THE skipper of a fishing boat has been ordered to carry out unpaid community work after a crewman drowned while diving for razor clams in the Firth of Forth.

Ronald MacNeil, 55, failed to ensure that there was another frogman suited up and poised to help when Graeme Mackie, 31, entered the water off Methil Harbour, Fife, on June 11, 2011.

Mr Mackie, from Tranent, East Lothian, resurfaced in distress before sinking unconscious to the river bed.

He was eventually recovered and airlifted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he was pronounced dead.

MacNeil, master of the "Rob Roy" based at Methil Docks, Fife, was sentenced by Sheriff Craig McSherry to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, and made subject to a restriction of liberty order, placing him on 7pm to 7am home curfew for six months.

Sheriff McSherry said it had been a "tragic incident", though MacNeil had previously had a good safety record.

He said: "I understand that you were diving earlier before the incident took place, so if you yourself had been on standby it is possible that Mr Mackie's death might have been avoided."

The sheriff, who also offered his condolences to the family of Mr Mackie, said there was no evidence that MacNeil was "cutting corners".

MacNeil, of Leven, Fife, had been due to face trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court last month accused of being responsible for a series of health and safety failings that led to the tragedy.

However, at the last minute the Crown accepted his plea of guilty to single failing - not having a standby diver, who could have gone to Mr Mackie's aid in an emergency, in consequence of which Mr Mackie drowned.

A spokeswoman for Mr Mackie's family said: "Nothing can bring Graeme back but we can only hope that what happened makes other people stop and think about the responsibilities they owe to people who work for them. Whatever you need to do to keep your workers safe, please do it.

"After four years we now, finally, have some element of closure."

Mr Mackie's partner Kelly Stewart, mother of Mr Mackie's young son Daniel, now four, said she was "not really surprised" that MacNeil had no been jailed. She added: "Nothing can bring him back, even it was life for life."