CF AR 6/98 CWC Fishing for a living is dangerous work

Fishing for a Living is Dangerous Work



Fishing has consistently ranked as the most deadly occupation since 1992,
when BLS started publishing fatality rates by occupation.  Workers in
this occupation face unique life-threatening hazards-vessel casualties,
falling overboard, and diving incidents.



Each year during the 19th century, Gloucester, Massachusetts typically lost
to the sea about 200 men employed in fishing-4 percent of the town's
population.  Since 1650, the sea has claimed an estimated 10,000
Gloucester residents.  Sometimes a storm would hit the Grand Banks and
half a dozen fishing ships would go down-100 men lost overnight.  On more
than one occasion, Newfoundlanders awoke to find their beaches strewn with
the storm-tossed corpses of those who toiled on New England fishing
boats.(1)

While fishing, like almost all other occupations, has become less dangerous
in recent years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal
Occupational Injuries (CFOI), since its inception in 1992, has reported
fishers as the single most deadly occupation.(2)  Persons engaged in this
work typically face a risk of suffering a fatal job injury 20 to 30 times
greater than the risk for all occupations.  For the years 1992 through 1996,
the most recent year for which data are available, there were between 50
and 100 fishing fatalities annually.  This translates into 140 fatalities
per 100,000 workers engaged in the occupation for the 5-year period.
(See table 1.)  By contrast, the fatality rate for all occupations during
this same period was 5 per 100,000.

Although in the 19th century more than 1 out of 25 Gloucester fishermen were
killed on the job each year, for the period 1992 through 1996, the number
of commercial fishing workers killed on the job annually averaged 1 out
of 716.  This translates into 61 fatal injuries per 1,000 workers over
a 45-year fishing work lifetime.(3)

This article, discusses fatal occupational injuries to fishers for the
period 1992-96 and does not include any analysis of their nonfatal
occupational injuries and illnesses.


Vessel casualties

Commercial fishing vessels often travel a long way from their home ports
in search of ever-dwindling fish stocks, and fish great distances from
shore.  Perils to fishing vessels include storms, which can produce
"rogue waves"-also known as "freak seas" or "non-negotiable waves"-over
100 feet (30 meters) high, and fog which hinders safe navigation.

Rogue waves often are several ordinary waves that get "in step" to form
veritable piles of water or they are leftover waves from earlier storms
that circumnavigate the globe and strike in otherwise relatively calm
seas.  They have incredibly destructive power.  To illustrate, in 1973,
a 12,000-ton ship broke in half on her maiden voyage after being struck
by a rogue wave.  The following year, a 132,000-ton tanker fell into a
huge trough caused by a rogue wave.  A crew member remarked, "There was
no sea in front of the ship, only a hole...."  The ship then took an
equally huge wave over her bow which crumpled a 1-inch (21/2-centimeter)
thick steel plate, twisted railroad-gauge I-beams into knots, and tore
off the entire bow bulb!  Rogue waves have the power to devastate a
typical fishing boat.(4)

Rogue waves are not the only ocean peril that can sink or capsize ships.
Ships might, for example, strike a submerged rock or collide with another
vessel in the fog.  Vessel casualties were the leading cause of fishing
fatalities and often involved multiple deaths.  From 1992 through 1996,
half of fishing fatalities-197 cases-involved vessel casualties, such as
sinkings, capsizings, or collisions.  (See table 2.)  Often the bodies
of the deceased are never found, particularly if they go down with the
ship, wash ashore in some remote place, or enter the food chain of
higher-level marine life.


"Person overboard!"

