A New Era of Fishing Vessel Safety Emerges

Commercial fishing is one of the least safe activities taking place within the EU and the worldwide community today. Several accidents and fatalities have been recorded over the past years stemming from various causes related to the operation, design of the vessels and severe weather conditions. This paper describes the background while attempting to elucidate and assess the impact of a new flooding containment system for new and existing fishing vessels, leading to high levels of survivability in the damaged condition. Highly expanded foam is injected in the most vulnerable compartments, rendering the whole ship a lifeboat. One case study is presented to provide the requisite evidence.