Published on Australian Maritime Safety Authority (https://www.amsa.gov.au)
Different types of lifejackets may be better suited to different situations.
If lifejackets are not worn, they should be easy to access when needed.
Crew tasks and weather conditions can determine an operation's risks.
The right equipment and training will help retrieve someone who goes overboard.
Nobody knows your industry better than you do. These examples have been provided by commercial fishers operating in Queensland, to help you update your risk assessment and develop a lifejacket wear procedure that suits your operation. They have been developed in relation to the nature of their specific fishery sectors.
The details provided are for general information, and on the understanding that AMSA is not providing specific advice on a particular matter. All risk assessments and lifejacket wear procedures must be tailored to vessels, taking into consideration their specific operation.
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by trawl fishers operating near Mooloolaba, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Demersal otter trawling |
| Vessels | Steel, timber or fibreglass monohull vessels, length around 14 to 20 metres. |
| Crew | Master and 1 or 2 deckhands. |
| Fishing season | East Coast Northern area (Cape York to 22° south): 1 March to 15 December. Southern area: 1 November to 20 September. Torres Strait: 30 January to 1 December. |
| Operating conditions | Offshore. Mainly night operations. Some seasonal daylight banana prawn fishing. |
Crew tasks
Other person overboard controls in place
Engine policy
Procedures, training and drills:
| Task | Lifejacket wear procedure |
|---|---|
| Steaming | Master's decision |
| Watches | Internal quarters. Not required. |
| Shooting away | Master's decision |
| Hauling | Master's decision |
| Winching up | Master's decision |
| Racking and unracking gear | Based on wind and sea state. Master's decision. |
| Greasing blocks maintenance | Master's decision |
| Working on booms arms | Wear lifejacket |
| Working on bow | Wear lifejacket |
| Anchoring and retrieving anchor | Master's decision |
| Person transfer | Always or based on wind and sea state |
| Hook ups | Recommended |
| Processing catch | Master's decision |
| Untangling gear at side of vessel | Master's decision |
| Deploying fishing gear (boom work) | If wind 20 knots plus |
| Retrieving fishing gear (boom work) | If win 20 knots plus |
| Replacing ropes | Master's decision |
| Engine room tasks | Not required |
| General maintenance | Master's decision |
| Docking | Never |
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by trawl fishers operating near Brisbane, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Demersal otter trawling |
| Vessels | Steel, timber or fibreglass monohull vessels. Maximum legal length 14 metres. |
| Crew | Master and up to 2 deckhands. |
| Fishing season | Open all year round except weekends. |
| Operating conditions | Moreton Bay waters. Day and night operations. |
Crew tasks
Other person overboard controls in place
Equipment:
Engine policy:
Crew jobs:
Training and drills
Two options selected:
Lifejacket type: Self inflating vest with AIS Beacon.
See more lifejacket risk assessments by trawler fishing operators in Bundaberg, Tin Can Bay and Townsville PDF632.31 KB.
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by longliners operating near Mooloolaba, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Longlining |
| Vessels | Fibreglass (Westcoaster) or steel monohull vessels, length around 18 to 21 metres. |
| Crew | 4 to 6 including master. |
| Fishing season | No closure. Normally don’t fish around dark/new moons. Vessels average about 250 to 300 days at sea per year. |
| Operating conditions | Offshore. Day and night operations. |
Crew tasks
Skipper mainly inside the wheelhouse running the vessel. Other crew have a range of tasks:
Personal protective equipment worn
Wet weather gear and gumboots. Fish gaffers may wear helmet and protective vest to address risk of line flyback of sinkers used for seabird bycatch prevention
Weather risk controls
Skippers monitor regional forecast and updates and local conditions and determines if safe to work. Based on combination of wind, sea state and angle of vessel to the weather for deploying or retrieving longlines. Primary precaution consideration is “should you be working in that weather at all”. These assessments are made weeks, days and hours in advance. Donning lifejackets to enable working unsafe weather is not a good plan.
Other person overboard controls in place
Equipment:
Engine policy:
Crew jobs:
Training and drills:
Search techniques:
Skipper: Not required. Safe in wheelhouse.
Crew: Lifejacket wearing is not required and/or hazardous for winch operation, cleaning, snood pullers, repairs, and breaks. In weather that is rough but safe to work, crew members gaffing fish at the sea door must wear a lifejacket. Based on conditions, the master will also determine whether crew baiting and attaching light sticks should also wear lifejackets.
Lifejacket type: Inflatable personal flotation devices. Manual inflation.