It isn't only rogue waves that are capable of washing fishers overboard or
tilting the deck enough to cause them to slip into the water.  Lesser
waves also wash fishers overboard.  But wave action is not the only way a
fisher can go overboard, as the following accounts demonstrate:

A fisherman on board a 113-foot (34-meter) crabbing vessel was thrown
overboard when a crab pot line he was straddling suddenly tightened.(5)

Baiting has all the glamour of a factory shift and considerably more of
the danger. The line is spooled on a big drum.  It crosses diagonally over
the deck, passes through an overhead block, and then bends straight back
toward the stern.  A steel ring guides it over the rail and into the
water. That's where the baiters stand. There's a bait table on top of the
stern rail-basically a wooden well with squid and mackerel [baitfish] in
it-and a leader cart on either side. The leader carts are small drums
spooled with hundreds of lengths of seven-fathom line called gangions.
Each gangion has a #10 hook at one end and a stainless steel snap on the
other....  The baiter reaches behind him and takes a gangion from his
back-up man, who's peeling them off the leader cart one at a time. The
baiter impales a squid or mackerel onto the hook, snaps the gangion onto
the mainline, and throws the whole thing over the side.  The hook is
easily big enough to pass through a man's hand, and if it catches some
part of the baiter's body or clothing, he goes over the side with it....
The crew's looking the other way, the hook's got you, and suddenly
you're down at the depth where swordfish feed....(6)

Going overboard as a consequence of slipping on a wet or icy deck, being
pulled overboard when lines wrap around one's legs, being washed overboard
by a wave, pulled overboard by a hook, or flung overboard by a line
suddenly tightening are examples of incidents which are classified as
"falls from ship or boat."  These types of falls accounted for
70 fatalities-almost one-fifth of the total during the 1992-96 period.
(See table 2.)

Fishers who go overboard into very cold water are at risk of
hypothermia-the cooling of the core body temperature.  This condition
causes shivering, loss of muscle coordination, unconsciousness, and even
death.(7)   Unless wearing a survival suit or a personal flotation device
(life jacket), a fisher could not withstand more than 6 or 7 minutes
immersed in very cold water before succumbing.


Diving-an emerging hazard

Diving fatalities are beginning to be recognized as an emerging hazard in
the fishing industry.(8)   Sometimes crewmembers with little formal diving
training or experience are called on to dive below water to untangle nets
or lines that have snagged on the ocean floor or in the boat's propellers.
Even experienced, certified scuba(9)  divers hired to dive for sea
cucumbers and other aquatic life often face numerous hazards such as
adverse sea and weather conditions,(10)  murky water, unexpected shifts
in underwater currents, entanglement of air lines, scuba equipment
malfunction, decompression problems, and encounters with dangerous marine
life.(11)   The 60 drownings that occurred during 1992-96 accounted for
one-sixth of fishing fatalities.  (See table 2.)  Most of these drownings
involved diving activities.

A variety of other hazards that tend to be more typical of workplaces
generally-such as electrocutions, being caught in winches and other
machinery, homicides, and aircraft crashes-accounted for the remaining
fishing fatalities.


Economic and demographic characteristics

Commercial fishing vessels travel on long voyages far from shore in search
of ever-dwindling fish stocks.  These large boats, often capable of
hauling a catch weighing many tons, and sometimes having on-board
processing facilities, require a crew with a wide range of specialized
skills.  As a prerequisite, fishers must be in good health, and possess
physical strength and coordination.  They must also possess the mechanical
aptitude to operate, maintain, and repair on-board machinery and fishing
gear, and the perseverance to perform strenuous outdoor work and endure
long hours at sea often under difficult conditions.(12)

Often the proceeds from the fish catch are apportioned among the crew based
on the market price the catch brings when landed in port-an elaborate kind
of piecework pay scheme.  The pay can be quite rewarding-$4,000 or more per
month.  Many of the individuals employed in fishing, such as college
students taking fishing jobs during the summer to meet high tuition
bills,(13)  are highly motivated to face these risks and withstand these
rigors because the pay is so attractive.  Others are highly motivated
because they find themselves unemployable in other lines of work and they
end up in fishing as a last resort, while still others fall in love with
fishing as a line of work and a way of life.(14)   These factors may work
in tandem to produce a workforce more motivated and able to push limits
that would dissuade or disable workers in other industries.

