‘SIGNIFICANT improvements’ have been made by the Island’s search-and-rescue community since 2018, Ports of Jersey have said – after the chair of the Jersey Lifeboat Association questioned whether lessons had been learnt from the St Helier RNLI crew dispute.
Chief Minister Kristina Moore recently said there would be no committee of inquiry convened to look into the events surrounding the 2017 St Helier RNLI crew walkout – which led to the formation of the JLA in 2019 – and that she considered the matter ‘concluded’.
JLA chair Ben Shenton said the charity – which was forced to suspend its operations in December to allow investigations into an incident with its all-weather vessel Sir Max Aitken III – was ‘happy to move forward’, once it was certain ‘the events of the past won’t be repeated’.
Ports of Jersey said ‘significant improvements’ had already been made by the search-and-rescue community since the Council of Ministers presented an official report about the dispute to the States Assembly in 2018.
‘There are now peer reviews by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; close co-ordination with the Jersey Resilience Forum; closer links with Her Majesty’s Coastguard enabling formal training of officers; integration with the lifeguard service on prevention and response; regular meetings with search-and-rescue partners, and annual publication of statistics,’ a Ports spokesperson said.
‘As the appointed harbour authority, Ports of Jersey is legally responsible for search-and-rescue in Jersey territorial waters, and we remain committed to working with all the dedicated volunteers and professionals who keep people safe in our waters.
‘We will continue to discharge that responsibility in accordance with international maritime law and established maritime procedures,’ they added.
Mr Shenton said that further meetings between the JLA and harbour authorities were due to take place, but did not know when the charity was likely to return to action.
A review into the 2017 St Helier RNLI crew walkout, carried out by Sir David Calvert-Smith, found that Ports of Jersey ‘seems to enjoy a status unbefitting a body which supplies crucial services’ and that it had largely been ‘unwilling to explain its state of knowledge or its actions in connection with the events of 2016-18’.
Ports, in response, criticised the ‘objectivity, accuracy and validity’ of the review, and claimed that the organisation had not been invited to provide evidence.
