FACTS
- Commercial fishing is regularly one of the most hazardous industries in the United States with a fatality rate many times that of the national average.
- Fatigue is a main problem for commercial fishing, often the cause of devastating and sometimes even fatal accidents.
- Hard physical work or boring, repetitive jobs like watchkeeping can bring on fatigue. Add stressors like the ship’s motion or extreme weather, and the risk is amplified.
- Six hours or less sleep a night, broken sleep and irregular work hours lead to a build up of ‘sleep debt’, a key fatigue trigger.
- Drinking or taking drugs the night before sailing makes you more vulnerable to fatigue on board. If you’re intoxicated or hung over, stay safe, stay home.
STATS
- Fatalities in the commercial fishing industry in the United States. (2000-2015)
- 725 commercial fishermen died while fishing in the U.S.
- Nearly half of all fatalities (354, 49%) occurred after a vessel disaster
- Another 221 (30%) fatalities occurred when a fisherman fell overboard
- Another 87 (12%) fatalities resulted from an injury onboard
- The remaining 63 (9%) fatalities occurred while diving or from onshore injuries
- Vessel Disasters. There were 354 fatalities that occurred from 212 separate vessel disasters. Causes were:
- 47 (25%) were initiated by flooding
- 36 (19%) were initiated by being struck by a large wave
- 35 (19%) were initiated by vessel instability
- Severe weather conditions contributed to 116 (55%) of the fatal vessel disasters
- Falls Overboard
- Vessel disasters, falls overboard, and on-deck injuries account for 92% of fatalities to commercial fishermen in the United States between 2000 and 2014.