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What to do in a hook-up situation
You can use these steps to develop a hook-up emergency response procedure if you don't have one. Practise following the procedure until you consistently achieve the ‘ready to winch position’ in less than 20 seconds.
Warning signs: Vessel suddenly pulls, spins or starts leaning to one side.
If you see these warning signs, assume the vessel is hooked up. Act immediately.
Video: What to do if you're in a hook-up situation
- Transcript
Getting your fishing gear hooked up or snagged can be extremely dangerous as your boat is more vulnerable to capsize.
The four steps you take in the first 20 seconds after being hooked up are crucial.
Reduce power.
All crew on deck and close hatches.
Alert other vessels in the area.
Life-saving equipment in float-free position.
Being prepared and knowing what you and your crew need to do can save lives.
The full step-by-step guide is available now on amsa.gov.au or ask your local AMSA rep for your FREE copy of the brochure and sticker.
Complete steps 1–4 within 20 seconds if you can.
- (1) Reduce power
- Slow the trawler to the lowest possible speed to maintain steerage.
- Make sure the nets do not get more tangled.
- Keep the trawler as level as possible.
- Consider whether you should move the trawler so:
- the bow of the trawler is facing the prevailing conditions, and/or
- the snagged wire is as close as possible to the stern.
Never allow the wire to pass midway behind the stern toward the other side of the trawler.
- (2) Get all crew on deck wearing lifejackets and close hatches
- Yell out or sound an alarm.
- Everyone on board goes to their hook-up response position.
- Make sure a competent crew member is at the winch at all times.
- Close all deck hatches.
- Crew members who are not sure what to do should stay away from the back deck. Wait for instructions at the vessel’s muster station.
Never start winching until everyone on board is on alert and ready to respond.
- (3) Alert other vessels in the area
Send out a general radio communication alert to other trawlers/vessels in the area.
- (4) Lifesaving equipment in float free position
Make sure:
- all crew are wearing a lifejacket
- the EPIRB and your grab bag is easy to access
- the life raft/dinghy is clear.
Never start winching until all safety equipment is ready to go.
You are ready to winch
- (5) Start winching
Stay well clear of pulleys or wires. If a pulley or shackle fails and the wire makes contact with your body, you could end up with severe injuries.
Never stand between the winch and the nets when winching.
More you could do
Consider including these actions in your hook-up emergency procedure.
Retrieve equipment and move trawl cables to the side
- Retrieve and secure any unsnagged equipment to help keep the lever effect to a minimum. The lever effect and strain on trawl arms will be very high when winching. The trawler may rollover in either direction without warning.
- Once the trawler is over the hook-up site, and sea conditions are suitable, move both trawl wires to the side or stern of the trawler.
Move to the high side of the vessel
- The safest place to escape during a rollover is over the bow.
- If you are not at the bow, and it rolls to one side, move to the high side. From this position, you have the best chance of jumping free without getting caught up in the trawler’s structure.
Keep the trawler upright - or cut the wire
Maintaining an upright position is the most important task during a hook-up.
High risk situations
The wind, tidal conditions and trawler are all running in the same direction.
The hook-up site moves from behind to beside the trawler.
Ways to stabilise
You may be able to stabilise the vessel by:
- repositioning the trawler so that the snagged wire can be brought behind the stern
- fixing the trawl wire to the anchor point at the front of the trawler. This will allow the tide and swell to work the net free.
When to cut the wire
- If you are unable to control the position of the wire or vessel, you may have reached a point of no return. You should be prepared to cut the wire.
- If you realise this early, you should have enough time to put the trawler in neutral, buoy the wire, then cut it.
- Don’t push the trawler past the point of no return - especially if the decision to push the trawler is made by someone not on the trawler. A life is worth more than a set of trawl gear.
After a hook-up
Learn from past mistakes and correct any problems while it is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
Prepare for a hook-up
These steps were developed with input from experienced Queensland trawl fisher Mark Millward.
Note: Every vessel and operation is different. You may need to follow different steps to manage risks in your operation.
- (1) Develop a hook-up plan/emergency procedure
You could use the advice under 'What to do in a hook-up situation' as a starting point.
Give each crew member a response position and role. For example:
- Number 1 deckhand engages PDO and main winch.
- Number 2 deckhand winches up tri-gear.
- (2) Maintain and check your gear
Make sure you’re regularly checking the gear that matters most in a hook-up situation.
Example gear checks
Booms and stays
- All boom shackles moused.
- Stays free from swelling, cracking or corrosion. Plastic-covered stays can rust inside.
- Shackles and chains on top stays or chained-down stays. These may stop the booms from skying in an incident.
Trawl gear and wires
- Shackles where boards connect to warps.
- Trawl blocks on boom ends or cotton rails. These are high-wear points.
- Wire splices.
- Swage thimbles.
- Safety chains or strops on trawl blocks.