Fishing in cold waters is inherently riskier because of hypothermia.
Alaska, with one of the Nation's smallest workforces, accounted for the
largest number of fishing fatalities during the 1992-96 period.
(See table 3.)  Moreover, some specific Alaska fishing activities are
particularly hazardous.  For example, harvesting most commercial crab
species in Alaska takes place during the winter when air and water
temperatures are colder; high winds, snow, sleet, and ice are more
prevalent; daylight hours shorter; and high seas are more common.(15)

Other cold-water States-such as Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, and
Maine-also had disproportionately high numbers of fishing fatalities.

Industry analysis suggests that persons engaged in commercial
shellfishing are more at risk of dying on the job than those engaged in
commercial finfishing.(16)  During 1992-96, shell-fishing, with 160
fatalities, accounted for one-third more deaths than finfishing with
119 fatalities, despite the fact that the shellfishing industry employed
only three-fifths as many workers as the finfishing industry(17) and
the weight for the commercial shellfish catch was less than one-sixth
that for finfish.  The commercial dollar value of the shellfish catch,
however, is nearly equal to that of the finfish catch, in part, as
a consequence of the greater risk involved in shellfishing.(18)   In
addition, there were 16 commercial fishing fatalities in the
miscellaneous marine products industry (sea cucumbers, sponges, seaweed,
sea urchins, etc.), and 55 in general commercial fishing.  Miscellaneous
amusement and recreation services, which includes fishing guides,
accounted for 10 fatalities.  The remainder were scattered over various
industries.

While Current Population Survey data show self-employed individuals
comprise at least three-fifths of employment in fishing occupations,
they accounted for just over a third of the fatalities during this
period.  This may be due to a variety of factors, such as self-employed
fishers being limited by economies of scale to more familiar local waters.
Moreover, because some types of fish can only be taken at certain times of
the year, many self-employed fishers engage in fishing on a part-time
basis.

During 1992-96, fishing fatalities tracked age group employment fairly
closely, except that the 25- to 34-year-old age group experienced a
disproportionately high share of the fatalities, while the 55- to
64-year-old age group experienced a slightly lower share.  Non-Hispanic
persons from racial categories other than white and black-such as
Asians, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts-comprise
7 percent of fishing employment, but at least 16 percent of fishing
fatalities.(19)


Conclusion

This article builds on the research undertaken by the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which has published several
special studies, most of which have focused on the fishing industry in
Alaska.(20)  Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) data supplement
the NIOSH studies and provide information on hazards facing those engaged
in commercial fishing occupations throughout the United States.

Because fish are believed to have various dietary benefits, per capita
fish consumption in the United States has increased by 20 percent over
the past two decades.  Overall per capita fish use-which includes both
food consumption and industrial fish products such as fishmeal and
crushed oyster shells-has increased 30 percent.(21)

Although the United States is still a net importer of fish, exports of
edible fish products have tripled in weight and doubled in dollar value
during the past decade, while imports have remained stable.  During this
time, exports of industrial fish products increased nearly 60-fold to
over $5 billion, while the dollar value of industrial fish product imports
barely doubled.(22)

Fishing employment has declined from an estimated 59,000 in 1992 to 47,000
in 1996.(23)  This decline, which has taken place in the face of an
increased demand for fish, is a consequence mainly of the declining
supply of fish due to overfishing.  But, as the demand for fish grows,
and meeting that demand requires ever longer voyages and greater efforts,
these factors working in tandem have the potential to increase the hazards
of fishing occupations and negate any fatality decreases that stricter
safety regulation may have afforded.  Indeed, in 1996, when the CFOI
all employment fatality rate reached its lowest level since the program
began, the rate for fishers jumped to 178 fatalities per 100,000
employment-the highest it has been since the CFOI program began
collecting data in 1992.  In 1996, the rate for fishing occupations, which
includes fishers, and captains and other fishing vessel officers, reached
its highest level in 3 years.


