18 July 2008 - The Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s satellite based MOB Guardian sea safety system has recently played an important part in saving the lives of three fishermen after their vessel sank off the Channel Islands.

When the 36ft Brixham registered fishing vessel Guyanacapsized and sank suddenly off Sark the three man crew were initially left floundering in the water. They were able to board their liferaft after it was released automatically from the sunken vessel.

An overdue alert from the MOB Guardian fitted to the vessel was quickly detected in the operations room of the RNLI headquarters at Poole and details of the vessels last known position were passed initially to Falmouth Coastguard and subsequently to the Channel Islands Search and Rescue Authority.

The St. Peter Port RNLI lifeboat was at sea training at the time just 12 miles away from the position and after calculating the likely drift, located the liferaft containing the three crewmen. They were landed safely ashore unharmed within an hour of the initial alert being received.

Developed by the RNLI in conjunction with marine safety equipment manufacturer McMurdo and Active Web Solutions (AWS), the system monitors a vessel's position, course and speed at regular intervals and sends the information via satellite link to the RNLI operation room at Poole, which is manned 24 hours a day.

A feature of MOB Guardian is the Personal Safety Device worn by the fishermen when working on deck and in constant radio contact with the base unit. If the wearer falls overboard and contact is lost, an onboard alarm activates and a signal sent to the RNLI. This sequence taking place, typically within two minutes, is particularly important for fishing boats that operate single handed where there would be little chance of survival if the sole occupant fell overboard. A built in ‘panic-button’ activates an alert if the wearer is ill or trapped in machinery.
An important aspect of the MOB Guardian is that the RNLI is seen as a trustworthy and independent custodian of the data it receives. The commercial confidentiality of information, including their area of operation, is important to fishermen and the RNLI is only interested when things go wrong.

Registered fishermen can benefit from significant cash grants towards the cost of the MOB Guardian through UK Government and European funds. Grants of up to 40% of the installed cost are administered through, among others, the RNLI, Sunderland Marine or the Marine Fisheries Agency (MFA) and their counterpart agencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Funding may also be available for fishermen from Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man through individual associations.

One of the rescued fishermen, David McMurdo from Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, reflected on the ordeal. 'It [MOB Guardian] saved our lives, no doubt about it. If it wasn’t for that, nobody would have known where we were. I was worried we were going to die but once we got into the liferaft I knew we were 90% safe. We knew we were getting saved.'

http://www.maritimejournal.com

Three UK fishermen’s lives saved by RNLI’s new satellite safety system

The lives of three fishermen have been saved thanks to the RNLI’s new and unique MOB Guardian man overboard and vessel locater alert system. The innovative and award winning system designed and developed by Active Web Solutions in partnership with the RNLI has for the first time demonstrated its full effectiveness in helping to save lives in a real emergency situation.

The RNLI Operations Room in Poole, Dorset received a vessel overdue alert off Sark at 6pm, Tuesday 24 June. After verification the alert was transferred to the agencies responsible for coordinating maritime search and rescue – first to Falmouth Coastguard, who then passed it to the Channel Islands Search and Rescue authority. The RNLI St Peter Port lifeboat from Guernsey was then tasked to search for the missing fishing vessel, Guyona.

Using the last MOB Guardian verified position and taking into account weather and tides, the RNLI lifeboat worked out the likely position of the fishing vessel. At the time the lifeboat was on exercise only 12 miles away from the predicted position and the fishermen were located in a liferaft at 6.50pm, five miles south southwest of Sark 25 minutes, after the lifeboat was alerted.

Peter Bradley, RNLI MOB Guardian and Operations Manager explains:

‘This incident clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the RNLI MOB Guardian safety system which we have purpose-designed and developed to save fishermen’s lives. The crew of the Guyona were found safe in a liferaft that had deployed as their vessel sank. However they had also been in the water for 20 minutes and were battered and bruised by their ordeal.’

Richard Prodger, Active Web Solutions Technical Director explains:

“I am delighted that through the development of this unique system, Active Web Solutions has taken the RNLI ever closer to its vision to be universally recognised as the most effective, innovative and dependable lifeboat service. Innovation is all about going that one step further and breaking new ground. Fortunately for crew of the Guyona, the system we’ve developed in partnership with the RNLI does just that.”

Andrew Freemantle, RNLI Chief Executive adds:

‘Our charity’s trustees decided to invest a significant amount in developing MOB Guardian to try and take the search out of search and rescue. Yesterday, without the MOB Guardian alert the three fishermen would have been in the water for several hours at the mercy of the elements. There would inevitably have been a lengthy and costly rescue operation involving many search and rescue agencies – with the strong possibility of a tragic outcome.

‘On average 20 fishermen lose their lives every year in our waters. I sincerely hope that more UK fishermen will now decide to take advantage of the heavily subsidised MOB Guardian offer and that we will be able to save more fishermen’s lives in the future.’

The fishermen, two from the South West and one from Scotland, were safely brought ashore where they received medical attention and were cared for by the Mission to Seafarers and members of the lifeboat station. Still feeling the effects of their ordeal, they will return to the mainland later today.

Article courtesy of http://www.mobguardian.com