A painful lesson learned

Caption: Mind those spines! Scorpionfish toxin can cause a nasty reaction in some. (Photo: Sam Mossman)

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An early start on a warm, calm Easter Saturday morning saw Dean Howard and good mate Dean Lysaght setting the anchor and berley off the Raurimus after an easy crossing of the river bar at Whakatane.

Dean H has a Coastal Masters ticket and is competent at handling his dad Graham’s five-metre aluminium pontoon boat, which he’s managed to get stabled at his new address in Whakatane. Dean’s experience comes from several years commercial crayfishing and diving off the unforgiving Wairarapa coast and he reckons that the ‘Bay’ is more like a big pond than the waters he’s used to.

However, as he found out, stuff can go very wrong at the most unexpected of times, places and conditions – potentially serious stuff!

The berley was starting to work and three snaps were in the bin. Looking good! The next fish was a small scorpionfish that Dean promptly decided to fillet and use as fresh bait. Slicing with the ‘blunt’ knife, using extra pressure, he forced one of the spines – which was behind the gill flap and below the fish’s pectoral fin – under his thumbnail.

The result was immediate, intense pain! This pain slowly spread up the right arm; next he was experiencing numbness in both hands and lips. Then a lightheaded, giddy feeling came on, and Dean H told Dean L that they would have to pack up and head in – just 20 minutes after being spiked.

Feeling short of breath, Dean sat down on the helm seat. The next thing he remembers is lying on the deck with Dean L asking if he’s OK. Dean had already, with great difficulty, got him into the recovery position after collapsing – Dean is two metres tall and 87kg.

While Dean was ‘out of it’, Dean L phoned Dean’s wife Susan, telling her that Dean had collapsed and asking her to contact the hospital and call him back with info on how to assess and treat the situation.

Susan used her cellphone to call 111 and an ambulance was promptly despatched to the boat ramp.

Fortunately Dean came around sufficiently to get the motor started while Dean L pulled up the anchor, and then pilot the boat back, but had difficulty remaining upright, all the while suffering impaired vision with lots of black spots before his eyes. He was able, with Dean L’s help, to negotiate the bar, after which he was wheeled away to hospital.

At the hospital they treated the barbed area with boiling water, resulting in an almost immediate cessation of the pain, but Dean was in a very confused state, so he was kept in for another six hours until Susan could safely take him home.

There are some very important ‘wakeup’ calls from this experience for skippers out there.
• The boat was equipped with VHF, a GPS, compass and flares, but only the skipper knew how to operate them! Dean L had no experience of handling a powered boat.
I am shocked at what might have happened in a similar situation, where an inexperienced passenger (it could have been Dean’s six-year-old old son) is left alone to deal with an injured and incapacitated skipper.
So make sure others on the boat are shown the basics of the VHF, GPS, compass, flares and motor operation.
• When Susan called 111 on her cellphone, it was automatically shut down! She couldn’t call Dean L back, as the only record of his number was on her phone. Likewise Dean couldn’t contact her as her phone was ‘locked down’. I, for one, had never heard of this situation, but it does show up some of the shortcomings of relying on a cellphone – a good VHF does it better!
• The spines on some fish have poisonous slime on them, and some people react to this worse than others. I’ve been spiked before, but haven’t experienced the above. After relating this story to other fishos, one told me of a local chap fishing in jandals who dropped a tarakihi on his foot. Within 24 hours he was in hospital with a raging fever and the very real possibility of having his leg amputated above the knee. Fortunately that didn’t happen, but he did have a huge amount of muscle removed from his calf area. Handle all fish with care!
• Lastly, as a skipper of a small craft, I urge you to take the Coastguard small boats course. It may save lives, yours included.

- © Fairfax NZ News