The skipper of a former Buckie-registered trawler whose neglect caused another vessel to sink has been fined more than £5,000.
Malcolm Edmund was charged with failing to keep a proper look out from the Sapphire Stone in the moments leading up to its collision with another fishing vessel, the Karen.
The accident happened on January, 22, 2014, as the Karen was coming to the end of a four-hour tow south-east of the Island of Arran.
She was struck behind by the Sapphire Stone, registered B221, which had just brought its final haul of the day aboard and was bound for Campbeltown for the night.
Skipper of the Karen, John Muir, said the boat went down so quickly that the crew did not have time to get their lifejackets from the cabin.
The men managed to launch the life raft, but it overturned in choppy seas and all three found themselves in the water, before Mr Muir managed to right it and they scrambled back in.
Meanwhile, the Sapphire Stone had managed to get alongside the raft and brought the men safely onboard.
She then continued to Campbeltown, where they were met by the emergency services.
During an investigation by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, it transpired that one of the crew on the Sapphire Stone had not completed the required safety training courses and that Edmund, of Portavogie, County Down, Northern Ireland, had been issued with an improvement notice the previous September for a similar offence.
Yesterday, at Newtonards Magistrates Court in Northern Ireland, Edmund, 49, pleaded guilty to three charges – failing to keep a proper lookout, causing the loss of the fishing vessel Karen, and breaching the Fishing Vessel Safety Training Regulations.
The judge, his worship Mr Mark Hamil, said the case came down to him not looking where he was going.
Edmund, who could not be reached for comment last night, was fined a total of £5,500.
Captain Bill Bennett, surveyor in charge of the Belfast Marine Office, said: “This very serious accident caused the loss of a vessel. It could very easily have resulted in loss of life.
“Skippers are reminded of the need to keep a lookout at all times.”
The 48-foot twin rig Sapphire Stone was built in Sandhaven in 1968, and was then sold to Buckie were she worked for many years under the registration, BCK 304, before being sold on to Northern Ireland and her current home port of Belfast around the year 2000.
