PRESS RELEASE 

South Africa · June 17, 2026

A new independent platform arms superyacht crew with the knowledge, resources and voice that maritime law already entitles them to but that the industry has consistently failed to deliver.

 

A Platform Built for the People Who Keep This Industry Running

Today, Protecting Crew Lives (PCL) goes live and at its heart, it exists for one purpose: the safety, wellbeing and long-term career sustainability of crew. Every seafarer who boards a vessel deserves the same legal protections, the same right to dignity and the same access to recourse as any worker in any land-based profession.

The Maritime Labour Convention exists precisely to guarantee this. And yet, the gap between what the law mandates and what crew actually experience on deck remains staggering and largely unaddressed.

PCL is here to close that gap. This platform is a centralised, independent resource hub and a place where crew can access plain-language guidance on their rights, understand what safe and compliant looks like, find support services and know exactly what steps to take when something goes wrong.

PCL also recognise that there are owners, captains and management companies within this industry who are genuinely and actively committed to crew welfare, who apply the law, invest in their people and hold themselves to a higher standard. PCL stands alongside them too. Real, systemic change requires the whole industry to move and those leading from the front deserve to be part of that conversation.

However, PCL recognises that too many crew pathways to help have led to dead ends. They reported, they followed the process, but they were left professionally exposed, financially damaged and psychologically scarred in ways that do not heal easily. PCL exists to ensure those pathways actually lead somewhere and to be clear-eyed about where they still fail.

PCL view their educational frameworks as a living resource and actively invite regulatory bodies and maritime legal experts to engage with them, to debunk any misinformation and help refine these tools. This is a direct invitation for industry regulators to step forward, to ensure PCL’s guidance remains rigorously accurate and collaborate in upholding the law. 

Built on a Promise. Named in Memory of Paige Bell.
PCL Paige Bell Poster 1

The foundation of Protecting Crew Lives is not abstract. It is deeply, painfully personal. PCL was founded in memory of Paige Bell, a young 20-year-old woman, who went to sea full of ambition and whose life was tragically cut short whilst working on a yacht in the Bahamas.

PCL is built by two mothers, Nicole Coetzer and Chantal Johnson. We refused to accept that this is simply "the way things are." Our advocacy is independent, maternal and resolute. We are not industry insiders with commercial interests to protect. We are people who love crew, who understand what is at stake and are willing to ask the questions that crew have been unable to ask or silenced because they asked.

Paige's memory is the catalyst for this platform. Every resource, every tool, every line of guidance carries her name forward, not as a symbol of grief but as a commitment of prevention.

What PCL Gives You Right Now

The platform launches with a full suite of practical, crew-first resources:

  • A Four-Stage Resource Library: Covering everything from what to check before you board, to your legal rights when things go wrong, with step-by-step guidance on internal reporting, external escalation and repatriation.
  • Regulatory Framework Guides: Breakdowns of the MLC 2006, STCW and the ISPS Code, so crew can understand the laws that already protect them, ensuring clear communication, operational transparency and shared accountability on board.
  • Reporting Channels: Direct links to appropriate authorities and support networks so crew are never left searching for help alone.
  • The Yellow Rose Crew Directory: A developing, independent directory of service providers who choose to align with crew-first operational baselines. To be listed, entities must submit a self-declared checklist committing to essential safety, welfare standards and compliance.  To protect the autonomy of this network, no entity pays for placement and no placement can be bought.
Onboarding and applications for service providers are officially open

  • The Onboard Crew Survey: Capturing Your Lived Experiences

    This is not about reporting a single bad day. Instead, this fully anonymous survey looks at the bigger picture: your cumulative, broader experiences across your entire maritime career both on supportive, highly compliant yachts and on vessels where regulations fell short. By capturing these true operational patterns and contract-to-contract realities, we can build an undeniable, data-backed voice to show regulatory bodies what life on board looks like.

"Our aim is non-negotiable. It is to ensure that every single protection maritime law affords crew on paper, is actually felt by crew in practice. Although there has been significant improvement, the continued feedback we receive is that these regulations are not being applied at grassroots level. The industry has been allowed to look away for too long. Contract regulations are ignored. MLC obligations are bypassed," says Coetzer.

"Crew suffer psychologically, physically, professionally and are told to stay quiet if they want to keep working. We acknowledge and celebrate those in this industry who are genuinely doing the right thing. But we refuse to allow their good practice to be used as a shield for those who are not. Crew deserve the same human rights afforded to any land-based worker. Those rights are not a privilege. They are the law," says Johnson.

PCL believes that the industry working together to support the well-being of yacht crew is a responsibility that is shared by all who participate in it. Yacht crew are the backbone of the industry, and we invite all industry stakeholders to assist us in debunking misinformation and invite information sharing and collaboration, especially with the organisations that have set out these regulations.

"We are not here to vilify a beautiful industry, however these personal and industry violations still continue to happen. We want to ensure that crew members have quick access to information in the hope of potentially diverting disasters by providing them with prior knowledge that is already afforded to them," says Johnson.

Access PCL Anywhere - Including at Sea

PCL is available as a mobile web app (Progressive Web App), designed specifically for crew who need resources in the moment without cluttering their device's storage. The platform installs directly to the home screen of any smartphone for instant, lightweight access.

To use the platform offline, simply visit the website while you are online and connected to the internet, then follow the prompt to add it to your home screen. Once downloaded to your device, the essential resource library and safety guides will remain fully accessible to you even when you are operating at sea with completely limited connectivity or no signal.

Our Financial Independence & Integrity

Our financial independence is an absolute priority because it guarantees that our resource network remains completely objective. PCL is entirely self-funded by its founders. Its role is strictly advocacy-led and informational. PCL does not investigate incidents, assign blame or act as a regulatory or enforcement body.

What Is Coming Next

PCL is committed to a phased, sustainable build. Nothing is released before it is ready and nothing will compromise the integrity of the platform. Currently in active development:

  • Yellow Rose Phase 1 Listings: Rolling out the inaugural wave of self-declared service providers and shoreside partners as applications are processed.
  • Paige's Protocol™: A specialised operational safety framework designed to elevate the standard of crew protection practices across the superyacht industry. This is Paige's name, carried forward as a living, actionable standard.
  • The Yacht Crew Foundation: An initiative in development to support the long-term sustainability of PCL's mission. Further detail will be shared as the structure is confirmed.
  • Podcasts and Blogs: Written and audio content from within the maritime community, for the maritime community.

PCL Logo Blue on White

Contact

www.protectingcrewlives.com/contact

Behind every role at sea is a person. Behind every person is a family.

Photo credit: Shutterstock (Licensed)