The National Transportation Board's report on the capsizing on February 5, 1987 of the FISH-N-FOOL was released earlier this year and repeated some of the recommendations made in previous accident reports.
The FISH-N-FOOL capsized and sank in Mexican territorial waters, four nautical miles west of the eastern coast of Baja California Norte, approximately 150 miles south of San Diego while on a charter fishing trip for Tuna. The cause was determined to be a large, breaking swell while operating in shallow water near Ben's Rock. Only two of the twelve persons aboard were rescued.
In some ways, this was similar to the "pooping" of the MARY JANE at the entrance to Bodega Bay in 1986 with the loss of nine lives. Both vessels were charter boats, both were in the vicinity of rocks, and both encountered breaking swells which, though unanticipated, were within the statistical set which could have been forecast. The MARY JANE did not capsize though she did roll over almost 90° because of a wave which came from the vessel's quarter.
Among the most significant recommendations made by NTSB were to require a verbal passenger briefing to cover all matters now set forth in 46 CFR 185.25-1(d)(1) through (4); establish qualification standards for deckhands of small passenger vessels; require that small passenger vessels be navigated by licensed operators or under the immediate supervision of a licensed operator; establish new response procedures that recognize the high false alarm rate of emergency locator transmitter/emergency position indicating radio beacons (ELT/EPIRB).
It was noted in the report that there is a 97% incident of false alarms from ELT/EPIRB's costing the taxpayers over two million dollars per year.
Also of note was the fact that most of the people on the FISH-N-FOOL left the floating hull to swim to the nearest land 2.5 miles away. Coast Guard Rescue forces were on the scene within hours because one of the survivors, the alternate operator, had energized an EPIRB in one of the lifefloats which had surfaced an hour after the capsizing. She was rescued by helicopter seven hours and twenty minutes after the capsizing. Only one of the persons who attempted to swim to the island survived.
This reinforces the old and accepted axiom of survival at sea - stay with the vessel as long as possible. It is much easier for rescue forces to detect a vessel, or even a lifefloat, than it is to detect a person in the water. Chances of detecting a swimmer vary depending on the sea conditions and may be less than 10%.
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