Safety at Sea Takes a Leap Forward

Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations, and the East Coast has the highest number of commercial fishing fatalities in the United States. For New England commercial lobstermen, falls overboard are the most frequent cause of death. Researchers at the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety (NEC) have been working to change that, one lifejacket at a time.

The NEC is one of 11 agricultural centers across the country designated and funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Serving a 12-state region from Maine through West Virginia, the NEC promotes health and safety research, education, and prevention activities in the high-risk areas of farming, commercial fishing and logging.

Since 2016, NEC researchers have worked with fishermen to identify barriers that lobstermen have experienced when considering lifejackets. In April, researchers embarked on a campaign distributing lifejackets from two vans travelling from port to port along the Maine and Massachusetts coastlines. The “Lifejackets for Lobstermen” vans carried 11 models of PFDs, distributed at a 50% discount. The selection was a culmination of more than 550 lobstermen giving guidance over the course of three years on the “ideal” working lifejacket.

“The fishermen have guided all of our research, telling us what would help and, equally importantly, what wouldn’t work. “ said Rebecca Weil, research coordinator for the study.

Two fieldwork coordinators navigated 10,000 miles up and down the coastline, parking the vans at 53 ports for a total of 159 days to promote the project and give lobstermen the chance to try on and purchase the lifejackets. The project surpassed expectations, distributing 1,076 personal flotation devices (PFDs) to Northeast lobstermen.

“We are seeing pictures of fishermen wearing their new gear out working on their boats,” said Weil. “At least one life has already been saved, and that makes all this effort worth it.”

One Phippsburg, ME, lobsterman told researchers at one of the vans’ port stops, “Everyone knows someone that never came home.”

The project has been so successful that Fishing Partnership Support Services, a fishing industry health and safety non-profit organization based out of Massachusetts, will be continuing the work of the Lifejackets for Lobstermen project in 2020. As part of Fishing Partnership’s free courses on safety and survival at sea, one of the vans will be used to provide fishermen the opportunity to learn about the importance of lifejackets, the options available to them and the chance to purchase lifejackets at the same 50% discount.

“We couldn’t have done this without all the community support and we are so excited to see it continue,” noted Jessica Echard, research coordinator. NEC is collaborating on this project with Fishing Partnership Support Services, Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, McMillan Offshore Survival Training and the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association.

The Lifejacket Project Team wants to thank all the fishermen, families and communities who are making safety such a priority. Manufacturers who made this all possible were: Mustang Survival Systems, Kent Safety Products, Hyde Sportswear, Stormline Gear, Hero Water Wear, Coleman/Stearns, Spinlock, and West Marine. While many retailers helped us along the way, special thanks go to Downeast Fishing Gear, Hercules SLR, Hamilton Marine, and Brooks Trap Mill for being integral to the success.

The project team will have a booth at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in March, and will have demos of all the lifejackets that were offered at the vans. There will also be a presentation on Saturday, March 7th from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM that will include a brief summary of the vans’ journey and more importantly a panel of fishermen and community collaborators to discuss what works and what fishermen might like see going forward. Attendees will be entered into a drawing for a Lifesling 3 USCG Type V Overboard Rescue System and four ResQLink+ Personal Locator Beacons.

See images of the vans’ journey from port to port on the project’s Facebook page, @lifejacketsforlobstermen. Preliminary study findings were reported in an article written by NEC and Bassett Research Institute researchers in the October issue of the Journal of Agromedicine. The project was also featured in the April issue of Forbes’ magazine as well as by a wide variety of television, radio, print and online media sources throughout New England.