The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #65211

Kris S. Freeman, MS, Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health, Department of Environmental Health, University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, suite 100, Seattle, WA 98105-6099, 206-616-8536, kfreeman@u.washington.edu

Commercial fishing is one of the world’s deadly occupations. Yet fishers worldwide have shown reluctance to implement safety measures, even though their risk of injury is high, and the means to reduce risk are well-known and have been proven effective. This reluctance is reinforced by a culture of high risk; fishers use a variety of mental strategies to minimize their feelings of vulnerability, including fatalism, denial, and a tendency to "blame the victim" for accidents. As a result of these cultural barriers, the largest improvements in commercial fishing safety have occurred as the result of regulation or insurance requirements. For example, death rates in Alaska fisheries dropped substantially after passage of a 1988 law that required vessels to carry certain types of safety equipment and to conduct safety drills. Further reducing death and injury rates will require voluntary safety measures from vessel owners and operators. According to recent research, programs to motivate such change may be more successful if they draw on fishers’ business and problem-solving skills, and are congruent with the industry’s individualistic, competitive culture. For example, a successful Norwegian program provided detailed cost-benefit analyses of a wide range of safety measures, and successful programs in the U.S. have organized public safety-drill competitions among vessels, such as "survival suit races." The presenter spent twelve years as a journalist for commercial fishing publications. During those years she hauled nets, gutted fish, and got seasick many fishing vessels, on fishing grounds ranging from northern California to the Aleutian Islands.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand similarities between working conditions of commercial fishers and those of workers in other high-risk professions such as logging and mining.
• Identify areas for public health intervention, including training and support.
• Appreciate how cultural norms may interfere with such interventions.

Keywords: Risk Communication, Vulnerable Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.