Formación en la flota pesquera artesanal

Resumo

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines commercial fishing as one of the hardest andmost dangerous working activities. The high figures of fishing-related casualties are evidence of thisfact: fishing work accidents and fatalities’ rates are among the highest ones. The Spanish fishing fleethas 8,007 active fishing vessels that operate in different fishing areas with a variety of fishing gearsand techniques. It is structured as a small-scale fleet because 71,64% out of the fishing vessels are ofless than 12 metres in length, 19,97% are between 12 and 24 metres in length, and only 8.39% are ofmore than 24 metres in length. More than 90% of the casualties (accidents and incidents) involving thefishing fleet occur in fishing vessels of less than 24 metres in length. Out of the 82% of the investigatedcasualties during the last 10 years reveals that the causes for the accidents —sinking, grounding, cap-sizing, fire, flooding, and collisions— were due to the vessel’s own safety conditions or to the vessel’snavigational conditions. As a result, a significant number of casualties have an impact on the entirevessel as a working environment as well as on the crew. These casualties result in a high rate of crewmembers’ fatalitites. The safety and health of fishermen will undoubtedly improve with proper trainingof fishermen in the use of electronic aids to navigation and in the handling of safety equipment aboardsmall-scale fishing fleet. Formation and training are examined as a key issue for the risk reduction and,therefore, the dramatic amount of casualties that occur in the fishing working environment is reflectedstatistically, and they are analised in both the international and the Spanish standards. There is anobvious need to improve training in the existing systems and technologies as well as in the projectsdeveloped within the framework of safety at sea, of navigational safety and of sea environment protec-tion; this will make visible the huge changes that communication and navigational aids have undergonesince their digitalisation.