Search still on for missing Baie Ste Anne fishermen |30 July 2014

The search for two fishermen from Praslin reported missing since June will continue until they are found, Minister Joel Morgan has said.

The Minister for Home Affairs and Transport said even though the intensity of the search has reduced compared to when it initially started on June 13, the Seychelles Coast Guard will continue to make it its priority to remain on the lookout for the vessel when conducting its routine patrols, Minister Morgan stressed.

Minister Morgan also noted that it is also the responsibility of all fishermen, mariners and boat owners to ensure that their fishing boats and other vessels are equipped with the necessary communication equipment at all times and that these are in working order before they undertake any trip at sea.

Minister Morgan made these declarations in the National Assembly yesterday when answering an urgent question by elected member for Baie Ste Anne Praslin Natasha Esther.

Ms Esther had asked the minister to give the Assembly details of efforts underway to help find the two fishermen from the district who have been reported missing since June.

Minister Morgan said efforts to find the two fishermen -- Don Hoareau and Francis Meriton -- onboard their small fishing boat Rouze reported missing since June 13 by the boat owner Churchill Gill, is still underway and is being carried out by the Seychelles Coast Guard.

“It is normal and in line with international norms that after a period of time such a search reduces in intensity and gradually stops depending on the outcome and circumstances,” Minister Morgan explained.

It is to be noted that the fishing boat left the Baie Ste Anne jetty on June 5 and was supposed to have returned on June 12.

Minister Morgan informed the Assembly that it is Coast Guard procedure to monitor and record VMS positions of all fishing vessels in the area considered to be ‘high risk’ every two hours and once a vessel stops showing on the screen, the Coast Guard immediately gets in touch with the owner to confirm if there is any contact with the vessel.

“If not the Coast Guard immediately mobilises both sea and air patrols to verify the loss of contact,” Minister Morgan explained.

But he pointed out that the fishing boat Rouze was outside the ‘high risk’ area and its last VMS position was not registered neither as an alert nor as a distress signal.

Minister Morgan noted that once the Coast Guard was informed on June 13 that the vessel was past its due date to return, the search operation got underway.
At the same time the Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration (SMSA) and the Coast Guard itself passed the information of the incident to all maritime research centres and information sharing centres in the region as well as all boat agencies in the country and the Seychelles Ports Authority and all vessels visiting Port Victoria.

The search operation itself started at the last VMS position of Rouze recorded on June 6 and this was at approximately 24 nautical miles north east of La Digue.

Minister Morgan said air and sea search was conducted every day for two weeks and it was gradually extended based on weather conditions but until now there has been no success in locating the vessel.

Meanwhile Minister Morgan informed the Assembly that the SMSA in collaboration with the Seychelles Fishing Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources are working on certain measures to make it compulsory for all fishing vessels to be equipped with VMS.

“The  Ministry of Natural Resources is working on regulations to be tabled soon under the revised Fisheries Act to address the issue of making it mandatory for all vessels to have VMS and other communication equipment fully operational on board,” said Minister Morgan.