It's red, rubbery, replete with zippers and Velcro straps and weighs probably 50 pounds when soaking wet, but it's saved many a life on the Bering Sea and other dangerous commercial fishing grounds worldwide. It's called an immersion suit, and it's the first line of defense for a man or woman overboard to survive in the chilliest waters where fishing is most perilous. If you're wearing one, you're probably in trouble.
Hopefully, I'll never find myself in a situation where the floating neoprene suit is my only hope of avoiding hypothermia or certain death. But I did get to test one out last week during the North Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners Association's four-hour vessel safety program in Seattle. Even with my certificate of completion, I can't imagine ever needing to use it.
The two-dozen survival students splashing around like wounded seals - all of us participants in the National Fisheries Institute's Future Leaders program - really had nothing to worry about, seeing how we were only training in an indoor swimming pool, many miles away from the real dangers lurking in the North Pacific Ocean. A room full of greenhorns struggling to form a circle in the water or simply stay upright must have been a funny sight to behold.
But there's nothing at all humorous about at-sea survival and the real-life situations when these suits are needed. Class instructor Mike Heryla told us how the 42 surviving crewmembers of the Alaska Ranger, which sunk this March more than 100 miles off the coast of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, relied on the suits to stay alive until rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and another fishing vessel. Five people, including the ship's captain, lost their lives in that accident. In the Bering Sea, water temperatures typically remain in the high-30s; the swimming pool water must have been 80 degrees F.
While commercial fishing safety records have dramatically improved in recent years, the Alaska Ranger tragedy was another reminder of the risks taken and the sacrifices made in the quest for seafood - the last protein that's actually hunted. It's something to think about the next time you pass the Gloucester Fishermen's Memorial or even throw some king crab legs on the grill.
Thank you,
James Wright
Assistant Editor
SeaFood Business
