For decades the “mosquito fleet” made up of smaller commercial fishing boats, and even smaller recreational craft, have targeted southern bluefin tuna and swordfish following the larger factory trawlers; attracted by the trail of burley found in the wake of these ships. This has often resulted in some very close and ‘hair-raising’ interactions between vessels and the fishing gear these fishing ships use.
On the 25th of June 2024, approximately 25 nautical miles off the Mainland’s West Coast in an area known as the “Hokitika Trench”, a small, open aluminium craft around 5m length over all (LOA) got her outboard motor entangled in the ropes of a pelagic trawl on the surface behind a 104.5 metre factory trawler in the process of “shooting away”. In brief, the boat was being towed backwards, swamped, with the two occupants having bailed. Fortunately, they were quickly picked out of the briny by a nearby rec fisher who heard their cries.
While the father and son lived to see another day, they lost a great deal of money with the loss of their boat and motor, and no doubt cell phones, car keys and facing a “please explain” from ‘er indoors when they got home. Not to mention I expect, quizzed at length by their insurance company. I have subsequently heard that neither were wearing life jackets.
The Master and bridge staff of the trawler were noticeably distressed when seeing the empty craft in their net. Immediately alerting all vessels in the area via the designated emergency radio channels of Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Man Overboard etc, they feared they had inadvertently drowned any number of recreational fishermen, whose actions they had no control over. The Rescue Coordination Centre was also alerted.
I write this article as a former Skipper of a deep-sea factory freezer trawler with many decades of fishing for hoki in and around the Hokitika Trench where I have personally lost a great deal of hair because of close encounters of the maritime kind. My comments are my own and I do not speak for, or on behalf of, any company or organisation.
New Zealand is one of the few countries where you can go and buy something that floats, head out to sea, without that craft being registered, without lifesaving appliances (LSA) or fire fighting appliances (FFA) or the operator holding any form of Certificate of Competency (CoC).
Unfortunately, it matters not whether you’re in command of a dingy, canoe, windsurfer, jet ski, 5m aluminium fizz boat, trailer sailor or super yacht, you are bound by the International Collision Regulations (ColRegs) or Rule Part 22 as we know it, even if you don’t hold a CoC in any capacity, with a restriction or otherwise.
So, as the captain of your craft, you are required to know and understand your obligations under the ColRegs. Ignorance of the ColRegs is no excuse because you can’t hide behind ‘I don’t have a ticket’.
If you have a Certificate of Competency (CoC), there may be conditions or restrictions where and when and what size craft you can operate. Your insurance company may also impose conditions or limit your cover on where and when you can operate.
Under the ColRegs every vessel must show the lights and shapes for its size and exhibited from sunset to sunrise, during the day in restricted visibility and in all other circumstances where it is considered necessary.
This chart shows the range of the lights you must display.
A fishing vessel when engaged in fishing operations, in addition to her navigation lights, must display the correct lights and shapes for a vessel when engaged in fishing, otherwise she is just a power-driven vessel.
A vessel engaged in fishing are, and when that ship is trawling, will display additional lights to show they are hauling, shooting or fast upon an obstruction.
What was that noise? Could you recognise the “manoeuvring signals” and what they indicate if they also use their typhon (ships horn or whistle) to indicate they’re turning to port, starboard or going astern? If you don’t for heavens’ sake, find out what they are.
So, just because you are dangling a line over the side, or trolling with a lure, does not mean you are engaged in fishing unless you display all the lights and shapes of a vessel engaged in fishing as defined by the ColRegs.
If you don’t, or can’t, you are by definition still just a power-driven vessel and thus required to keep clear of a vessel under oars or a sailing vessel (SV), a fishing vessel (FV), a vessel restricted in their ability to manoeuvre (RAM), constrained by her draft (CBD) or not under command (NUC).
Now for the comms part. Recreational boats only need a unique call sign and the operator needs a qualification (usually just Coastguard Operator ticket) under the Radiocommunications Regulations General User Radio Licence for Maritime Purposes or GURL 6 (3), but there is no requirement for you to monitor VHF Ch16, which I personally think is crazy. However, that’s just me, because Rule 43 requires commercial ships to do so, thus they will use VHF channel 16 to establish initial inter-ship communications and to transmit or receive warnings, so a prudent skipper should be monitoring this channel 24/7.
If you have a VHF but you’re using another frequency to talk amongst yourselves, make sure you have the “Dual Watch” function activated so calls or alerts coming over VHF channel 16 will be received.
“Oh, but I only have a cell phone.” Then I suggest more fool you. Is it waterproof? More importantly how are you going to communicate or receive warnings when no one has a clue what your phone number is or you’re out of cell phone coverage?
While I understand a report has been filed with MNZ by the company operating the large factory trawler, this article is not about pointing the finger or suggesting who is to blame, rather to educate those taking part in the bluefin gold rush of the risks and hazards in doing so when working close in and around these commercial fishing ships.
