Safety Archives - Page 3 of 62

Alaska commercial fishing fatalities decline, reflecting national trend

April 10, 2023 — Commercial fishing in Alaska, long notorious as a dangerous and potentially deadly occupation, is getting safer, according to data presented this month to federal regulators.

Alaska fishing-related fatalities declined at a rate of 57% from 2013 to 2022, according to the presentation made Thursday to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is meeting in Anchorage.

Alaska, with 88 fishing fatalities from 2013 to 2022, accounted for slightly over a third of the nation’s fishing-related deaths during the period, according to the presentation, made by Samantha Case and Richie Evoy, epidemiologists with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

Amputations, broken bones among the injuries caused by winches on fishing boats

February 14, 2023 — For crews working on fishing boats in Alaska, danger lurks in a helpful and possibly innocent-looking device: the winch.

Winches are hauling devices on which cables are wound. On fishing boats, they are used to lift anchors, nets and other objects. The combination of speed, force and close quarters on deck can lead to accidents involving them.

Over a 20-year period, there were 125 serious injuries to Alaska fisheries from winches, including amputations and crushed bones, according to a newly published study by experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study is published in the Journal of Agromedicine.

The study tracked winch-related traumatic injuries from 2000 to 2020 that were reported to the Alaska Fishermen’s Fund, the state-administered entity that administers fishing-related injury and illness claims. Because the tally is limited to reports filed to the fund, it is almost certainly an undercount, and possibly a significant undercount, the study said.

Read the full article at the KTOO

Coast Guard, NIOSH offering $6 million in safety funding

December 1, 2022 — Commercial fishing has a reputation as a risky occupation. Being sleep deprived on a boat surrounded by moving machinery on an unpredictable ocean appeals to a certain type of person, but most will reduce risk if they can.

To that end, a Coast Guard program administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) aims to assist by offering $6 million in grants to improve safety in the fishing industry.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Alaska commercial fishing industry goes 1 year without a fatality

November 30, 2022 — For the second time ever, Alaska went a year with zero fatalities in its commercial fishing industry.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported that there were no operational fatalities from Oct. 1, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2022 in Alaska’s commercial fishing industry. An operational fatality is when someone dies during the operation of a vessel at sea, including from causes like drowning, lost vessels or accidents, among other causes. This is only the second time Alaska recorded a year without a death in the commercial fishing sector; the first year was in 2015. However, the fatality rate in the industry has been on a steep downward trend for the last few decades.

Scott Wilwert, the commercial fishing vessel safety coordinator for the U.S. Coast Guard’s 17th District, which covers Alaska, said it seems to be uncommon for an entire Coast Guard district to clock zero fatalities. Some of the other districts, which cover all the coastal waters of the U.S. including the Great Lakes and some inland navigable waterways, may fluctuate, but given the size of Alaska’s fishing industry, going a whole year with no deaths is especially impressive.

“I’m almost 100% sure that nationally we’ve never had a zero year,” he said. “For (the 17th district) to have a zero-fatality year, it’s significant given the number of (full-time fishermen) we have going out there on the water.”

Commercial fishing was historically one of the most dangerous industries in Alaska. As recently as the 1990s, dozens of fishermen would die every year from causes including drowning, machinery accidents or vessel sinkings. From 1980-1988, an average of 31 fishermen died every year. From 1990-1999, there were 210 operational fatalities among Alaska’s commercial fishermen.

Since then, efforts to improve safety procedures, education and fisheries management have helped bring that number down significantly. From 2000-2010, 108 fishermen died, about half the number in the previous decade. From 2011–2020, that figure dropped again to 63. In the last two years, the Coast Guard has recorded only three operational fatalities.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

Four American Merchant Ships Honored for Rescues at Sea

November 10, 2022 — On October 28, the United Seamen’s Service recognized four vessels and their crews for providing search and rescue assistance to mariners in distress, honoring one of the highest traditions of the maritime profession. The Honored Seafarer awards went to the U.S. merchant mariners of the boxship CMA CGM Herodote, the MSC-chartered product tanker Maersk Peary, the MARAD missile telemetry ship Pacific Tracker and the MSC expeditionary fast transport USNS Yuma.

