Safety interventions reduce fishing deaths

Published on July 22nd, 2010

By MARGARET BAUMAN

A new federal report says safety interventions addressing specific hazards in Alaska have resulted in a significant decline in the commercial fishing fatality rate, but more preventive measures are still needed in high risk fisheries.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that while the overall number of commercial fishing deaths have declined gradually since 1992, vessel disasters and falls overboard continue to be the main incidents leading to fatalities.

According to a CDC report published July 16, the Alaska region had 133 commercial fishing deaths from 2000 to 2009 - the highest percentage of any region in the nation. Nationally, a total of 504 fish harvesters died during that decade.

Federal officials attributed 61 percent of the total deaths to vessel disasters. They noted that none of those who died from falling overboard were wearing a personal flotation device. The falls were attributed to tripping, losing balance and gear entanglement. The CDC also noted that the majority of those who died from falling overboard were alone on the deck.

Of the fisheries for which average annual fatality rates could be calculated, the Northeast United States multispecies groundfish fishery had the highest rate of deaths, followed by the Atlantic scallop fleet and the West Coast Dungeness crab fleet.

Industry concern has focused on designing personal flotation devices - including new styles that are integrated into work clothes - and encouraging commercial harvesters to wear them while fishing.

CDC officials also attributed the reduced rate of fatalities in the Bering Sea Aleutian Island crab fishery to a preseason dockside enforcement program introduced in 1999 because of the high fatality rate in that fishery. The focus of the U.S. Coast Guard program was on vessel overloading.

Current Coast Guard regulations do not allow vessels to be overloaded with crab pots when they leave port, and primary safety equipment must be onboard and maintained. Since implementation of the program, the average annual fatality rate for the Bering Sea Aleutian island crab fishery has decreased by 60 percent.