Vessels over 46m LOA are required to keep outside the 25 nautical mile limit.
Within the hoki fishery you will encounter fresh fish (the smaller, inshore ice boats) and factory trawlers, both using one of two types of trawls, either bottom or pelagic. They may have the ability to change from one to the other if the fishing conditions dictate, i.e. if the fish are hard down or above the bottom in the middle water.
Hanging off the Gallus (or gallows) at the very stern of the vessel are the trawl blocks through which the warps run. How high these trawl blocks are above the water and whether they’re towing a bottom trawl, or a pelagic (mid-water) trawl will determine what angle and how far back the trawl warps enter the wake behind the ship.
Their towing speeds which can vary from two to three knots to upwards of four to six knots will also play a part on this distance.
There are also many obstructions ‘sticking out’ from a trawler, including:
- Bird Bafflers – solid booms, slung from or about the quarters with bright coloured droppers or streamers to restrict birds from getting too close to the warps. The construction and length of these booms and droppers will vary from ship to ship,
- Tori lines or streamers which may extend some way astern of the ship, with bright streamers and a buoy at the end,
- Net monitor booms, generally midships, with a rubber coated cable on the end of which is a paravane / transceiver below the surface to receive electronic signals from net monitoring devices,
- Flopper Stoppers – very solid booms and ‘birds’ aka paravanes designed to slow and minimise the rolling period of smaller vessels. Not seen on the larger fishing ships.
Overboard discharges from factory processing decks on automatic bilge systems can start up instantly without warning. The height above water of this overboard discharge, and the volume and throw , which can be up to two metres , will fill a small boat to the gunnels within seconds. I have seen this. While somewhat amusing for me looking down from on high, it’s smelly, full of nasty bits , unless you’re a seabird , very wetting and potentially hazardous for those it happens to.
With the deeper drafts and towing speeds of the larger trawlers, there is a very real risk of being sucked into the wake, and under the counter of these vessels, with little you can do about it thereby placing your craft in a very awkward and hazardous situation under ramp. The trawl warps which may be as thick as 28 to 32 millimetres diameter, or more, are under a great deal of tension. On the larger vessels as high as 20 tonnes. These wires won’t even flinch should you contact them. They’ll flip you or cut you in half in the blink of an eye.
And might I suggest no swimmer can compete with the suction and wash from these large ships. You’ll be pulled down into the prop. At best you’ll be tumbled about like a sock in a washing machine and spat out 50 metres, 100 metres astern and I’m not sure you could hold your breath that long.
Depending on where the fish marks are and how many vessels are working them, room to manoeuvre becomes an issue so you will find that fishing ships about to shoot their gear who appear to be steaming flat out and away from you, may suddenly come hard about and turn back on to a reciprocal heading, “do a 180” and “shoot away” towards you when you least expect it.
Or they may slow down and “shoot away” the net and bridles and with the trawl doors hanging in the gallus, then turn through 180 degrees. During this procedure, their gear will be on the surface broadly following in the arc of the wake during the turn until they pay away the warps taking the trawls doors and the fishing gear down to the target fishing depth.
If the fishing ship is using a bottom trawl, considering the length of the sweep wires and bridles, the net itself with the lengtheners and cod ends, probably won’t extend that far behind the stern and may sink below the surface quickly and relatively close to her stern during the shooting process. The same applies when hauling the gear back. The doors come up to the gallus, then there’s the sweeps, bridles, the net and cod ends. The net will almost certainly be on the surface particularly if the cod ends are full providing a good deal of drag.
However, it’s a totally different and considerably more hazardous situation if the fishing ship is using a pelagic trawl. The top and bottom bridles of the larger trawls may be up to 200 metres or more. The nets, composed of ropes in the forepart where the mesh sizes can be as large as 32 metres, even 64 , and the body of the trawl to the tip of the cod ends could be 300 to 400 metres in length!
At night while a smaller fishing ships deck lights will illuminate a bottom trawl hanging out the back and to some degree a smaller pelagic trawl, the bulk of the body of the larger pelagic trawls will at best be very poorly illuminated , if at all , by the stern working or spots lights given the length of the gear.
The situation is further exacerbated and extremely dangerous during the hours of darkness when a large fishing ship is using a pelagic trawl and turning on the doors. While the net will tend to follow in an arc mimicking the wake, it’ll almost certainly not be illuminated by back light scatter from deck lights or a rear facing spotlight at all.
When turning on the doors, the top and bottom bridles leading aft from the top and bottom corner of the trawl doors won’t be following the wake but cutting sideways through the water. If there’s any kind of lift (swell), these wires will be submerged one moment then suddenly slicing vertically out of the water quivering, humming under the strain. Should one, or both hit you, its lights out.
Thus, it is extremely important that you are continuously listening to VHF 16 for warnings issued by these fishing ships and that you understand what lights up the mast are alerting you to, and listening for the manoeuvring signal and what it is telling you.
