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The New York Times has a wonderful account of the rescue of John Aldridge, a commercial fisherman who fell off a lobsterboat in the middle of the night last July, over forty miles off Montauk, Long Island, NY. Aldridge spent 12 hours in the water using his boots flotation.  The article by Paul Tough is well worth reading. It is available on-line : A Speck in the Sea.

Mario Vittone, of gCaptain, gives his take on the article in: Trying Very Hard To Die: The Preventable Disease in Commercial Fishing.  As might be inferred by the title, the tone is acerbic, but Vittone does make good points. Too many commercial fisherman die needlessly in a working culture that has traditionally lacked a due focus on safety.

Commercial fishing is dangerous. As noted by the Center for Public Integrity: Commercial fishing is the deadliest vocation in the United States.Four years running, from 2007 to 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked commercial fishing as the most dangerous occupation in the United States. From 2000 to 2010, the industry’s death rate was 31 times greater than the national workplace average. 

According to the CDC of 545 commercial fishermen who died while fishing in the U.S.:

• More than half of all fatalities (279, 51%) occurred after a vessel disaster
• Another 170 (31%) fatalities occurred when a fisherman fell overboard
• Another 56 (10%) fatalities resulted from an injury onboard
• The remaining 40 (7%) fatalities occurred while diving or from onshore injuries

Thanks to Rebekah Harris for contributing to the post.