Lifejacket Vans Bringing Lifejackets
to Lobstermen
Left to right: Salomon Tamup, Humberto Chach, Chris Chase, Josue Ruiz. Chris Chase of New Bedford shared a chilling falls-over board story with us. Back in April, 110 miles offshore, his 19-year-old crewman slipped while hauling traps into 41°F water. Although he was thrown a life ring right within reach, the crewman was unable to grasp onto the ring. Chris dove in with another life ring and got to the crewman, who was now underwater. He got them both secured, and the crew hauled them back to the boat. His crewman was in the water for less than 8 min and Chris was in for 5 min, but they were unresponsive by the time they reached the boat and unable to help themselves in such cold water. At 15 hours from shore, they both came very close to dying. Thankfully they both survived! Because of this event, Chris brought his whole crew to the vans to outfit them and himself with lifejackets. Thanks Chris for sharing such a moving story!
The Lifejackets for Lobstermen Project has two vans that are visiting 43 harbors along the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts until the end of October. The vans, equipped with 11 different models of lifejackets and buoyancy aids, are giving everyone the opportunity to try on personal flotation devices (PFDs) to see what will work for them. Commercial lobstermen, and commercial fishermen with a lobster bycatch license are eligible to purchase these devices at the vans for a 50% discount.
Falls overboard are the most frequent cause of death in the Northeast lobster fishing industry. These events can happen in a split second, without the time to put on a life saving device. All the devices in the vans are a direct response to feedback from lobstermen. The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety (NEC) is running this project, in collaboration with Fishing Partnership Support Services, Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, McMillan Offshore Survival Training and the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association.
• A fisherman in Westport, MA showed us his old Mustang Workvest that he’d been continuously wearing. He bought himself a new one, went home and got his son who is a captain, who then bought himself and his sternman a Mustang Workvest.
• Met a fisherman in Cohasset, MA that was very happy with the project and continuously thanked us for doing this project. “I go out alone. Now my family will have peace of mind and won’t have to worry as much while I’m out. My wife will be so happy.”
• In Wiscasset, ME we met a fisherman out of Phippsburg that came over to see us because he missed us the day we were in Phippsburg. He said “Everyone knows someone that never came home. I’d never worn a lifejacket, and I never really thought about it. You guys called me to do a survey and it got me thinking, and I keep thinking about it”. He tried on several different PFDs and wound up buying a set of Stormline bibs.
Many commercial lobstermen have taken advantage of the one-time discount. On the first leg of the journey, the project sold over 300 lifejackets to commercial lobstermen and are now on their final trip up the coast, visiting the same 43 harbors, with stops between 1 and 4 days long.
To find out where the lifejacket van will be, go to our Facebook page for updates. https://www.facebook.com/LifejacketsforLobstermen. If you have questions, feel free to call: 607-221-4448, or email: LifejacketProject@bassett.org.