Graeme Mackie’s family said he would be ‘sorely missed’
A fishing boat skipper has avoided jail after a member of his crew drowned following a safety breach.
Ronald MacNeil, 55, from Leven in Fife, admitted failing to ensure there was a second diver on standby to help when Graeme Mackie entered the water.
Mr Mackie, 31, resurfaced in distress shouting for help just a minute into his first dive in the Firth of Forth.
MacNeil was sentenced to 300 hours of community service over the incident, which happened on 11 June 2011.
During the trial, Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard that the “Rob Roy” boat had been involved in electro-fishing, a practice where a generator on the ship sends charges to electrodes trailed on the seabed, shocking shellfish to rise to the surface of the sandy bottom, where they can be collected.
However, the depute fiscal said there was no evidence this was a factor in Mr Mackie’s death, which was caused by drowning.
Unconscious
In order to know when to start the electrodes for electro-fishing, it was decided that Mr Mackie would remove his mouth piece and the surfacing of the bubbles would indicate he was ready to start fishing.
The court heard that after entering the water off the Fife coast, Mr Mackie re-surfaced about “10 to 15 seconds later in distress”.
The father-of-one from Tranent, East Lothian, then sank unconscious to the river bed.
MacNeil jumped in to the sea, 600 metres off Methil Harbour, in a bid to rescue him.
‘Tragic accident’
Mr Mackie was eventually recovered and airlifted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he was pronounced dead.
A dive computer calculated that from the time Mr Mackie had entered the water to the time he was discovered, was 24 minutes.
When sentencing, Sheriff Craig McSherry said it had been a “tragic incident”, though MacNeil had previously had a good safety record.
He ordered him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and placed him on a home curfew between the hours of 19:00 and 07:00 for six months.
Sheriff McSherry said: “I understand that you were diving earlier before the incident took place, so if you yourself had been on standby it is possible that Mr Mackie’s death might have been avoided.
“I don’t believe that the breach of the regulations by you was for profit – there is no evidence that you were cutting corners.”
MacNeil had been due to face trial accused of being responsible for a series of health and safety failings that led to the tragedy.
However, Louise Beattie, prosecuting, accepted a plea to a single failing, not having a standby diver, known as a frogman, who could have gone to Mr Mackie’s aid in an emergency, in consequence of which Mr Mackie drowned.
She said it was “a serious breach”.
‘Experienced fisherman’
Ms Beattie, who specialises in health and safety prosecution, said MacNeil had checked Mr Mackie’s diving equipment and was satisfied everything was fine before allowing him into the water.
During the trial, the court heard that Mr Mackie’s ambition was to eventually become an underwater welder.
He had undertaken “an intensive underwater dive course” and advertised himself as a trainee shellfish diver online, prompting MacNeil, a fisherman with many years’ experience, to get in touch.
Mr Mackie’s family has said: “Nothing can bring Graeme back but we can only hope that what happened makes other people stop and think about the responsibilities they owe to the people who work for them.”
