Fishermen in Orkney have started a crowdfunding appeal to raise money towards state-of- the- art radio rescue equipment, which could mean the difference between life and death at sea.
The money raised through the online fundraiser JustGiving will support an application from the Orkney Fisheries Association to the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF). No public funds are normally made available for safety gear for fishermen despite the high fatalities in the industry.
The association explains “Our fishermen are dads, boyfriends, husbands, pals, sons and brothers. We want to make sure that they have the same chance to come home safe from work as everyone else. However their work can be more dangerous than everyone else's and sadly every year some are lost at sea.”
It wants to buy hi-tec safety equipment for all its members.
Association secretary Fiona Matheson explained “In the event that a boat sinks an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) automatically sends a signal to the emergency services alerting them to where the boat is.
“If a man falls overboard a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB), about the size of a mobile phone and worn on the person, sends out an emergency distress signal direct to the search and rescue services. “
She said to equip each of its boats with an EPIRB and one crew member with a PLB, would cost around £1000. So 60% grant funding was being sought from the EMFF to equip all the fishing boats in the association and all their crew members.
“The total cost will be around £32,033 to equip all the boats. That's for 29 boats and 61 men. We need to kick start our funding application with donations. We want to buy the safety equipment before next winter's bad weather so that our fishermen's families can have a little more peace of mind while their men are away at sea,” se said.
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