May deaths of two New Brunswick fishermen prompt advisory letter from TSB

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has issued a warning to three government bodies about overloading fishing boats, in response to the deaths of two New Brunswick lobster fishermen earlier this year.

     

Fifty-eight-year-old Eugene Beaudin and his 33-year-old great-nephew, Normand Beaudin, fell off their fishing boat and died in the water off Miscou Island, N.B., on May 6.

     

In the Oct. 30 letter to Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and WorkSafeNB, the safety board’s director of marine investigations, Clifford Harvey, wrote that the vessel Tracy Dawn left the harbour loaded with 119 traps and encountered rough weather.

     

Harvey says the fishers fell overboard trying to drop traps into the water.

     

He notes that access to the vessel’s stern was limited by 45-kilogram traps that were stacked to the point where the two crewmembers had to climb over the boat’s wheelhouse and then over the traps to get there.

     

Harvey also says that while the Tracy Dawn was registered with Transport Canada, there is no record indicating that the boat had ever been inspected or had been subject to a formal stability assessment.