Technical note

The lifetime risk for a specific industry or occupation was calculated
using an equation proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration in 1995: WLTR = [1 - (1 - R)y] x 1,000 where:  WLTR =
working lifetime risk; R = probability of a worker having a work-related
fatal injury in a given year; 1 - R = probability of a worker not having
a work-related fatal injury in a given year; y = years of exposure to
work-related injury; (1 - R)y = probability of surviving y years without
a work-related fatal injury; 1 - (1 - R)y = probability of having a
work-related fatal injury over y years of employment.

In this study, y was set at 45 years.  This assumes workers are exposed
to work-related injury hazards for approximately 45 years, starting at
age 20.

The formula is then multiplied by 1,000 to derive the number of fatal
occupational injuries per 1,000 workers, as follows:

R = 0.0014 = 140 fatalities per 100,000 employment = a 0.14 percent
probability of a worker having a work-related fatal injury in a given year;

1 - R = 1 - 0.0014 = 0.9986 = a 99.86 percent probability of a worker
not having a fatal occupational injury in a given year;

(1 - R)^45 = 0.9986^45 = 0.9389 = a 93.89 percent probability of
surviving 45 years without having a work-related fatal injury;

1 - (1 - R)^45 = 1 - 0.9389 = 0.0611 = a 6.11 percent probability of
having a work-related fatal injury over 45 years of employment.

While it is tempting to view the inverse of 0.0611 (1:16) as the
probability a worker faces of suffering a fatal occupational injury over
a theoretical 45-year fishing career, because of such factors as
turnover, the risk should be expressed on a per 1,000 worker basis, as
follows:

[1 - (1 - R)45] x 1,000 = 0.0611 x 1,000 = 61 fatalities per
1,000 employment over a 45-year period comprising a working lifetime.


Endnotes

1  Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm, W.W. Norton, New York, 1997,
pp.44-45.

2  For 1996, the occupation with the next highest rate is timber cutters
at 157, followed by airplane pilots (88), structural metal workers (85),
and extractive occupations (67).

3  For a good explanation of the methodology used to derive this
statistic, see David E. Fosbroke, Suzanne M. Kisner, and John R.
Myers, "Working Lifetime Risk of Occupational Fatal Injury," American
Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol. 31, Wiley-Liss, Inc., 1997,
pp. 460-61.  See Technical note at the end of this article.

4  Junger, The Perfect Storm, pp. 114-15, 123, 150.

5  NIOSH Alert: Request for Assistance in Preventing Drownings of
Commercial Fishermen, National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, Publication No. 94-107, April 1994, p. 4.

6  Junger, The Perfect Storm, pp. 52, 70.

7  NIOSH Alert: Request for Assistance, p. 2.

8  Commercial Fishing Fatalities in Alaska: Risk Factors and Prevention
Strategies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Current
Intelligence Bulletin 58, September 1997, p. 12.

9  Scuba is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

10 Commercial Fishing Fatalities in Alaska, p. 12.

11 Occupational Outlook Handbook, 1998-99 Edition, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Bulletin 2500, January 1998, p. 417.

12 Ibid., pp. 416-18.

13 NIOSH Update: College Students May be Risking Their Lives on Fishing
Vessels: Working in the Alaska Fishing Industry is one of the Nation's
Most Hazardous Jobs, National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, Publication No. 94-111, April 1994.

14 For a fuller discussion, see Junger, The Perfect Storm, pp. 15, 48-49.

15 Commercial Fishing Fatalities in Alaska, pp. ix, 2.

16 Shellfish include cephalopods such as squid, crustaceans such as
lobster and shrimp, and univalve and bivalve mollusks such as abalone
and clams, whereas finfish-such as shark, tuna, and salmon-are all
vertebrates.  Some of the hazards confronting shellfishers are different
from those confronting finfishers.  For example, shellfishing for king
crab is done using cages called "pots"-some weighing over 700
pounds (318 kilograms)-which are stored on the deck where they might fall
on someone, whereas finfishers do not use pots.  Many types of
finfishing, such as long-lining, however, make use of numerous hooks,
which can puncture and pull a fisher overboard.

17 Industry employment figures are from the Covered Employment and
Wages (also known as the ES-202) program.  See the annual
publication Employment and Wages, Annual Averages, for the years 1992
through 1996.

