KEY POINTS:
The loss of a Nelson fishing boat and three crew might have been avoided had the owner kept in regular radio contact with the skipper, says Maritime New Zealand.
The Mi Jay left Nelson on a fishing expedition on November 22, 2005, carrying a skipper and two crew.
It had enough fuel and supplies for 14 days, but had been expected to return to Nelson in about a week.
After a phone call by the skipper the next day, the Mi Jay was never heard from again.
The two crew were found dead drifting in its liferaft on December 19, two days after the official search was suspended, and the skipper's body was never found.
In a report released yesterday Maritime New Zealand has said radio contact and an emergency beacon on the boat could have averted the tragedy.
MNZ's deputy director of safety and response services, Peter Williams, said that if the owner had set up a regular communications schedule with the vessel's crew before departure, rescuers would have had critical information about where to begin the search.
MNZ's report said that despite the skipper being new to the vessel, the owner, Warwick Loader, had no firm idea of its destination. It was not until 14 days after Mi Jay left Nelson, when its supplies were due to run out, that Mr Loader finally alerted the rescue co-ordination centre that it was missing.
Mr Williams said based on analysis of the liferaft it was likely the two crew members were drifting for at least three weeks before being found, and seemed likely to have survived for up to two.
A campaign since the accident had promoted the importance of regular radio schedules and trip reporting to vessel owners and masters.
He told the Weekend Herald most fishing boats reported their positions.
www.maritimenz.govt.nz
