VR-ME
Project

Emergencies on board fishing vessels are stressful situations where the crew must follow specific guidelines and procedures to assure their safety

Most of the fatal accidents on board fishing vessels are due to lack of knowledge on devices and emergency procedures, and non-completion of periodic training exercises and simulations. To assure a correct reaction by the fishing crew in emergency situations, trainings and simulations are needed where crewmen are exposed to a series of scenarios to get the procedures, and how to execute them. 

Currently, there is no tool existent for the fishing sector that can help the crew in learning the procedures of how to react in emergency situations, apart from guidelines and handbooks. Also, trainings onboard are difficult to plan since vessels are operating most of their time at sea. Virtual Reality environments are becoming a more effective learning tool, where fishermen can experience these emergency situations in immersive environments, moving around a 3D universe and interacting with people and objects.

Project steps

The project starts with a study of the maritime emergencies in fishing vessels. The project partners list which emergencies should be selected according to several criteria, develop the procedures to be followed and write these procedures in a language to be converted to a VR simulator.

Based on the emergencies and procedures detected in the previous step, the project partners develop the VR environment where the user moves inside a fishing vessel and has to face several emergency scenarios.

Finally the project partners complement and improve the simulator with several tests with the future training course users to get their feedback, produce the handbook to manage the software properly, complement the simulator with the training program, and offer all contents in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Greek.

Translations:

The project’s ultimate goal is to prepare fishermen to better face maritime emergency situations on board, decrease the accidents and fatalities rate, get towards a harmonization of emergency on board procedures, and increase computer literacy of fishing professionals and the digitalization in the sector.