Excess gear caused fishing boat to sink

By The Associated Press

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VANCOUVER, B.C. — A fishing boat that capsized, killing five people, had been rendered unstable by too much gear, the Canadian Transportation Safety Board said.

The board recommended better education for fishermen and a requirement that all new small fishing boats submit stability data for approval and that existing vessels be tested.

The report last week followed a 15-month investigation into the capsizing of the 60-foot Cap Rouge II near the mouth of the Fraser River in August 2002.

Five people died, including the captain's wife and two children.

The dead were members of an extended family from the close-knit community of Galiano Island.

The report said additional equipment had been installed over the years to suit different fishing needs. The boat's stability was steadily reduced, the report said, as more heavy gear and seine nets were installed.

"The effects of these increases in weight were not monitored or assessed by a suitably qualified person" nor brought to the attention of Transport Canada inspectors between or during routine inspections, the board wrote.

A dive team from the coast guard had been criticized for its role in the rescue effort. The divers arrived quickly but did not enter the capsized vessel because they believed regulations prevented them from doing so.

Instead, they waited 90 minutes for the arrival of military divers, who then entered the boat.

The safety board said the coast-guard divers did everything possible within the scope of their procedures.

However, the board wrote to the coast guard citing several shortfalls in the rescue attempt.

It said that although standard procedure calls for two officers and two rescue-diving specialists to crew a rescue vessel, that's not enough people to manage a search and rescue operation.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company