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Fishing Families Decry Transport Canada’s Delay on Vessel Stability Assessments

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has again rated the federal response unsatisfactory more than a decade after its first vessel stability recommendation.

Lori Cogswell-Phillips crouches alongside a monument on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 in Delap's Cove, N.S. remembering her son Aaron Phillips and other members of the crew of the Chief William Saulis. She and a group of friends installed it near the site of where the boat sank on Dec. 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lori Cogswell-Phillips

Overview

  • The Transportation Safety Board first called for mandatory stability assessments in 2015 after a capsizing killed three fishers.
  • A 2023 report found that the Chief William Saulis had not received a stability test after modifications before it sank in 2020, killing six fishers.
  • In its latest annual review, the TSB once more classified Transport Canada’s response to this decade-old recommendation as “unsatisfactory.”
  • Relatives of the 2020 victims, including mother Lori Cogswell-Phillips, warn that delayed action is putting fishing crews at risk.
  • The board maintains that mandatory assessments would help crews load catch and gear safely, reducing the chance of vessels flipping over.