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The wreck of the Qasaoq, a small hunting vessel that sank at the end of Frobisher Bay in 1994, killing eight Iqaluit hunters. After that incident, the Transportation Safety Board said rescue centres in Halifax or Trenton should be notified immediately in marine search and rescue.

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(PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TSB)

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Nunavut Emergency Services working to improve boat safety

Avataq disaster produces action on safety education

JIM BELL

When Louis Pilakapsi and Larry Ussak ended up in the 10 C waters of Hudson Bay after their overloaded lobster boat, the Avataq, foundered and sank beneath them, it’s possible their Mustang personal flotation suits could have kept them alive for up to five hours.

But rescuers didn’t arrive in time to save them. The two men died of hypothermia.

Ken Potter, the Transportation Safety Board investigator whose report on the Aug. 26, 2000, sinking of the Avataq was released last week, doesn’t say if communication delays among search and rescue agencies led directly to those deaths.

But his report does say that the safety board is "concerned" that interagency agreements made after a 1994 boating disaster in Frobisher Bay did not appear to have been implemented.

Tom Watts, the director of Nunavut Emergency Services, says that one of those delays, a 2.5-hour lapse between the time his office was first contacted about the Avataq incident and the time his office contacted the federal Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) in Trenton, Ont., occurred because his staff were trying to confirm what happened.

"Our office at the time was waiting for confirmation that there was definitely an incident on the go and that’s where the delay of two and a half hours came from," Watt said.

After eight Iqaluit hunters drowned in the sinking of the Qasaoq during a Frobisher Bay walrus-hunting trip in 1994, federal and territorial officials agreed that the appropriate federal agency would be contacted immediately in search and rescue situations.

But in the case of the Avataq disaster, that didn’t happen — apparently because searchers were trying to confirm what happened.

"Given the continuing delays in notifying the appropriate RCC, the Board is concerned that the agreements made between the key agencies after the Qasaoq occurrence have not been effectively implemented, resulting in continued risk to seafarers and others in peril in the area," Potter’s report said.

The first communications delay occurred in Arviat after residents heard via hunters’ radio — at 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 26 — that the Avataq was sinking.

Instead of calling Nunavut Emergency Services in Iqaluit, they drove down the coast on ATVs so see if they could spot the vessel from the shoreline.

It wasn’t until 2:55 a.m. that Arviat searchers called Nunavut Emergency Services (NES) in Iqaluit.

NES promptly contacted the Canadian Coast Guard, at 2:55 a.m., to find out if there were any vessels in the area that could be deployed in a search, or if they had heard of any vessels getting into trouble.

"There was definitely action being taken," Watt said.

But they waited 2.5 hours to call the federal Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ont. After another call from Arviat, at 3:19 a.m., NES called the Coast Guard again, at 3:40 a.m.

It wasn’t until 5:19 a.m., after a third phone call with Arviat, that the NES finally called RCC Trenton. RCC staff then contacted a military Hercules aircraft that was in the air over Foxe Basin on another mission, and diverted the aircraft to where the Avataq had sunk.

The Hercules aircraft arrived on the scene at 8:10 a.m. but could stay for only about 35 minutes because of dwindling fuel reserves. The Hercules crew then dropped a drift buoy and headed for Churchill.

Watts said, however, that his office does follow the notification agreements that have been made with federal agencies.

"Now, the policy is that when we are aware of any search and rescue incident, is to notify the appropriate federal agency," he said. He also said that his office is now helping to carry out recommendations contained in the safety board report.

That includes a small-boat safety awareness program and a Coast Guard auxiliary program.

They’re also working with Transport Canada to help identify small commercial cargo carriers, and to arrive at a definition of "commercial carrier" so that it can be distinguished from boat-owners who use their craft for subsistence hunting purposes.

That includes encouraging boat owners to register their vessels.

"We’ve taken the initiative to try to get that information out to Nunavummiut," Watt said.

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