A study jointly conducted by the South Korean private and public sectors showed that nearly 10,000 maritime accidents that occurred in South Korean waters in the last five years involved fishing vessels.
The study revealed that out of more than 14,000 maritime accidents in South Korea during the same period, fishing vessels were involved in 9,602 accidents (64.9 per cent).
A total of 305 fatalities resulted from fishing vessel accidents over the last five years. This constitutes 78 per cent of the total number of fatalities (391) that were recorded following accidents involving all vessel types.
The fishing vessel accidents also left 1,593 people injured, while another 123 have been reported missing.
The accidents over the last five years have been blamed on safety and regulatory lapses, in particular the inadequate training of crews, poorly conducted safety inspections, and failure to use safety equipment such as lifejackets. Failure to make accurate weather information available to crews was also identified in the study.
The study team has therefore proposed measures to help prevent accidents and minimise the risk of loss of crews and vessels in the future. These include mandatory wearing of lifejackets regardless of weather and sea conditions; the establishment of inspection standards for each vessel type so crews can conduct their own safety inspections before sailing out; and the relocation of transmitting and receiving stations to expand radio connectivity during search and rescue (SAR) operations following accidents.