August 22, 2013 — A new study published today by the Center for Public Integrity confirms that more workers die in the commercial fishing industry than in any other job.
But unlike conventional wisdom that the most dangerous place in the most dangerous industry is Alaska, the Center's report says this: "no place … is more deadly for commercial fishermen than the East Coast."
"From 2000-2009, the NIOSH report shows, 165 fishermen died from Florida to Maine," says the Center, using data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
"That’s more than Alaska — 133 deaths — which had long been viewed as the most brutal place for commercial fishing but saw deaths dip amid a safety push. It’s a greater death toll than in the Gulf of Mexico, which suffered 116 deaths, or the West Coast, with 83."
Researchers for the Center said the industry is made more dangerous by a culture of independence, tight budgets and government's twin failure to institute new safety rules and aggressively enforcing those that exist.
Read the full story at The Oregonian