Tuna trials and tribulations! - 'Black box' technology let down.

Quentin Knights, Cornish champion of line caught tuna.

Cornish tuna trip update:

Seems that the tuna gods were not smiling on Quentin and Kevin's traumatic tuna trip! Apart from the fuel lift pump problems later in the trip - that sort of thing is common enough and well known amongst the fleet - the same may not be said about the problems they had with their Vessel Management System (VMS) system.

Captain Quentin let's off a fair bit of steam on his latest blog posting (he didn't manage any posts at sea and you can see why!) with regard to the administration of the VMS - here is the relevant paperwork from the MMO that is now responsible for the system's administration in the UK for vessels over 15 metres. The FAO at the United Nations provides a complete overview of the VMS system here.

Quentin's gripe with the MFA was, in his eyes, their punitive response to his problem (this Cornish Tuna project has been eight years in the making for Quentin with him working closely with all organisations concerned to ensure a viable fishery for a small number of boats willing to join the huge Spanish and French fleets already on the job) - he is nearly 400 miles south west of Newlyn and miles from the French coast, he's been steaming and looking for fish for 2 days when the VMS packs up - the MMO want him to return to port immediately to fix the VMS problem or else - all very well when you are only a few hours away from port - but at that distance an 800 mile round trip plus the time taken to sort the problem would come to nearly five days lost fishing time - and if the same thing were to happen again (and in fishing these things can and do) how long could the boat be expected to burn fuel and time without earning a penny for the boat or crew?


Here is the offending 'black box' - basically a sealed INMARSAT C transceiver. Inside the steel case, the top is protected by a micro-switch - in the event of someone tampering or opening the lid a signal is sent to the receiving station at the MFA alerting them. There is a green 'on' light visible on the outside of the case to show that the unit is working - well, 'on' - apart from that, the boat has no idea whether the unit is actually transmitting or not. Once aboard, and in this case its the local Selex engineer, can test the unit but then has to telephone the MFA to let them know - and then, if the unit is not working, he has to telephone the manufacturer and they can access the box remotely to try and ascertain the problem for the engineer and boat. Worse still, if this happens late on a Friday (and it has) the MFA is not there over the weekend to assist. This lack of service for an industry that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and not Mon-Fri 9-5 costs the boat, skipper and crew real money.

It would seem that the MFA needs to formulate a bettter way of managing faults to ensure that in situations like this alternative arrangements that respect the integrity and position of the skipper can be put in place without the man feeling like he is immediately being branded a poacher - at the end of the day it is his fish that ultimately pays their wages - with no fish or fishing there would be no need for the MMO and VMS - and the albacore tuna fishery is about as eco and environmentally friendly as you can get - this is not the world of super-seiners with nets big enough to engulf a footbal stadium threatening the very existence of a fish stock - these guys fish with hooks and lines on 60 foot of wood in 6,000 feet of water! Surely failings in managing the IT technology - especially precarious aboard such an hostile environment as a small fishing vessel - should not bring about such a punitive first response?

The Ben Loyal was fishing alongside a fleet of around 40 Spanish line vessels - and they are supported by the Spanish Naval Patrol vessel (P61 Chirlue) - perhaps,given that these are all EU member states, the MFA and the Chirlue could have liaised with one another to assist with the VMS issue and vouchsafed the Ben Loyal's position?

Some additional guidance relevant to VMS managemnt from the EU:

Here is an extract from: (*DIRECTIVE 98/48/EC AMENDING DIRECTIVE 98/34/EC LAYING DOWN A PROCEDURE FOR THE PROVISION OF INFORMATION IN THE FIELD OF TECHNICAL STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS) with the clear intention that procedures should not be allowed to over-regulate - surely in the Ben Loyal's case the MFA could have exercised a little more caution and not treated the problem of a faulty VMS as if it would allow the Ben Loyal to destroy the northern atlantic albacore tuna stock in a few days?

"To avoid the risks of over-regulation
Without a mechanism for transparency and control, the adoption of a national measure would be likely to trigger a series of subsequent initiatives by the other Member States which, later, could require action by the Community in order to ensure freedom of movement while safeguarding minimum uniform protection on Community territory.
Like Directive 98/34/EC, the operation of the new Directive 98/48/EC is designed to avoid such a regulatory spiral and the adoption of measures which could prove premature in the case of services about whose form, nature and future development not enough is yet known. Basically, it will be necessary to resort to new Community arrangements only where national measures have restrictive effects on the freedoms in the Treaty which cannot be resolved by directly applying the Treaty, in particular the principle of mutual recognition, or by existing secondary law."

The only UK fisheries departments’ approved supplier for VMS equipment aboard fishing vessels is:

Applied Satellite Technology Limited
Satellite House
Bessemer Way
Harfreys Industrial Estate
Great Yarmouth
Norfolk
NR31 0LX
Tel: +44 1493 440 011
Email: sales@ast-uk.com
Web: http://www.satcomms.com/

On a lighter note - the guys reported being surrounded by thousands of swimming crabs, some breaking the surface with their legs in the air - maybe their VMS wasn't working either?