A new hazard warning app has been hailed as another success for a long-standing partnership between the fishing and oil and gas industries.
Launched at Aberdeen University yesterday, the widget is expected to make life safer for fishermen in the North Sea.
The FishSAFE Companion app provides information about oil and gas equipment ranging from platforms to subsea pipelines, so fishers can better understand what the object is.
It is designed to complement FishSAFE devices already used by hundreds of skippers to work out where hazards are located.
The new app is free and can be downloaded to smartphones and tablet devices while onshore or at sea.
It gives fishers vital new information about objects such as subsea wellheads, pipelines and protective structures.
The size of equipment is shown by a scale representation using easily recognisable objects such as a human, bus or plane, so fishers can see exactly how big the hazards are. They can also type in their own notes in case, for example, the item has moved.
There are 3D pictures showing what potential hazards look like and a quiz so fishermen can test their knowledge.
Former skipper John Watt said: “The FishSAFE Companion app is a great initiative.
“It complements the existing FishSAFE system, providing fishermen with a greater perspective of the scale and design of subsea oil and gas infrastructure on the seabed.”
The app was developed and made by Aberdeen firm AVC Media and is the result of a project, supported financially by the Scottish Government and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, to make the seas safer for the fishing fleet.
Behind the project is FLTC Services, which was formed in 2007 by industry bodies Oil and Gas UK (OGUK), the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations to promote fishermen’s awareness of offshore surface and subsea structures.
FLTC chairman Niall Scott said: “We all want our fishing fleet to be as safe as possible.
“There are thousands of oil and gas objects on the sea bed and on the surface, with 26,000 kilometers (more than 16,000 miles) of pipelines alone, and many of them can be a potential hazard for fishing vessels.
“In the long term, platforms will be decommissioned and in some cases operators will receive consent to leave part of the infrastructure on the sea bed, so we needed a lasting place for information on potential hazards.
“We’re here to help prevent snagging accidents and help save fishermen’s lives, and we hope the app can go a long way to providing information to do that.”
OGUL environment director Mick Borwell said: “The new FishSAFE Companion app is another positive example of the fishing and oil and gas industries working together.”