The Bi-National Workshop on Small Fishing Vessel Safety (BNW-SFVS) was held in Chennai, India, on 09 July 2008. It was organised jointly by the FAO, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Alaska, USA (NIOSH) and the BOBP-IGO. Taking part were 18 delegates from the FAO, SIDA, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and NIOSH; the two countries concerned, India and Sri Lanka; representatives of boatbuilders; and the BOBP-IGO secretariat.
The workshop discussed safety issues resulting from the motorization of small fishing craft and the construction of FRP fishing vessels in India and Sri Lanka. A draft Technical Guideline for FRP fishing craft in India and Sri Lanka was presented, a simplified and adapted version of Canadian standards for safety of small vessels, and an FAO/IMO document on the same subject.
The workshop recommended that fishing craft should be classified on the basis of their area of operation (inshore, offshore, oceanic, etc) and the height of the wave they faced and not on the traditional length of the fishing vessel and the use of engine. The workshop also recommended strict quality control measures for FRP boatyards and fishing vessels.