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Surveyors from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are to carry out unannounced inspections of fishing vessels across the UK, the agency said in a statement on Thursday, June 10.
The inspections are being carried out as part of ongoing work around fishing vessel safety in an industry recognised to be one of the dangerous in the world.
Since November 2020, there have been eight deaths, or more than ten per cent of the total for the previous ten years. Between 2011 to 2020, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) reported 60 fatalities from UK fishing vessels.
Surveyors regularly carry out surveys and inspections of fishing vessels and detain those that do not meet the requirement of the law, until those deficiencies are corrected.