A north-east trawler that was inspected after a crewman fell overboard and drowned had more than 20 faults with it.
Nuertey Annang, of Ghana, had been fishing on the Banff-registered Aquarius BF89 in the early hours of August 17 when he fell into the water near Girdleness Lighthouse.
A massive search was launched at about 2am, involving the coastguard, lifeboat teams and nearby ships, but no trace of the 47-year-old was found.
In the wake of the incident the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) launched an inquiry into the circumstances of Mr Annang’s death.
A MAIB spokesman confirmed the agency was looking into the case, and at the time a police spokesman said the probe was a “matter of routine”.
Now inspectors have revealed that when the Banff-registered boat was detained in Aberdeen, 23 separate “deficiencies” were found.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has now updated a list of vessels detained in port since 2009 to include the Aquarius.
The 60ft fishing vessel was held at Aberdeen harbour on Friday, August 21 while government officers carried out an exhaustive inspection of the trawler.
Last night a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said she could not comment on the details of the problems flagged up by officers, but that each amounted to a regulatory failure.
Of the eight vessels detained by the government across Scotland in the past 12 months, only one – the Guide Us – was found to have more defects than the Aquarius.
The Stornoway-registered trawler Guide Us was stopped in Lochinvar the same day the Aquarius was seized and found to have a total of 24 defects.
Last year the Aquarius was involved in an bizarre three-day chase with fishery inspectors around the north coast of Scotland.
The skipper of the Aquarius is Banff resident Scott Shepherd. Mr Shepherd is currently at sea and was unavailable for comment last night.