Lobster fisherman’s narrow escape following incident in Dingle Bay

A Co Kerry fisherman narrowly avoided being pulled into rough seas when he became entangled in lobster pot ropes seriously damaging his leg during a solo trip last year.

The unnamed skipper spent five days recovering in hospital although an official report into the incident, published on Wednesday, found that without the rapid rescue response his fate could have been “far more serious”.

Despite his quick thinking, he spent four hours trapped in “severe pain” before help arrived.

The An Portán Óir, a 9.9 metre boat used to bait and set lobster pots in Dingle Bay, left for a routine trip early on Friday, October 14th.

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The skipper, who owned the boat and was both qualified and experienced, was out alone with the intention of setting 30 lobster pots attached to rope strings that shot off from a table onboard. The weather conditions at the time of the incident included rough seas.

At about 4pm, he was ready to shoot the final string when a pot fell off the table onto the deck compelling the skipper, who would normally never leave the boat’s wheelhouse while pots were entering the water, to respond.

At this stage the weather conditions had picked up and the boat was rolling and pitching in the water. The skipper left the boat in gear to keep tension on the string and went to the back of the boat to pick up the fallen pot.

According to the repot, compiled by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) which analyses such incidents, he managed to lift the pot back onto the table so that it could follow the others overboard, but then quickly became entangled in the rope.

The report noted that “as the boat was in gear this rope pulled tight and was going to pull him overboard.

“He grabbed the inboard side of the rope and tied it around the railing on the starboard side. As the knot was slipping due to the tension, he put his finger in the loop to prevent the knot coming undone.”

He then managed to remove his finger and add more knots to the rope but by this stage his left leg was gripped tight in the rope and he was pulled backwards where his leg jammed against the rail stanchion.

Although he normally had a knife to hand that could have helped him escape, this had been removed during recent painting and not replaced.

“This missing knife was a major factor in the skipper being unable to free himself,” the MCIB found. “He was in very severe pain and remained in this position for around four hours until rescue.”

The alarm was raised when it became apparent he had not returned to shore. Several local boats as well as the Dingle lifeboat and Coast Guard rescue helicopters undertook a search and he was later taken to a waiting ambulance.

He was treated in hospital for “severe” muscle and nerve injuries which prevented him from returning to work for some time.

“This was not an uncommon incident but was exacerbated by the skipper being alone onboard and not having a knife to hand,” the report noted, or a personal locator beacon on his person that would have allowed him to immediately raise the alarm.