A sophisticated piece of safety equipment designed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which could save the lives of fishermen was unveiled yesterday.

The MOB Guardian is a satellite-based man overboard and vessel locator system designed to raise the alarm when either a vessel or crew member gets into difficulty.

Now fishermen are being encouraged to purchase the potentially life-saving gear.

They may be eligible for grants to help purchase the system, and in many cases, 75% of the cost will be funded—although in Scotland much of this funding is due to expire on June 30.

The MOB Guardian team arrived in Pittenweem yesterday, and Richard Scott—who works single-handedly on a creel boat out of the port—said, “I was approached by the RNLI to take part in the early trials for what is now called MOB Guardian.

“The trial gave me confidence in the unit, and I felt it would be daft not to go ahead—especially with the deals the insurance companies are offering.

“I have a family with two young children, and I want to give myself a fighting chance should I go overboard and someone will know when and where it happens.”

Billy Hughes, manager of Pittenweem’s Fishermen’s Mutual Association, added, “I think what the RNLI is trying to do is excellent. Fishermen should take up any offer of equipment that makes things safer at sea.”

During 2007, RNLI lifeboats were called out to 669 incidents involving fishing vessels, of which 21 were “man overboard” incidents and three were capsizes.

David Smith, fishing safety manager for the RNLI in Scotland, said fishing is recognised as the most dangerous and on average 20 fishermen die each year in the course of their work in UK and Irish waters—with 90% of these fatalities the result of fishermen ending up in the water.

A fisherman himself for 18 years, Mr Smith added, “Searching for a missing fishing boat or crew without a location can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“It’s dreadful when our volunteers know that fishermen may be in the water fighting for survival, but they just don’t know where.

“Valuable time can easily be wasted in this situation, and MOB Guardian has been specifically designed to reduce this time to a minimum.

“When speaking to fishermen who are already fitted with MOB Guardian, it becomes very clear that this system raises their survival expectations.

“It also highlights the increased benefit of other safety equipment—like lifejackets and life-rafts— because they now believe that they’ll have a fighting chance of surviving if the worst happens to them, and that if they can hold on, help will get to them.

“I look forward to working with the local fishermen over the coming months, and truly believe that if MOB Guardian can save one life then all the time and money and effort put into developing the system, by the charity, will prove priceless.”

The MOB Guardian consists of a base unit, which is situated in the wheelhouse, and crew personal safety devices (PSDs) worn by the crew-members.

The base unit automatically transmits regular updates of the vessel’s position, course and speed to the RNLI’s monitoring station.

If a regular update is missed, the monitoring station tries to regain contact with the boat, and if no further updates are received an alert is raised with the RNLI, which is then passed to the Coastguard.

Also, if a fisherman wearing a PSD falls into the water or activates the PSD manually, an alert is raised.

This alert will be transmitted—typically within three minutes—to the RNLI operations’ centre.

The information that is then passed to search and rescue agencies is accurate and up to date, and details the position, the name of vessel and even the name of the crew member.

The RNLI’s safety team will be at the Pittenweem Fish Market from 10am to 5pm and at the Mayview Hotel in St Monans, from 6-9pm today.