company’s board brought the idea forward after the fishermen were concerned about recent accidents.