Story and photos by Judy Benson
Dan Russell and Abraham Powell are at opposite ends of their fishing careers.
While the two work from ships moored in New London, Russell is a boat captain who has been fishing for 50 years. Powell is brand new, having been hired a month ago.
“I haven’t even been on a boat yet,” he says.
Still, they agreed that the October 20-21 sea safety training was time well spent, whether they were experienced or new to the old and perilous craft. Sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn Avery Point in conjunction with Fishing Partnership Support Services and the U.S. Coast Guard, the free training enabled 49 commercial fishers, state maritime agency personnel, and researchers and ship crews from the UConn Marine Science Department to take intensive, hands-on courses. lessons that could one day save their lives.
“I learned about some of the new flares and some of the new emergency equipment,” said Russell, who first learned safety skills many years ago from the Coast Guard, but had never taken Sea Grant-sponsored training for refresher training.
Sea Grant has sponsored training with various partners approximately every two years since 2000 and partnered with the Fishing Partnership in 2016.
“Organizing these training opportunities to create a culture of safety is one of the most important things I can do for those who work on the water for a living,” said Nancy Balcom, Associate Director and Head of extension program for Connecticut Sea Grant. “It is especially fitting that we held this training in October, National Seafood Month.”
The classroom portion of the program featured an overview of MAYDAY call procedures, PFDs (Personal Flotation Devices) and other safety equipment, interspersed with real life stories of survival and tragedies at sea from the instructors, many of whom worked in industry. themselves. Shannon Eldredge, Marine Safety Instructor and Community Health Worker for Fishing Partnership, prefaced a segment on overdose response by recalling why anglers need to be mindful of opioid use among their colleagues.
“You don’t get sick leave,” she said. “You work on the pain and you use prescription drugs. You are going to be the first responders in the event of an overdose.
This followed with a presentation by Trish Rios, community health worker for the Alliance for Living in New London, on how to administer the overdose reversal drug NARCAN. She recommended that each vessel have at least two doses in its first aid kit and brought several dozen packs of medicine to take for each fishing vessel.
The formation then moved outdoors, where groups moved between stations to practice deploying flares; don immersion suits and board life rafts; extinguish fires on board; and repair flooding and damage to ships at sea.
Dana Collyer, one of the instructors, urged anyone who makes a living on the water to buy their own immersion suits and make sure they fit properly, rather than using the one provided by their vessel.
“It’s the most important safety gear you have,” he said.
Another instructor, Mark Bisnette, stressed the importance of regularly inspecting suits to ensure they haven’t deteriorated due to dry rot. He and Collyer are both marine surveyors with Marine Safety Consultants Inc.
“You have to maintain it,” Bisnette said. “It’s your parachute.”
At the onboard damage control station, Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Examiner Kyra Dwyer led groups to practice repairing leaks using ropes, tape, wooden wedges, neoprene strips and other equipment they would have on board. On a facsimile boat deck, crews worked furiously as Dwyer opened valves to send water spraying from pipes and various seams.
After one crew managed to plug a series of leaks, she congratulated them.
“You had success,” she said. ” You go back home. You saved the ship.
A life raft deployment demonstration concluded the first day.
Anthony Mintiens, who has been fishing scallops on the Stonington-based vessel Invictus for eight years, said he had already taken the training but was grateful for the opportunity to hone his skills.
“It was totally worth it,” he said. “I don’t want to sink with the ship in the freezing cold.”
The second day was for a small group of 14 people training for certification to conduct monthly crew member safety drills. It covered topics such as cold water survival, helicopter rescues and emergency station bills. The day ended with a test to see if participants could put on their immersion suits in 60 seconds or less, followed by a simulation of man overboard and abandon ship drills on board from the Emma & Maria, a fishing vessel owned by Michael Theiler, who worked with Sea Grant to organize the training.
Theiler, a New London-based commercial fisherman and senior advisory board member for Sea Grant, said the hands-on aspect of the training is particularly valuable given the changing composition of fishing crews.
“We have quite a high turnover, so having these formations is particularly important,” he said. “For newcomers in particular, getting familiar with the safety equipment and learning the procedures is very helpful. And it’s a chance for the crew and the captain to work as a team on these different scenarios.
