Safety

September 13, 2012 — The drowning of a lobster fisherman in the Northumberland Strait overnight Wednesday has people in the community wondering how he got into trouble.

Jean Guy Maillet, 53, of Saint-Thomas-de-Kent, had gone out to check lobster traps in the Northumberland Strait at about 4 p.m. and failed to return home, RCMP Sgt. Jeff Johnston stated in a release.

Police were called at about 8 p.m. and his capsized boat was discovered early on Thursday morning, about 500 metres from Cocagne Island.

Several hours later, Maillet's body was found about three kilometres away with the help of a search and rescue helicopter.

Maillet was pulled from the water by police, with the assistance of the Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue at about 8:30 a.m, said Johnston.

Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue volunteers also assisted with the search.

The investigation continues.

 

Read the full story at the CBC

 

 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 — The Coast Guard is requiring all commercial fishing vessels that operate or fish more than three miles from the territorial sea baseline to complete a mandatory Coast Guard dockside safety exam as of October 16, 2012.

This regulatory change comes as a result of Congress' passing of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010. This change affects commercial fishing fleets nationwide, and the Coast Guard is conducting outreach efforts to ensure those affected are aware of the changes with the goal of having them in compliance before the deadline.

"The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 introduces a number of new rules the Coast Guard will be enforcing," said Ken Lawrenson, the Coast Guard District 17 commercial fishing vessel safety coordinator. "The use of 'three miles from the territorial sea baseline' is a bit of a change from the existing regulation, which uses a complicated definition of the 'boundary line.' It will be a lot easier to understand because most nautical charts show a thin grey line that indicates where that three miles from the territorial sea baseline is located so it becomes very simple to see if you are operating seaward or shoreward of that line. If you are operating, either fishing or transiting your boat, beyond that three mile line, then the 16th of October deadline applies to you, and your fishing vessel needs to have completed a dockside safety exam."

Dockside examinations are free of charge, and currently no penalties will be issued for discrepancies. If discrepancies are found, vessel owners will be issued a worklist and given a reasonable time to correct any issues. The goal is to bring commercial fishermen into compliance while minimizing disruptions to fishing.

 

Read the full story on Marine Log

 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass — September 7, 2012 — The voluntary safety exam conducted by the Coast Guard on commercial fishing vessels will become mandatory Oct. 16 for all vessels operating beyond 3 miles from shore.

The requirement includes recreational vessels operating with a commercial permit to sell their catch, according to a press release issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service.

According to the release, current inspection decals remain valid until the expiration date. All other vessels are advised to schedule an exam in the near future. B

Boats operating from ports between Provincetown and Watch Hill, R.I., should contact safety examiner Kevin Coyle at 508-991-6812.

Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times 

 

 

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — September 2, 2012 — A commercial fisherman was injured Friday night at MacMillan Pier and had to be flown to a Boston hospital.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Provincetown fire and police responded to the accident, according to a police statement.

The fisherman, in his 30s, was attempting to tie the fishing vessel "Sao Jacinto" to the pier when his head became pinned between the two, said Provincetown Harbormaster Rex McKinsey.

"Due to the severity" of the man's injuries, MedFlight was called and landed at Provincetown Municipal Airport just before 8 p.m.

The was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, but his condition is unknown.

 

Read the full story in the Cape Cod Times 

 

 

BOSTON — September 3, 2012 — Commercial fishing remains the most dangerous occupation in the state, according to a report from the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health. From 2000 to 2010, 51 fishermen died on the job, the result of battling choppy seas and using dangerous equipment to make a living. Construction accounts for the second-highest fatality rate

Once a week, on average, a Massachusetts worker dies on the job. Death comes from falls and vehicle crashes and even homicides. In 2010, the latest year for which figures are available from the state Department of Public Health, the 54 employees who died at work ranged in age from 18 to 77.  

Read the full story in the Boston Globe

 

 

August 27, 2012 — At least 5,384 fishermen sailing out of America’s Oldest Seaport have gone “down to the sea in ships,” as the psalm at Gloucester’s Fishermen’s Memorial notes.

Saturday night, local fishing activists, officials, relatives from others some of the city’s longtime fishing families turned out to recognize all of them and others lost to the nation’s most dangerous industry at the annual Fishermen’s Memorial Service and procession, which carried from the American Legion hall to the Memorial and its iconic Man at the Wheel statue on Stacy Boulevard.

Saturday’s memorial program marked the first since the addition of several names to the memorial’s Cenotaph earlier this summer, with the names of John B. Orlando, Jaime Ortiz, Matteo A. Russo, Duane Charlie Rine and Peter K. Prybot all added to the last of the 10 brass plaques through the efforts of the Cenotaph Committee chaired by Gaspar “Gap” Lafata.

Russo and Orlando – captain and crew of The Patriot — were lost in 2009, as was Ortiz, while Rine was lost in 2010 and Prybot in 2011.

Read the full story in the Gloucester Times 

 

 

August 23, 2012 — When NIOSH started investigating injuries to Alaskan seiners a few years ago, they found a common theme. Researchers were able to trace countless instances of crushing, amputation, and drowning back to getting tangled up in the net.

“They get caught up and wrapped. And once they get wrapped, they can’t reach the controls to shut down the winch,” says Chelsea Woodward. Woodward is one of four researchers on NIOSH’s commercial fishing safety team. He serves as an engineer, and it was his job to design a simple tool based on NIOSH’s seiner research.

