A Scots fisherman remains lost at sea nearly a year after failing to return from a trip on his creel boat.
Fraserburgh man, Joe Masson, didn't come home after taking his fishing vessel out on the morning of October 16, 2021. A report released by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) on the investigation says that the boat, Goodway, most likely capsized as the 72-year-old was attempting to free a snagged feet of creels, tragically resulting in the owner falling overboard.
Aberdeen Live report that a major search and rescue operation involving the RNLI, HM Coastguard and the MoD was launched to trace the pensioner. Despite finding Goodway’s upturned hull at 10.33pm that evening, close to rocks near Cairnbulg, the skipper Joe was sadly never found and is presumed dead.
The exact sequence of events leading up to the accident and the circumstances remain unclear. When the RNLI crew arrived on scene, they noted that Goodway had been damaged as the engine was missing, and the A-frame was floating free in the water.
At around 1.50am on October 17, a search and rescue helicopter winchman was lowered onto the rocks to search for the vessel’s owner. He checked around and under the hull and reported that there was no sign of Joe.
He had worked on a wide variety of commercial trawlers throughout his 50-year fishing career.
Joe had always owned a small fishing boat for use as a hobby and to earn extra money between commercial trawling trips, as he fished for crab, lobsters and mackerel.
Completing all the required training and certification to work on a UK registered fishing vessel, he usually fished alone (single-handed) on board Goodway.
Joe and his wife had also owned a local pub, which they ran for over 20 years until their retirement in 2011. He had also underwent a triple heart bypass operation in 2017, which he was not taking any medication for at the time of the accident.
MAIB concluded that single-handed fishing is known to be high-risk and fishers are advised to follow industry guidelines to minimise the chance of being pulled overboard.
It was found the vessel was not equipped with an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) and the personal locator beacon (PLB purchased by the skipper did not meet the regulatory requirement to transmit to satellites on 406MHz
An inspection of Goodway by a Maritime and Coastguard Agency surveyor to verify that previously recorded deficiencies had been rectified did not identify that the PLB purchased as an alternative to an EPIRB was not of the approved type.
The report advised that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is recommended to issue an Advice Note to remind surveyors of the different types of PLBs that may be encountered and which of these are acceptable alternatives to the vessel being equipped with an EPIRB.
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