18 Fisheries of the United States, 1996, National Marine Fisheries
Service, Current Fishery Statistics No. 9600, July 1997, pp.
iv, 10-13.  Weights for all fish are reported in round weight
(defined as weight of fish as taken from the water, the complete or
full "live" weight when caught), except for univalve and bivalve mollusks
which are reported in meat weight (excluding the shell).

19 Employment data for race and age are derived from the Current
Population Survey.

20 See Fosbroke, Kisner, and Meyers, "Working Lifetime Risk;"  Richard
D. Kennedy and Jennifer M. Lincoln, "Epidemiology of Fatal Injury in
the U.S. Commercial Fishing Industry," Safety and Health in Agriculture,
Forestry, and Fisheries, Government Institutes, Inc., Rockville,
Maryland, 1997, pp. 557-70; Patricia G. Schnitzer, Deborah D. Landen,
and Julie C. Russell, "Occupational Injury Deaths in Alaska's Fishing
Industry, 1980 through 1988," American Journal of Public Health,
Vol. 83, No. 5, May 1993, pp. 685-88; NIOSH Alert: Request for
Assistance; Commercial Fishing Fatalities in Alaska; NIOSH Update:
College Students May be Risking Their Lives.

21 Fisheries of the United States, pp. 125, 127.

22 Ibid., pp. 98, 106.

23 Employment data are derived from various sources including the Current
Population Survey; the Occupational Outlook Handbook, p. 417; and CFOI.



Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries for fishing occupations, 1992-96(1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    1992            1993            1994            1995            1996        Total 1992-96    
                                Number  Rate    Number  Rate    Number  Rate    Number  Rate    Number  Rate    Number  Rate     
                                ------------    ------------    ------------    ------------    ------------    -------------

Fishing occupations              92      156     91      154     67      131     58      103     72      153     380     140
  Captains and other officers    20      -       12      -       10      -       7       -       6       -       55      -
  Fishers                        72      141     79      154     57      136     51      113     66      178     325     144
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                                            
1 Rates represent the number of fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 employed workers and were calculated as:
    (N/W) x 100,000, where
     N = the number of work injury fatalities to workers 16 years of  age and older. 
     W = the number of employed workers 16 years of age and older. 
     100,000 =        per 100,000 workers. 

Employment figures are annual average estimates of employed civilians 16 years of age and older from the Current Population
Survey, 1992-96.

2 Based on the 1990 Occupational Classification System developed by the Bureau of the Census.  Fishing occupations is an
aggregate of fishers, and captains and other fishing vessel  officers.

3 Dashes indicate rates for captains and other fishing vessel officers do not meet publication standards.  




Table 2.  Fatal events or exposures for fishing
occupations, 1992-96
---------------------------------------------
Fatal event or exposure       Number  Percent
-------------------------     ------  -------
Vessel casualties(1)           197      52
Fall from ship or boat		70	18
Drowning, submersion		60	16
Other events or exposures       53      14
---------------------------------------------
1 Sinkings and capsizings accounted for 154 of the
197 vessel casualties. The remaining 43 vessel
casualties resulted from collisions, vessel
explosions and fires, and all other water vehicle
incidents except falls from ship or boat.



Table 3.  Fishing occupation(1) fatalities by State, 1992-96
------------------------------------------------------------
State            Number  Percent
-------------    ------  --------
Total              380     100

Alaska             112      29
Massachusetts       32       8
Texas               31       8
Florida             26       7
Oregon              21       6
California          21       6
Washington          20       5
Louisiana           18       5
North Carolina      18       5
Maine               17       4
Hawaii              14       4
Other               50      13
---------------------------------------------------------------
1 Includes fishers, captains, and other fishing vessel officers.	

2 These 50 fishing fatalities are distributed over the remaining
39 States and the District of Columbia, and also include 7 fatalities
occurring outside any State's territorial waters.  None of these
States accounted for more than 5 fishing fatalities.