Alaska commercial fishing industry goes 1 year without a fatality

Fishing boats wait to deliver their catch of sockeye salmon behind the tender Billikin on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at"The Y" in the Naknek-Kvichak district near Naknek in Bristol Bay.

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.

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.A variety of factors have played into that reduction.

There have been regulatory changes as well. Since the 1990s, crewmen have had to be trained in safety drills and first aid, and gear like immersion suits and life rafts became required. The requirements for safety gear vary by size of vessel and how far out from shore they regularly operate, but many more of them now carry Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons, or EPIRBs.

“In the old days, fishermen would come to a class and think they’d be looking at their competitors,” he said. “Younger people seem to have a more positive attitude toward it.” Many of Alaska’s fishing vessels are aging, but that is not necessarily a major concern. Both Wilwert and Dzugan said the defining factor in a vessel’s safety is not its age, but how well it is maintained. Dzugan pointed to some of the wooden halibut vessels that are still well-maintained and fishing today.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

AlaskaJournal Can ADN go one day without published fake news?

AlaskaJournal Well when the majority of the fleet is stuck at the docks while trawlers destroy the ocean it’s to be expected. Let’s just let no one fish, then no one might die. Wait the corporate businesses who bought out politicians can fish, just not the average Alaskan citizen 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

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