A well-known West Highland fisherman who died after falling overboard was not wearing a life jacket or locator beacon, a new probe has revealed.
Marine accident investigators said Alasdair Macleod’s chances of survival would have been “significantly increased” and the tragedy could have been prevented had he taken such measures.
His 27ft creel boat, Varuna, was discovered on rocks near Applecross in Wester Ross on November 20, with his body found 15 miles away at Staffin Bay on December 9.
In a report into the tragedy published yesterday, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said the 57-year-old skipper and third generation fisherman was working alone, making it difficult to be precise about the circumstances of the incident.
The report said a slot door had not been fitted after Mr Macleod had been shooting the creel nets, which meant he could have fallen through the open shooting gate.
And it said he was not wearing a personal floatation device (PFD) or life jacket and did not carry a personal locator beacon (PLB), so there was no way of alerting anyone once he fell overboard.
The report added: “On entering sea water at a temperature of 9C he would have suffered the extremely debilitating effects of cold shock. If he had survived the cold shock, he would then have been subject to the rapid onset of cold incapacitation that would have impaired his ability to swim or tread water.
“Drowning would have been inevitable once he lost the ability to keep his head above water. While individual survival times in cold water vary, had Alasdair been wearing a PFD, and given the speed with which a search was initiated, his chances of survival would have been significantly increased.”
The report said a number of relatively inexpensive and easy to adopt safety measures would “likely have either prevented this accident” or “at least have ensured it did not have a tragic outcome.”
As the MAIB report was being drafted, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) was preparing legislation which includes a provision to effectively make it compulsory for commercial fishermen to wear a PFD or fall restraint harness.
Recent legislation changes also mean existing fishing vessels less than 33ft (10 metres) should have a PLB for each crew member on board from October 23 next year.
To supplement his income from fishing, Mr Macleod worked as ‘front of house’ in the Applecross Inn.
He had also been a director for many years of the Applecross Community Company and a former chairman of the local community council.
