February 8, 2018 — Commercial fishing consistently ranks as one of the world’s most dangerous jobs, which may help explain why fishermen have been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.
In this next story in [Rhode Island Public Radio’s] series, “One Square Mile: New Bedford,” health reporter Lynn Arditi visits the Port of New Bedford. Here’s part one of the two-part story.
Captain Mario Gonsalves drove up to the docks one December morning to find his fishing boat caked with ice. A storm was coming and he wanted to get another run in before it hits. One of his crew used a sledge hammer to smash ice off the boat’s roof.
Gonsalves and his five-man crew fish for whiting, squid and scup year round — in all kinds of weather. It’s a lot of lifting and pulling on slippery decks, often at night. So he said can’t risk having someone on his boat impaired by drugs or alcohol.
“Right now we drug test all the time,’’ Gonsalves said. “We never used to do that but since a couple months back we started drug testing everybody….You don’t want somebody that’s all high and stuff playing with machinery to hurt somebody.’’
Read and listen to the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio