Fishing industry urged to put safety first

Trawler owners, skippers, and workers have been urged to create, as a priority, a greater safety culture within the fishing industry.

A new report demands fishermen engage with renewed vigour in trying to reduce drowning and serious injuries in an industry which claimed, on average over the past decade, five male deaths yearly.

Fishermen are 40 times more at risk of death than any other industry in Ireland. Fatalities on trawlers are four times more likely than on a farm and 36 times more risky than on a construction site.