Sea Safety No 1 (February 2005 )

Number 1 (February 2005)

PDF: 0.6 MB

Group Co-ordinator and Bulletin Editor

Hugh Walton

Production

Pacific Community, Fisheries Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division, Information Section, SPC, BP D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia.

Produced with financial assistance from France.

Editorial

The safety challenge Number

Welcome to the very first edition of the SPC Sea Safety Special Interest Group. The commencement of this bi-annual publication results from the recommendations of the FAO/SPC Regional Expert Consultation on Sea Safety in Small Fishing Vessels and the 4th SPC Heads of Fisheries Meeting. The recommendations of these meetings are discussed in the SPC section of this bulletin but I would like to use this first editorial to note that one of our challenges in the future development of the bulletin is to monitor progress around the region over time in the development and implementation of national sea safety strategies as proposed by the consultation. Clearly, the first task is the identification of "drivers" in each country. Who is out there that cares enough about sea safety issues to stand up and take on the work of promoting and implementing national strategies.

There is a challenge for all countries to identify the "drivers" and look to the establishment of a sea safety organizational framework. Hopefully, this bulletin will succeed in providing a forum for monitoring progress in addressing the recommendations of the Consultation at the national level. In pursuit of this, we will include a section in each bulletin on "Progress with the Implementation of Consultation Recommendations". This is posed as an especially important section for member and reader contributions, particularly in reporting national sea safety activities.

In consultation with SPC, we have agreed that this bulletin should be published in two parts. The printed and mailed publication will be a shorter version of the more detailed web and email version. The mailed publication will also contain an appended document of sea safety resource material. In this first edition, we have included the text for a radio play on sea safety and the second edition will feature the guidelines for small vessel Safe Operational Plans.

The e-newsletter will be available by email and on the SPC website. This will contain more detailed articles and website links and is intended as a mechanism to promote a sea safety forum between SIG members, policy makers and sea safety stakeholders.

As with all the SPC Special Interest Groups, members and readers are encouraged to contribute to each bulletin. I would also appreciate feedback as to how we might improve the bulletin or what additional sections could be included.

In publishing this first issue, there is a challenge for sea safety "drivers" to step forward in each Pacific Island country and show their hands. Email me at [email protected]

Hugh Walton