CMA CGM Herodote: Three saved from a fishing boat fire

On March 21, 2022, while transiting off the coast of Tanegashima Island, Japan, the crew of the CMA CGM Herodote saw smoke from a fishing vessel about eight nautical miles away. Herodote diverted towards the fire and discovered a Japanese fishing vessel, the Yuujin Maru 51, completely engulfed in flames. The vessel was burned from the superstructure to the waterline, and it had no visible name or designating marks left. There were no signs of survivors.

The crew of the Herodote began a search pattern to look for survivors and made a call for assistance from other merchant traffic in the area. They also contacted the U.S. Coast Guard Command Center Honolulu and coordinated with the Japan Coast Guard on the search response.

After a search, Herodote located three survivors in the water. The men were rescued by a Greek-flagged tanker which had joined the effort (the Woodside Rogers).

Herodote continued her search for a total of seven hours until she was relieved by the Japan Coast Guard. Unfortunately, the three fishermen Herodote located were the only survivors out of a crew of eight aboard the Yuujin Maru 51.

For their actions, Capt. Nick Simmons of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam presented Capt. Donald Moore and the crew of the Herodote a Coast Guard Certificate of Merit.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Seven Seas International salmon recalled over potential listeria contamination

November 9, 2022 — St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A.-based seafood supplier Seven Seas International is voluntarily recalling Giant Food private-label Sockeye Smoked because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The recalled product, which includes 540 cases under only one lot number, was distributed by Carlisle, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based Giant Food in the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Delaware, and the city of Washington D.C.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

New study estimates 100,000 fishing-related deaths occur annually

November 7, 2022 — Research by the FISH Safety Foundation, commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts, found more than 100,000 fishing-related deaths occur annually, or the equivalent of around 300 fisher deaths per day.

The New Zealand-based FISH Safety Foundation is an independent non-profit “committed to providing relevant practical education, access to resources and promoting a positive safety culture in the global fishing industry.” It said the study, “The Human Cost of Fishing,” is “the most-complete analysis to date for the number of global fishing-related fatalities.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Personal locator beacons are the next step in lifesaving

October 7, 2022 — Small as a cellphone and costing less than $400, personal locator beacons should be required equipment for every mariner working on U.S. vessels.

That’s been the insistent position of the National Transportation Safety Board since its joint investigation with the Coast Guard into the El Faro disaster of 2015.

The cargo vessel sank in hurricane Joaquin off the Bahamas, en route from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico. All 33 crew were lost; during a week-long search one unidentifiable body was seen, but could not be recovered.

Among the lengthy recommendations out of the NTSB El Faro report, there was this short notation:

“Require that all personnel employed on vessels in coastal, Great Lakes, and ocean service be provided with a personal locator beacon to enhance their chances of survival.”

The NTSB has been louder recently.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Is the world’s deadliest profession also among the most violent?

September 26, 2022 — Crimes like this don’t often happen on land. A 10-minute, slow-motion slaughter captured by a cellphone camera shows a group of unarmed men at sea, flailing in the water, shot and killed one by one, after which the culprits pose for celebratory selfies.

For human rights lawyers and ocean advocates, the only thing more shocking than the footage was the government inaction that followed.

The case shows the challenge of prosecuting crimes on the high seas and the reason violence offshore often occurs with impunity. There were at least four ships at the scene that day, but no law required any of the dozens of witnesses to report the killings — and no one did.

Authorities learned of the killings only when the video turned up on a cellphone left in a taxi in Fiji in 2014. It’s still unclear who the victims were or why they were shot.

An unknown number of similar killings take place each year — deckhands on the ship from which the video was shot later said they’d witnessed a similar slaughter a week before.

Read the full article at CBC