He came up with a design for an emergency kill switch that would quickly stop the net from winding up. The fishermen who tested the kill switch on their seine boats liked it — and that kill switch is now sold commercially, in a kit.

Woodward says Alaska fishermen are ideal research subjects. They’re willing to collaborate, and provide input on NIOSH’s research and gear designs.

“This is a good place because of the understanding that commercial fishermen have with NIOSH,” he says. “There’s a better understanding that NIOSH is not regulatory. We have their best interests in mind.”

But Woodward says fishermen outside Alaska don’t always understand that NIOSH is a research agency — it doesn’t deal in law enforcement, and it’s totally separate from OSHA, which can hand out fines for safety violations.

 

Read the full story here.

 

New Bedford, Mass. — August 25, 2012 — The Coast Guard cutter Mako towed a New Bedford fishing vessel to safe anchorage in Nantucket Sound Friday after it became disabled approximately 100 nautical miles east of Cape Cod.

The 71-foot Olivia & Rafael contacted the Coast Guard around 6:30 a.m. Thursday. The Mako arrived on the scene at 5 p.m. that evening, according to a Coast Guard press release.

The Coast Guard conducted a boarding after the tow and issued the boat a violation for having insufficient life rings. The tugboat Jaguar is towing the Olivia & Rafaela back to New Bedford.

"The Mako's crew safely got the fishing vessel to Nantucket," said Petty Officer 1st Class Carson Russell, a search and rescue controller at Sector Southeastern New England.

"We responded quickly and our crews performed well," he said.

 

Read the full story in the New Bedford Times

 

 

BOSTON — August 22, 2012 — The Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks commercial fishing as the deadliest job in the United States. And despite the popular notion from reality TV’s “Deadliest Catch” featuring Alaskan crab fishermen, the most dangerous fishery is in the northeast U.S. From 2000-2009, workers in the Northeast multi-species groundfish fishery (including fish such as cod and haddock) were 37 times more likely to die on the job as a police officer.

A National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report shows 70 percent of those deaths and those in the second-deadliest fishery, Atlantic scallops, followed vessel disasters such as fire, capsizing or sinking. Most of the rest were caused by onboard injuries or falling overboard, often by getting tangled in heavy overhead equipment.

Most fishermen don’t want to be supervised. Some are fatalistic about their life on the seas. New England fishermen used to buy steel-toed boots, believing if they fell into the frigid Atlantic, it was better to drown faster. Others espouse a rugged individualism and see themselves as the last cowboys on the ocean.

“If there’s a resentment to these kinds of rules,” Amaru says as he moors his boat in the harbor. “It’s based on the overall huge number of regulations that have come down on our industry in the last decade.”

“So much federal ‘nanny state’ kind of telling us how to operate, when I think I have a pretty good understanding of what I need to do to keep safe,” Amaru says.

A tragic incident turned Fred Mattera into a safety evangelist. Earlier this month, he helped the crews of two boats organize disaster and man overboard training.

In one exercise, crew members have clumsily put on bright orange-red survival suits. Insulated, watertight and buoyant, the immersion suit covers each fisherman from head to toe; only their faces are exposed. They step off the boat into the calm dockside water. But even in these conditions, wearing a “Gumby suit” feels claustrophic to some and they thrash around until they get their bearings.

“Get your panic out now!” Fred Mattera shouts from the deck. These guys are practicing abandoning ship in the case of a fire or capsizing. The immersion suits are designed to keep them alive and afloat in the icy Atlantic until someone can rescue them.

Mattera coaches them to link up with each other back-to-back and to paddle together over to a life raft to climb in.

When it’s all over, they look winded.

“There’s a ‘holy crap!’ issue to it,” boat captain Norbert Stamps says of the fair-weather training. “You jump in. You kind of realize that this isn’t fun and games, this is real serious stuff! And you gotta practice and you gotta know what to expect.”

Crew member Mike Gallagher says such fishermen-organized trainings are becoming more common.

 

Listen to the story at NPR affiliate WBUR.

 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — August 22, 2012 — A fire Tuesday aboard the fishing vessel Patience was accidentally ignited by welders, the owner said.

Welders working in the vessel's wheelhouse sparked the fire, said Charley Quinn, the owner, who also said he couldn't estimate the damage.

Fire Chief Michael Gomes said it's possible that the blaze was caused by welders, but officially he said the cause and the point of origin remain under investigation. There were no injuries reported in the fire.

The call came in about 11:10 a.m. and it was initially reported that the 101-foot vessel was on fire with men onboard.

Heavy smoke was billowing from below deck for about 30 minutes as the vessel was docked at the EPA facility in the North End of the harbor. The fire was out at 11:40 a.m.

"It was a quick knockdown, which was good," Gomes said. "The guys did a good job."

However, clothing and equipment for six firefighters has to either be replaced or cleaned before they can go back to a fire scene, after the men were showered with diesel fuel, he said.

Some of the clothing and equipment was contaminated when part of the fuel system burst, according to the chief.

Gomes said the department is still determining the damage and he doesn't know the cost. Typically, it costs $2,100 to clothe a firefighter, he said.

"Luckily, it didn't ignite when they were doused," he said. "We have six men who are out of service. The equipment and clothing has to be cleaned or replaced before they go back to a fire scene."

 

Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times