The Press TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1969. Questions For A Marine Inquiry

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32016, 17 June 1969, Page 14

The Press TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1969. Questions For A Marine Inquiry

The loss of small vessels off the coast of New Zealand in recent years makes a sorry record. However formidable the challenges and risks of seafaring, it would be disastrous if the toll of the sea came to be regarded as phlegmatically as is the toll of the roads. There is much evidence to suggest that the risks awaiting those, experienced and inexperienced, who go to sea for pleasure or profit are being treated all too casually. The big money to be made from crayfishing off the Chatham Islands is a special temptation to normally prudent men to take unwarranted risks. Regulations governing the voyages of fishing vessels from the mainland to the Chatham Islands were relaxed more than two years ago to permit vessels to sail in convoy when individual vessels could not be manned with a sufficiently qualified crew to make the run alone. Although the dispensation expired early this year, the supply of suitably certificated men is still not sufficient to serve the number of vessels putting to sea. Even the most experienced fishermen acknowledge the hazards of the run and of working the Chathams fishing grounds. The licensing of the fishing industry was abolished after much debate. Whether this has opened the way to the engagement in a hazardous railing of men insufficiently equipped or experienced is a question that should be examined by a court of inquiry into the recent Chathams tragedy. It will be surprising if the inquiry does not prompt further questions for investigation by a commission with a wide order of reference. Certainly the problems of the Chathams and the crayfishing industry should be thoroughly examined; the number and size of vessels in the fleet, the facilities for servicing vessels, the adequacy of weather forecasting for the sea between the mainland and the islands are only some of the questions that come to mind. Conservation of the crayfish stock should also be considered. The inquiry might find that the Marine Department lacks sufficient staff to supervise the industry and enforce even the present regulations on vessels and their manning. Clearly there is room for a far-reaching study of the problems to which this disaster has drawn attention.