Fishing company fined £100k after fatal sinking of Brixham trawler

A fishing company operating vessels from Brixham has been ordered to pay over £100,000 in fines and costs after one of its fishing boats sank, killing two of its three crew in 2020.

It was found that modifications to the Brixham-registered trawler the Joanna C had made it unstable, meaning it was unable to recover when the vessel’s fishing gear snagged on the seabed.

Laura D Fishing Ltd, the company responsible, has pleaded guilty to failing to take all reasonable steps to ensure that a vessel was operated in a safe manner, under Section 100(1) and 100(3) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

Crew members Robert Morley, Adam Harper and David Bickerstaff were onboard the Joanna C, five miles south of Shoreham, when the vessel’s gear snagged on the seabed and subsequently sank. Out of the three crew members, only Mr Bickerstaff survived.

Prior to the incident, Joanna C, owned by Laura D Fishing, had undergone a major refit in 2019, including the addition of a whaleback, extension of the wheelhouse and fitting raised bulwarks. These, along with other modifications, affected the stability of the vessel.

Vessel modifications such as these should only be carried out following consultation with and approval of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

Heard at West Hampshire Magistrates Court on 5 July, the extensive changes made to Joanna C, not approved by the MCA, made it significantly non-compliant with the minimum standards of stability. The vessel continued commercial operations however, without considering the impact and risks of the modifications.

It was also found during an investigation in 2022 that the vessel’s liferaft had also not inflated during the accident because the uninflated liferaft had insufficient buoyancy to initiate the inflation mechanism.

Laura D Fishing Ltd. was fined £36,000, and ordered to pay £69,284 in costs and a £190 surcharge.

Mark Cam, Senior Investigator with the MCA’s Regulatory Compliance Investigations Team (RCIT), said: “This is a tragic reminder that modifications to vessels should be planned and their effects on the vessel’s stability properly investigated using appropriate professionals.

“Companies are responsible for providing a safe place of work for their employees wherever that may be. The court has found that Laura D Fishing Ltd. did not take all reasonable steps to operate the Joanna C in a safe manner and this led to the deaths of Adam and Robert.”