A CORNWALL MP whose fisherman husband died in an accident on board his trawler has made an impassioned plea to other commercial skippers to install better safety equipment on their vessels.
Neil Murray, 57, husband of South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray, died from multiple injuries after a toggle on the hood of his jacket got tangled in the net as he was hauling it in, an inquest heard on Friday.
The experienced fisherman was working alone and could not reach the lever to stop the net drum on his stern trawler Our Boy Andrew, the hearing was told.
Mrs Murray, who became an MP at the 2010 general election, said after the inquest that, like increasing numbers of fishermen, her husband worked his boat alone because he could not afford the expense of employing a deckhand.
She urged fishermen to take advantage of grants that would pay up to 60 per cent of the cost of having an emergency stop button fitted, and to cut the toggles from the hoods of their sea clothing.
"This might make what's seen as an expense that can be put off for another day affordable now," she said.
"I'd like to urge all working fishermen to cut their toggles off. It's better to lose the cord out of your oilskin than lose your life. Neil didn't do that and he tragically lost his life."
Mr Murray, a father of two, who lived with his wife in Millbrook, South East Cornwall, was found by a lifeboat crew snared in the jammed mechanism around 12 hours after the accident on March 24 last year.
He had suffered multiple injuries, including massive chest injuries and a severed arm.
The inquest in Liskeard heard that an increasing number of fishermen operated their vessels single-handed because they didn't make enough money to employ deckhands.
Mr Murray, who had been fishing for more than 30 years, was described as someone who knew the risks and was very safety-conscious.
A crewman who worked on the boat with him years before had once caught his clothing in the net drum and only avoided death or serious injury when Mr Murray pulled the lever to stop the mechanism.
Mr Murray's vessel was found 24 miles off Fowey by the town's lifeboat. He had been due back in his home port of Looe at 7pm and fishermen from three local ports joined a massive search for the Our Boy Andrew, named after the couple's son.
The jury of four men and four women returned a verdict of accidental death.
Michael Wright, a fellow fisherman based in Looe, said "that "sheer economics" drove the decision to fish alone.
"The catches don't justify two men," he said. "Two men can't make a living out of catches of this size."
Mr Wright added that the net drum on My Boy Andrew had a new gearbox fitted the year before the accident, but that the lever mechanism was jury-rigged with a screwdriver and only Mr Murray knew how to operate it.
Mr Murray's on-board diary showed he had planned to haul in his first catch at 11.40am, and it is thought it was around this time that the accident happened.
Another trawlerman fishing nearby saw the boat moving under power at around noon but saw no sign of Mr Murray on deck.
An investigation into Mr Murray's death by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said a single hood toggle was found three revolutions of the drum from Mr Murray, suggesting it dragged him into the mechanism. He was using the portside net, the furthest from the stop lever.
Detective Sergeant Darren Rosson, a police officer and friend who had grown up near Mr Murray in Cornwall and often fished with him a few months before the accident, described him as an excellent fisherman.
"Safety was always on his mind and I'm sad he died the way he did," he said. "It's a dangerous occupation and I'm sure he won't be the last person to lose his life fishing."
source: thisiscornwall.co.uk
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