Lazy lines and deck fittings
- Securely fixed.
- Fitted with safety chains.
Dinghies, awnings, and water
Empty rainwater from:
- dinghy ends
- dip tanks
- awning covers.
Do this before the trip and regularly during the trip.
Loose equipment
- Securely fix loose cookers, fridges, computers, fire extinguishers etc.
Emergency gear
- Snatch blocks and chain pendants are onboard.
- Crew know where gear is and how to use it.
- (3) Train your crew
Skippers must make sure crew know:
- the hook-up emergency procedure, including each crew member's role
- how to maintain and check gear
- where equipment is stored
- how lifejackets are worn
- how each piece of safety equipment is operated.
- (4) Practise your response time
The most experienced skippers and crew can be in a ‘ready to winch position’ in less than 20 seconds (steps 1 to 4 on the hook-up procedure are complete).
If you and your crew know what to do in a hook-up situation, you're more likely to avoid panic if it happens.
Tips for practising:
- Conduct regular drills and time them. For example, you could practise and time getting all safety equipment in the float-free position.
- All crew members are obligated to take part in regular emergency response drills.
- Don’t stop practising until you consistently achieve the ‘ready to winch position’ in less than 20 seconds.
- When you are confident the crew is prepared, conduct random checks to maintain the minimum 20 second response time.
A well-rehearsed crew could save the life of everyone on board.
Video: How to prepare for a hook-up
Experienced Queensland prawn and scallop trawl fisherman, Mark Millward, explains how to prepare a trawler in port so that it can recover from a hook-up.
Note: Mark’s advice relates to his own vessel and trawl operation. You may need to prepare differently to manage risks in your operation.
- Transcript
Mark Millward 00:00:02
Hi. My name is Mark Millward. I am a Queensland commercial trawler operator. I've been so for 35 years and have fished most of the Queensland waters. This video is to help new entrants to the industry and young captains with some useful hints in a hookup situation on managing their vessel stability. In the bottom trawl fishery the majority of incidents related to stability issues occur during trawling activities. Some examples of these are – One: Hookup of trawl gear on large unmovable objects such as shipping containers lost overboard off cargo vessels.
00:00:45
Two: Overloaded cod-ends from mud or other substrate or debris, old wrecks (for example vessels and planes), hitting a wonky hole, trees or logs from cyclone or floods.
Where possible, obviously the captain will avoid any potential hook-up or bad ground, but from time to time these occur no matter how experienced the fisher or the detail recorded on the charts.
One of the secrets to handling this situation is to have your vessel and gear prepared if a situation like this should come to fruition.
00:01:26
Prior to leaving port there are several matters that need to be considered.
Firstly, the booms. The shackles holding the forestays at the boat and boom ends, should be tested and moused. The stays themselves may be shrouded in plastic or even plastic-coated. These need to be examined for the ingress of salt water which can eat the stays out from the inside. Also, the shackles attaching the boards to the warps need to be examined and moused. The trawl blocks on the end of the booms may be shackled or on cotton reels.
00:02:01
These are usually high wear points and must be checked regularly. Likewise, trawl wire splices and swage thimbles need to be examined for wear as these appendages hanging from the booms play an important role in the stability of the ship, if an incident should occur. The safety chains or strops for the trawl blocks need to be examined and checked. Most boats with lift booms will have a solid removable top stay. A lot of boats will have chained-down stays. Either way, these need to be tested - both the shackles and the chain - as this may be the only thing stopping booms from skying.
00:02:36
Ensure you cast your eyes over the lazy line blocks to see that they are fixed properly and that their safety chains are in place. There are a few other matters to consider. If a dinghy end or dip tank are on the awning they need to be checked to remove any accumulated rain water before leaving port. It is important to regularly do this during the trip. The boat's tankage plan both fuel and water needs to be adhered to in terms of minimizing fluid transfer as well as the issue of having tanks pressed up and free surface area.
00:03:12
In the deck store or lazarette, there may be a snatch block and chain pendants to suit. These can be used in the event of the trawl wire needing to be brought in to the side of the vessel during a mud-up or hook-up. It's important that the crew knows where this gear is located and how it should be used in an emergency situation. In my experience, I've been hooked-up a lot, but as computer mapping came to the fray the incidents occurred less and less.
00:03:53
But should it occur, here are some suggestions.
In the event of a vessel pulling rudder or spinning sharply around when trawling, the captain's first logical thoughts would be a mud-up or a hook-up has occurred, in which case, the vessel will pull an incline towards the heavy side. The captain and the crew may take the following steps immediately. The captain should pull the throttle back to an idle in gear ahead. The captain may then disengage the autopilot and manually turn the wheel away from the heavy side.
