The fisheries union says a recommendation by the Transportation Safety Board following the sinking of the Sarah Anne in Placentia Bay two years ago doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it will work with the regulatory bodies to do everything possible to make fishing safer.

All four crew lost their lives in the sinking. The TSB pointed out a number of contributors to the tragedy including the lack of an emergency locator beacon and the fact that the vessel was not registered with Transport Canada. It noted that thousands of vessels that are registered with DFO should also be registered with Transport Canada.

FFAW President Keith Sullivan isn’t certain of the benefits of a dual exercise and is concerned that it could lead to confusion in the industry.

He says the federal government should be able to accomplish that on their own just by sharing information instead of putting vessel owners through another costly process in which they end up with two unique identifying numbers—something which has the potential to cause confusion.