Safety countermeasures for the marine casualties of fishing vessels in Korea

Marine casualties of fishing vessels were analyzed to reduce the sacrifice of human life using data of the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal from 1995 to 2004 in Korea. The occurred number of fishing vessel casualties were likely to be higher portion than non-fishing vessels, but the occurring ratio of fishing vessel casualties were marked 2.96 times lower than that of non-fishing vessel casualties. The occurring ratios of bigger fishing vessel casualties were higher than smaller ones. Most marine casualties were resulted from the human factors such as poor watchkeeping, negligent action for engine and etc. The trend of marine casualties showed that the machinery damage hold the first and collision accidents took the second, but on a point of cause of them, operating errors took first and poor handling or inspection of machinery held the second place. Because those two casualties took major portion, and very important problems for safety of fishing vessels, so we ought to try to reduce the factors before everything else. In addition, since collision, sinking and capsizing in marine casualties have led to death, missing and injury of lives, it is necessary for navigation operators to take more educations and training intended to reduce the marine casualties systematically and continuously.