00:04:28
The captain should then alert the crew to assemble on the back deck ensuring everyone has their lighted and EPIRB safety vests on ready for instructions. Then turn on the red over red navigation lights and turn the side navigation lights off. Captains should then alert other vessels of the situation over VHF channel 16. The number two deckhand should then be instructed to commence winching up the tri-gear, ensuring that this is safely secured and out of the way as soon as it's brought in.
00:05:01
Number one deckhand should ensure the PDO is engaged and the main winch is engaged to commence retrieving the gear. Most likely, the vessel will start to incline towards the heavy side and may stop lifting the heavy side or hook gear. The relief valve on the hydraulics may blow and stop winching depending on where the valve is set. The winch master should not leave the winch controls as wire may need to be wound out to keep the vessel as upright as possible.
00:05:32
The captain should ensure that all the fuel and water tanks are isolated to stop fluid migration to the low side. The crew should be quickly checking that all hatches are dog shut. The free side gear will keep winding up and reach the trawl block. The crew should immediately retrieve the lazy line, winch this cod-end up and empty it onto the sorting table and secure the bags. With both the tri-gear and the clear set of gear winched up and secured, the heavy side can be dealt with using full care and attention. The vessel will be slow ahead and leaning to the heavy side.
00:06:04
By now, the captain should have an idea about whether the gear is mudded-up or hooked-up. More likely it will be mudded up. There are three reasons that could cause this situation: mud, rocks and shell, or hooked gear.
Mud: If the cod-ends are mudded up the mud may wash out as the vessel slowly moves forward, slowly returning upright as they wash clean.
Rocks and shell: Rocks and shell will not wash out. The main wire for that side may need to be brought in closer to the stern quarter for safety lifting purposes.
00:06:45
If this is not done, and the cod-ends are lifted while the gear is out on the boom, the lifting ears may tear off and there will be no way of lifting the gear easily. It may be hard to bring the main wire in depending on the tide set because of the low engine revs the hydraulic oil flow will be minimal and not give enough slack wire for the wire to reach the snatch block quickly. Extra oil flow may be available if the vessel is fitted with a power pack.
00:07:17
The most experienced deckhand will need to make their way out to the end of the boom on the heavy side to attach a rope with a shackle to the main wire on the gear side of the trawl block, so that this main wire can be dragged into the stern quarter of the vessel. The crew member must be wearing a life vest with a light and personal EPIRB attached the boom end may submerge periodically under the water as the vessel continues to list to the heavy load side and potentially roll and dip with any swell. Once the rope is secured to the stern of the vessel the main wire needs to be released and pulled simultaneously to the stern quarter snatch block.
00:07:51
This is not easy in 25 knots. The crew may need to use a warping head to draw the main wire to the stern quarter and drop it into the snatch block. If the tri-net capstan is available this may be used to draw the main wire in. But not all vessels will have a tri-net lazy line capstan on the stern. Once the heavy side main gear wire is passed through the stern quarter snatch block, or gallow leg snatch block, the vessel will right a little and be in a much safer situation to deal with the weighted cod-end.
00:08:20
The captain's first option is to get the senior deckhand to slowly winch up the gear until the cod-ends appear, then using the lazy line winch on one cod-end, to lift it until the cod-end is accessible to untie or cut loose the drawstring and spill the contents back into the water. If this can't be done, the captain may decide to release the main wire and main gear back to the bottom and steam around until a hole is worn in the bottom of the cod-end releasing the weight.
00:08:50
This is not the preferred option, but it works if needed for safety reasons.
Hooked-up gear: This is by far the most dangerous situation a trawler can be in when the gear is stuck fast and cannot be moved. The captain can try and point the vessel in the direction opposite to the trawling direction before the hook-up to see if the gear will unhook itself as the vessel moves forward in this direction.
If the captain can't unhook the gear, as a last resort he should allow the main wire to spool off the drum to return the vessel to safe stability situation. Recording the location of the hooked-up gear on the plotter for future retrieval and safety advice to other vessels.
00:09:25
In doing this for retrieval purposes the crew should cable clamp a rope and buoy to the wire and allow it to run off the drum completely. Help can be sought from divers to undertake the retrieval process. If the hook-up creates an emergency situation the main wire may have to be cut using a cordless
00:09:57
grinder and a thin disc. If possible, clamp wire for later retrieval. During the operation keep in contact with nearby vessels and keep personnel crew away from warp lines, ropes, blocks, and overhead steel work. Hook-ups can be dangerous in bottom trawling. Having the right gear and crew trained will minimise risk greatly. This information should be in your SMS as this info is paramount to sea safety.
Next steps
- Develop a hook-up plan/emergency procedure. Keep this in your safety management system (SMS).
- Do extra maintenance and gear checks before each voyage if needed. Record these procedures and keep them in your SMS.
- Train crew so they know what to do when a hook-up occurs.
- Practise what to do if a hook-up occurs. Don’t stop until you consistently achieve the ‘ready to winch position’ in less than 20 seconds.