Focus On Marine Safety

AT LEAST 40 people are feared to have drowned when their boat capsized on Lake Victoria last Friday. This is the second accident in the Kalangala district part of the lake in just over two weeks, following the death of 27 in a shipwreck on May 20.There have been countless other boat accidents in the region, some fatal and others not, and the carnage seems to continue unabated.In the past, the accidents have principally affected fishermen who make a living on the rich resources of Africa’s largest lake, but now a wider cross-section of people is being involved. This is possibly due to the increasing activity on the islands that form Kalangala. It was declared a district not too long ago, thereby increasing administrative activity. But more so is the economic activity accruing from increased investments, big and small, that makes the lanes between the numerous islands and the long coastline on the mainland very busy. Passenger volume has gone up, and so have the number of vessels.Unfortunately, there has not been a commensurate increase in the quality of safety controls. Boats, whether mechanised or manual, are still overloaded. Many do not even have established load capacities, and there is no one to regulate them. Most vessels do not have basic safety requirements like (sufficient) life jackets, instruction manuals and procedures, and lifeguards. The lake itself is short of navigational guides. This is compounded by the fact that marine police is poorly equipped and undermanned. A lot of effort, including sensitisation and more traffic police personnel, is being put in curbing road accidents, and hopefully this will soon start showing results. Similar endeavour is long overdue on our lakes, which, in a single accident, claim more lives than one crash on the road.Ends