Mussel men in lucky escape at Conwy Quay

Feb 11 2010 North Wales Weekly News

FOUR mussel boats and a pontoon sank in mysterious circumstances last week at Conwy Quay.

Geoffrey Hughes, 67, said he received a phone call last Wednesday afternoon saying the pontoon, which supported four mussel boats, was sinking.

By the time he got to Conwy Quay the pontoon had sunk, taking the four boats down with it.

Geoffrey said: “I’ve been a fisherman all my life and I’ve never seen anything like it.

“My boat was actually being crushed underneath the pontoon for two days before it was retrieved.

“If we’d been on the pontoon when it sank we most certainly would have been killed.

“My son Jamie, who is also a mussel man, was with me and we just feel lucky to be alive.”

Geoffrey claims the pontoon is to blame for the incident.

“Jamie and I have never felt the pontoon is safe as it isn’t wide enough and is very rickety,” he claimed.

Jamie said: “When you walk on it, it rocks like mad and it’s covered in slime.

“Even though it has been retrieved, Dad and I are never going to use it again.

“We’ve contacted the health and safety officer to have a look at it.”

The mussel men say they have lost hundreds of pounds worth of equipment because of the incident.

Jamie said: “I’d like to thank the crew of Conwy Lifeboat who helped us retrieve the boats, they were fantastic.

“I’m just disappointed that nobody from the Harbour Office came down to help us.”

However, Tony Mead, Conwy’s harbourmaster, says the pontoon is perfectly safe. He blamed the incident on an illegal dredger.

He commented: “We investigated the matter as soon as we could and it is quite clear the pontoon capsized because an illegal mussel dredger was attached to it.

“It was a large scope-type dredge which is totally illegal. The pontoon is of industry standard and is used all over the world. It is perfectly safe.

“These pontoons are used in various places in the harbour and there have never been any problems whatsoever.

“This one was destabilised by an outside influence – the dredger.”