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by drop and troll line fishers operating near Bowen, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Coral reef fish: hand drop line. Spanish mackerel: troll line. |
| Vessels and crew | Single operator small boat. Mother boat and dories – one person per dory. One dedicated to mother boat. |
| Trip duration | Small boats: up to 2 days. Mother boat and dories working for a week to a month (average 2 weeks). |
| Fishing season | Coral reef fish: 5-day closures around the new moons in October and November. Spanish mackerel:
|
| Operating conditions | Coral reef fish: reef edges and reef tops. Daylight fishing. Spanish mackerel: open water and near reefs. Daylight fishing. |
Tasks
Person overboard controls in place
In all dories operating prior to daylight.
For Spanish mackerel (troll line) fishing: Slimline or bum bag style lifejackets to be worn when safe from entanglement and in hazardous weather conditions on master’s discretion.
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by fishers operating near Karumba, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Gillnets (hydraulic drums and hand worked) and crab pots. |
| Vessels | Mother boats over 10 metres working with shallow draught punts. |
| Crew | 1 master and 3 crew. |
| Fishing season | Barramundi closure 7 October to 1 February. |
| Operating conditions | Netting and crabbing estuarine rivers and creeks and mangrove foreshores. Extended mother boat trip durations of weeks or months. Day and night operations depending on tides. |
Crew tasks
Single operator or pair working together and sharing these roles:
Weather risk controls
Weather limits if travelling outside estuarine waters to from or between crabbing locations. Maximum wind speed of 35 knots.
Other person overboard controls in place
Lifejackets are not required working in shallow and narrow creeks. Wearing lifejackets is also an entanglement hazard when working with gillnets and crab pots. At other times, lifejackets are to be worn on the master’s discretion and decision.
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by fishers operating near Ayr, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Crab pots. |
| Vessels | Fibreglass or steel monohull vessels, length around 6 to 10 metres. |
| Crew | 1 or 2 people onboard. |
| Fishing season | No closure. |
| Operating conditions | Crabbing estuarine rivers and creeks and mangrove foreshores. Trailer boats launched from creek or coastal boat ramps. Day and night operations depending on tides. |
Crew tasks
Single operator or pair working together and sharing these roles:
Weather risk controls
Weather limits if travelling outside estuarine waters to, from or between crabbing locations.
Other person overboard controls in place
Lifejackets to be worn when transiting exposed water in hazardous weather conditions on master’s discretion.
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by crab trap fishers operating near Mooloolaba, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Spanner crab pots (dillies) attached to trot lines up to 1.5 kilometres long (up to 3 on a boat). Up to 25 pots on a line. |
| Vessels | Extended trips (hundreds of miles including Coral Sea waters) using fibreglass (West Coaster) or aluminium monohull vessels, length around 12 to 20 metres. There are also day trip (around 5 miles offshore) boats around 7 metres long. |
| Crew | Master and 1 or 2 deckhands. |
| Fishing season | 15 December to 1 November. |
| Operating conditions | Offshore. Day operations only. Working in depth of 30 to 100 metres. |
Crew tasks
Weather risk controls
Big vessels are designed and proven for these conditions and this type of fishing
Other person overboard controls in place
Equipment:
Engine policy:
Search techniques:
Training and drills:
Risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedure developed by rock lobster fishers operating near Thursday Island, Queensland.
| Fishing method | Hookah diving and free diving. |
| Vessels | Fibreglass or steel monohull vessels, length around 6 metres. |
| Crew | 2 to 3 crew. Divers and dinghy drivers. Swapping roles during fishing operations. |
| Fishing season | October to November fishery closure. Hookah diving closure in December, January and for 7 days around the February to September new moons. |
| Operating conditions | Fishing on fringing and offshore coral reefs. Open seas travel between grounds. Mainly daylight operations. Some night lamp fishing on shallow reefs. |
Crew tasks
Personal protective equipment worn
Wet suits. Diving equipment when in the water.
Other person overboard controls in place
All drivers and divers are wearing wetsuits. Wearing of lifejackets deemed not required. Some fishers need education on wearing kill switches.
See the risk assessment considerations shared in the examples for advice on how to prevent and manage person overboard incidents.
Experienced trawl operators, Mark Millward and Tony Sterling, have interesting ideas on preventing and managing person overboard incidents. Read about them in detail:
Use the examples of risk assessment considerations and lifejacket wear procedures as a guide to update your:
Tips:
Doing a risk assessment for the first time? Find out how do to a simplified risk assessment for a smaller DCV operation.
While the benefits of wearing lifejackets are largely recognised within the industry, data shows that most drownings from domestic commercial vessels (DCVs) have occurred from fishing vessels.
To reduce the number of drownings on DCVs, all owners and operators are required to:
This is required under Marine Order 504 (Certificates of operation and operation requirements - national law).
We ran workshops in Queensland for commercial fishers. During the workshops, attendees produced examples of risk assessment considerations, lifejacket wear procedures and other person overboard controls. This information aims to help fishers and other commercial operators comply with lifejacket wear requirements and save lives.