If unsure you should use your VHF on 16 to call up and ask the Officer of the Watch (OOW) on the bridge to clarify what he is intending to do. They are human, well fed and won’t bite.
You need to also be aware you are a very small target in a great big sea of blackness. When coming close in alongside or under the bows consider yourself to be invisible, particularly at night. The lights you display , green, red and white , fitted to your craft may be what is required under the ColRegs for a craft your size operating within the ‘usual’ areas, but on the high seas are woefully inadequate.
I know as a motorcyclist it’s up to me to make myself visible and not rely on other to see me. The same applies to you.
Be aware your radar signature may also be extreme poor and easily lost in sea or rain clutter or amongst the plethora of other targets of rec boats fishing around you. Automatic Identification System (AIS) is perhaps the most important LSA you could fit to your craft. Ships fitted with AIS will see you as an icon on their radar display and / or chart plotters even if they can’t physically see you with the naked eye or glasses.
Be aware that even though the wheelhouse of most fishing ships will be blacked out at night, the OOW’s night vision is still compromised because of the back light from bright working lights. Your miniscule running lights probably won’t be seen even if they’re looking in your direction.
As the captain, skipper or ‘Old Man’ of your craft you must also know that the Colregs state quite clearly under Rule part 22.5: Every vessel must at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions, so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and the risk of collision. There is absolutely no room for ambiguity with this one and it is in force no matter what you’re doing, whether underway, stopped, dangling a line over the side or drifting at night stacking a few zzzd’s.
Speaking of which, the practice of drifting so everyone can get a bit of shut eye, does not mean you and your boat meet or fit the criteria of a vessel ‘Not Under Command’ as described by the ColRegs. You are still a power-driven vessel. You are underway, just not making way, and as such you must still show the navigation lights of a vessel of your length, and you must still be able to manoeuvre to keep clear of another vessel as required under the Colregs, including a vessel engaged in fishing. Which means someone has to remain awake on watch and able to manoeuvre your boat as required by Rule 22, because should there be an unexpected bump in the night, I’d suggest your insurance company will be rubbing their hands in glee having just been handed a “get out of jail, free” card, and collecting the $200 for “passing go”.
Lastly, there is no shelter at all if the weather changes or the Grey, Westport or Hokitika bars cut up rough. Where are you going to go? Do you have the fuel to get there? Do you have the most current, up-to-date and corrected paper or electronic navigational charts (ENC) for your area of operation? Are you aware of any temporary corrections for your area of operation posted in the latest fortnightly Notices to Mariners? Does your insurance company know where you are operating and are you covered within the contractual agreement? Have you told them?
The captains of these commercial fishing ships, large or small, fishing inside or outside “the line” are like me, husbands, fathers, uncles and brothers. They don’t want to catch you (they don’t have the quota) and they certainly don’t want to be responsible or play a part in the sinking, possible injury or heaven forbid, the loss of life when things go pear shaped.
I know the Master of the trawler involved in this incident. He is a quiet, very funny and very professional mariner, and a good friend. He and his fellow officers was noticeable shaken over the incident. But it didn’t have to be that way.
I have caught Southern Blues with hand lines. It’s bloody exciting and ‘bloody’ when your gloves tear or burn through. The fishery is going from strength to strength. Anecdotally I’ve been told the bluefin are like sandflies, they’re everywhere and word is out, and the gold rush is on, that there are upwards of 30 boats on trailers in the Blaketown lagoon waiting for a weather window.
All I ask is those heading down to catch these critters think about your actions in and around these fishing ships, consider your limitations particularly with the size and design of your craft. Know your responsibilities under the ColRegs (even if you don’t hold a ticket in any capacity you are bound by them) and understand the risks involved with getting too close particularly around the stern and especially with the larger ones.
And for heaven’s sake, if you’re unsure, use your VHF and ask these boats what I can do, where can I do it and when is it safe to do it!
Chris Carey
SDSFV, 2MFG
Chris Carey
Chris started in the fishing industry as a lab technician / observer for the Ministry of Fisheries working for a scientist who was studying skipjack tuna. At sea for the summer measuring fish and collecting biological data, he then jumped to the ‘dark side’ as a deckhand on the Michelangelo and sailed away to see the world. Home in the early ‘80’s still purse seining on the Western Ranger (my wife spent her honeymoon on her with me) with a bit of tuna polling and bluefin hand lining thrown in.
In 2005 after 20 years with Amaltal mainly as skipper, he joined IFL as the skipper of the 46m Independent 1. More work overseas and a period back at college then a return to the fishing industry, coming full circle to work back at IFL.
So in his words he now ” looks after all the LSA, FFA and GMDSS side of things, safety and MOSS surveys, training, MNZ liaison, H&S, a bit of the dry docking, some MPI compliance, truck driving and forklift operation…A general dogs body”.
