South Korea plans to greatly toughen penalties for owners and crew members of ocean-going fishing ships for violating safety regulations that will include retractions on their fishing quotas, the government said Monday.
The move comes after the 1,753-ton Oryong 501, owned by fishing company Sajo Industries, sank in the western Bering Sea on Dec. 1, leaving more than 50 crew members dead or missing.
An investigation has found the ship lacked a qualified engineer, who, if present, may have been able to deal with the flooding of the ship that eventually caused it to sink.
The law on sailors currently requires all ships to have a qualified engineer on board.
However, a government inspection of all South Korean flag carriers engaged in deep-sea fishing has found that a total of 181 ships owned by 47 fishing companies did not have a qualified engineer on board as required while three of them even lacked a qualified captain, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
All 181 ships have been ordered to have a qualified engineer on board within the next six months, considering the time needed to transport the engineers to areas where the ships are currently operating, the ministry said.
The three ships without a qualified captain have been ordered to immediately halt their operations and dock at the nearest port.
For Sajo Industries, whose 40 other ships have also been found to lack a qualified engineer, the government will retract all 41.4 billion won (US$37.8 million) that has been extended to the fishing company in low-interest government policy loans.
The ministry also plans to revise the law on sailors to increase the minimum penalty for a failure to have a qualified engineer on board a ship to five years in prison from the current 5 million-won fine or one-year prison term, it said. (Yonhap)
