"Tens of thousands" spent on search for fisherman

Tens of thousands of liri were spent in the search and rescue operation last week when the Armed Forces of Malta combed the seas for three days until missing fisherman Pawlu Gauci was found, Col Mario Schembri, AFM public relations officer, said yesterday.

Despite the cost - footed by the taxpayer - those rescued are not charged except for the towing of their craft, and only after the owners have given their consent for the vessel to be towed, he added.

"Although small craft are not obliged by law to carry a VHF radio, it bears stressing a million times over, that persons going out to sea should take means of communication, including a VHF radio and a mobile phone.

"Even though the range of a mobile phone may not be that wide, once a boat is out of control and drifting, the wind could be such that the vessel would drift close to land, just as much as it could drift further offshore," said Col Schembri.

Mr Gauci, of St Paul's Bay, had left Bugibba on Monday at about 7 a.m. on his 16-foot kajjik to go fishing, meaning to return at about 4 p.m. But the boat engine developed a fault later in the morning and he drifted out.

Mr Gauci did not have a VHF radio on board or other means of communication by which to inform his family or call for assistance. A VHF radio costs about Lm100.

The AFM were joined in the search by the American Navy with their specialised search plane, an Orion P3, and by the Italian military mission in Malta.

Although the American and Italian forces did not charge the AFM for the search and rescue operation, the AFM and Italian planes refuelled in Malta.

"One has to take into consideration the human resources used for three whole days, apart from the fuel and other charges involved in such an operation," Col Schembri pointed out.

Hot on the heels of the rescue, two men on board their speedboat were reported missing by family members on Friday.

Another AFM search and rescue operation was mounted. Later, an Italian trawler radioed the AFM to give the position of the speedboat, which lay about 40 miles to the north east of Malta, at 8.27 a.m. on Saturday.

In his Sunday programme on the fishing industry Bejn Sema u Ilma, yesterday, presenter Ivan Portanier argued that persons who went out to sea lacking basic communication equipment should be made to pay for the costs involved in rescuing them.

Mr Portanier put a list of questions to listeners, asking whether they thought it fair for somebody to throw care to the wind knowing that the AFM would do their best to find him, if necessary, in an operation that would cost the taxpayer dearly.

A number of fishermen phoned in saying that such incidents regularly cropped up at this time of the year with the start of the lampuki (dolphin fish) season.

Mr Portanier stressed that owners of craft under 21 feet were legally bound not go beyond the 12-mile limit. But many did so because they wanted to reach the first line of floats used for catching lampuki, in the hope of landing a good catch.

The first floats can be reached about seven miles offshore but on summer days when the visibility is not good, the island will no longer be visible to the naked eye beyond 10 miles.

Although one caller bluntly took Mr Portanier to task, maintaining that the radio presenter had his own agenda in favour of full-time fishermen - because catches by amateur fishermen two weeks ago resulted in lampuki fetching dirt cheap prices at market - most callers agreed on the need to be well-equipped when going out to sea.

One caller summed it up saying they needed to know how to read a chart, and have a horn, flares, a fire extinguisher, navigation lights, a VHF and an auxiliary engine. Another suggested the not so common stratagem of carrying a mirror, to flash for assistance.

Col Schembri explained that the AFM charged only for towing, which would be calculated on the tonnage of the vessel and the duration of the towing operation.

"After the master of the AFM patrol boat rescues the people on board, he asks the owner whether he would like his boat to be towed, giving him the towing rates."

The persons on the speedboat on Saturday accepted to foot the towing bill.

In the case of Mr Gauci, Mr Gauci abandoned his kajjik in order to be able to be pulled out of the boat by helicopter. The kajjik was, however, spotted by a fisherman about 60 nautical miles south east off Delimara, and he towed it to port.

Informed sources told The Times that in other countries, when it is established that a lost person or persons were at fault, they have to pay a substantial part of the costs of a rescue operation.