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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 24 - Friday, July 12, 2002 |
Three Fishermen Lost at Sea
by: Thomson Fontaine
One week after three fishermen left Newtown on a fishing expedition, they remained missing, presumably lost at sea. A massive search for the fishermen by local craft, the Dominica Coast Guard and the authorities from neighboring Martinique met with no apparent success. The local Coast Guard today called off the search, and said it would resume if new information was received.
Local fishermen who are critical to Dominica's fishing industry are continually at risk in the waters outside of Dominica, frequently traveling in small open canoes, which are quite often at the mercy of the waves. In addition, most of the fishermen venture out to sea without life jackets, radios, flares or other safety equipment.
Fishermen running into difficulties often lack the basic means of communicating with the authorities. Local authorities are often unable to assist since they have no way of pinpointing the vessels position. They often rely on family and friends to give them an indication of the general area the fishermen are operating from, but often this information is too little too late.
Although there are no official figures on the number of fishermen who have been lost at sea, it is generally believed that on average one fisherman is lost per year. In view of the latest incident, the authorities should perhaps begin looking at the possibility of making safety equipment mandatory for fishermen going out to sea.
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