Friday 17th March saw the culmination of the vision of Mr. Aubrey Smith to have a facility to help save lives. The opening ceremony of the Sky King VHF Marine Radio at Island Harbour was chaired by Mr. Alwyn Richardson of the Department of Disaster Management.
Mr Smith outlined his enterprise from a fascinating hobby with radios to a passionate resolve to have an effective emergency communication system. This resulted in part from the near loss of his friend and neighbour, Mr Samuel Webster at sea, in 2008. He explained how he got a 25 watt radio, 55 watt radio, and later erected a tower to cover 30 miles out to sea.
Mr Samuel Webster spoke about Mr Smith’s campaign to help save the lives of fishermen. He said Smith’s persistence paid off because his radio is now located on his premises, at great personal cost and with the help of many individuals and entities, such as the Government of Anguilla, Social Security Board, and ANGLEC.
Through the Department of Disaster Management Mr Smith now has the added capability to use an alternative channel via a repeater erected at Navigation Hill. It is intended to have an expansion of Mr Smith’s system to a more broad based community emergency communication LASECOM system in district 1. This will provide communication links between the Island Harbour community, fishermen at sea, the National Emergency Operation Centre and first emergency responders in the event of an emergency or disaster.
Ms Melisa Meade, of the Department of Disaster Management, said Mr. Smith provides an important service to his community. With the provision of this service, seafarers will be able to communicate when they leave and return to Anguilla. She encouraged the fisher folk to utilize the service as it is about improving the safety nets available, thus, minimizing loss of life and reducing the time taken to raise the alarm and rescue persons in traumatic situations, through improved co-ordination. She expressed the hope that the service would not be limited to the Island Harbour community alone, but would be extended to Anguilla at large and those who traverse Anguilla’s waters and may be in distress.
Mr. Smith’s appealed to fishermen to consider the motto of “safety first’ and get the necessary equipment installed on their boats for the cost of US $100 for a year. This was echoed by Ms. Meade’s as she encouraged the seafarers not to take risks with their lives; and to use the tools and services which Mr Smith offers. “Communication is important and should not be limited to the standard cell phones. Improve your safety. It only takes one time – Safety is and should always continue to be a priority,” she added.
