THE skipper and crew of the stricken trawler Westhaven were blameless in the tragedy which cost them their lives and nothing anyone could have done would have saved them, according to Sheriff Alexander Jessop in his fatal accident determination which is published today.
He recommends a sweeping review of fishing vessel operations near oil pipelines.
Skipper George Pattison and crew members Alan Cunningham, 28, Chris Prouse, 23 and Mark Hannah, 30, died when the vessel overturned and sank in March last year.
It was more than nine hours after the first report of a distress beacon that the coastguards realised that it was the Westhaven AH190 which was in trouble and not the Westhaven FR375 which they had tracked down earlier.
Mr John McDonald, who represented the families of the victims at the inquiry said yesterday that Sheriff Jessop had ''very largely followed the evidence and lays no blame to any parties for the death of the skipper and crew''.
Mr McDonald said that in his determination the sheriff says the boat was in good condition was well maintained, and went to sea with a very experienced skipper and crew with proper equipment on board to meet the safety regulations.
As outlined in the inquiry they were fishing over a pipeline when the trawl door snagged under a pipeline. The sheriff says that was a unique situation and the skipper carried out the normal procedures for the recovery of his snagged gear, an operation which he would have carried out hundreds of times previously. He says that according to experienced fishermen who gave evidence, Mr Pattison followed the same procedures as they would have done.
The combination of the line to the trawl door being vertical, the door being irrevocably snagged and the line being eight feet above the deck at the stern along with the swell and torque of the engine flipped the vessel back so suddenly no-one on board had an opportunity to save themselves and they would have been entangled in the mass of equipment.
Mr McDonald said the sheriff makes comment about EPIRBs, registration, the coastguard, the MSA and makes the basic recommendation that there should be an integrated review between all parties - the oil industry, the fishing industry and the safety agencies - with a view to trying to resolve the problems highlighted by the tragedy.
The sheriff then lists a number of recommendations for consideration including the manadatory registration of EPIRBs, that there be an investigation into dangers of fishing over pipelines. He said the present concern was more focused on the integrity of the pipeline.
''The determination is basically saying 'let's sort out the problems' and although he makes comments about things like the delay in the coastguard learning they were looking for the correct Westhaven while that would have caused distress in no way, had they got it all right as quickly as was humanly possible, would that have saved any of the lives,'' said Mr McDonald.
Sheriff Jessop identifies a number of areas for examination including what oil companies might do about the freeboard between pipelines and more education for fishermen about how to secure their liferafts and how to respond if they become snagged.
He said Mrs Pattison was ''greatly relieved'' that the determination exonerated her husband especially in view of the fact that there was early condemnation of the fact that he had apparently made an error in completing the EPIRB registration.
He said the sheriff had pointed out that the counsel for the Marine Safety Agency and coastguard apologised about that during the FAI.
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