Fishing safety accelerates

On December 20, 2004, the New Bedford, MA-based scallop boat Northern Edge capsized 45 miles off Nantucket, killing five of the six crew members, who could have been saved if they’d been better trained or had access to safety equipment, according to the Boston Globe.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, area fishermen, long resistant to government efforts to tighten safety laws, are embracing safety, attending training classes and inviting inspectors on board their boats for safety checks.

In the six years before the Northern Edge sinking, fewer than 100 fishermen from the New Bedford area attended safety training classes. Since then, about 500 have. The class gives fishermen practice getting into survival suits, making distress calls and using emergency flares and a life raft.

Fishermen in other areas are now organizing similar classes and the Massachusetts Fisherman’s Partnership is conducting training throughout the state.

Fishing remains one of the nation’s most dangerous professions, with 86 deaths per 10,000 workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “We want there to be zero deaths and fewer accidents,” said Mike Rosecrans, chief of fishing vessel safety for the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is trying to get Congress to improve on the 1988 Vessel Safety Act, which requires most vessels to carry rescue equipment and mandates safety drills on boats. The law provides no way to insure fishermen participate in the drills and it doesn’t require safety inspections.