A new study by Anchorage, Alaska-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) shows that the safety of fishing in the Bering Sea has improved since 2005.
The study details 504 fishing industry deaths from 2000 to 2009, with shrimp fishing in the Gulf of Mexico being the deadliest with 55 lives lost. In contrast, 12 Being Sea crabbers died during the same nine-year span, the lowest loss of life for all of Alaska's major fisheries.
Since 2005, when Alaska's crab fisheries began operating under a catch-share system, only one life has been lost and there have been no vessels lost at sea, according to the NIOSH. Under the catch-share system, each vessel has its own quota to catch in an extended season versus hundreds of boats in a derby-style fishery that lasts only days or weeks.
The improved safety is "black and white," said veteran crabber Bill Prout of Kodiak, Alaska. "It's so much better. We can wait for good weather. It's really paying off in saved lives."
Alaska's Bering Sea king crab fishery is depicted on the popular Discovery Channel program "Deadliest Catch," which first aired in 2005 and is now in its sixth season.
