30 March 2023
By November, all fishermen will be required to have a medical fitness certificate in order to continue to work at sea. This ill-considered, unnecessary and harmful regulation could prove devastating to the inshore fleet, with long-standing and well-managed medical conditions potentially leading to the refusal of a certificate. The cost, stress and lost sea time involved are unjustifiable. Despite the NFFO meeting repeatedly with MCA officials and lobbying ministers to explain the seriousness of the situation, nothing has been done. This is now becoming desperate. Livelihoods will be lost and the looming mental health crisis in fishing communities will be worsened. The government must act to undo the harm that their regulations are causing. The NFFO is calling on the minister responsible to meet with us, to discuss how this state of affairs will be resolved.
Dear Minister,
The NFFO has noted with alarm the failure of the MCA to engage with fishermen’s concerns about the impending deadline for small boat fishermen to obtain medical fitness certificates in order to continue in their jobs.
We made plain our concern about medical certification for fishermen when the adoption of ILO C188 was first proposed. It is clear that our objections fell on deaf ears. Since then, we have made repeated efforts to work with officials to avoid the looming disaster that these rules seem certain to cause, to no better effect.
When the UK government transposed ILO C188 into UK law via the The Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing Convention) (Medical Certification) Regulations (2018) it gave itself the option of creating an exemption from the medical certification requirement for the small vessel fleet. That successive Secretaries of State have opted not to do this is as baffling as it is disappointing.
Making matters worse, it was decided to compound the problem by gold-plating the regulations: applying to inshore fishermen the same standards as are applied to mariners in the deep-sea merchant fleet. Fishermen working close to shore, on vessels under 10 m in length, are being held to more exacting standards than those mandated for HGV driving or working at height. This cannot be right.
An expensive, onerous and hugely anxiety-provoking solution has been created for a problem that does not exist. I do not believe that a single instance will be found in the reports of the MAIB of an accident being caused by a fisherman being overweight. By contrast, the terrible consequences of the toll that these rules are taking on fishermen’s mental health can all too easily be imagined. The MCA’s single-track approach to fishermen is having unintended results that contribute nothing to their safety.
This is not merely a further extension of the proliferation of red tape that has swamped small fishing businesses in recent years, it is an existential threat to hundreds of livelihoods.
We would highlight:
- The unavailability of GPs willing to undertaking ML5 examinations.
- An appeal process that is slow and lacking in clarity.
- Reluctance to apply workable grandfather rights for single-handed vessels.
- Unwarranted discrimination against existing medical conditions.
- Unnecessary additional pressure being placed on an already exhausted NHS primary care system.
We cannot believe that this government is intent on depriving hard-working people of their livelihoods. The implementation of these regulations in the small boat fleet must be halted while government reconsiders its position.
We would like to meet with you to discuss the resolution of this issue as a matter of urgency.