Columns – Page 3 – Fishermens News

Dental Emergencies at Sea

Although we usually think of emergencies at sea in terms of fire, capsizing, flooding or personal injury, a dental problem can also cut short a fishing opening or even require an emergency medivac. Let’s take a look at some common dental problems and how to deal with them onboard. Infections Infections involve either the pulp tissue inside the tooth or the gum tissue around the tooth. Signs and symptoms can include loose teeth or sensitivity to hot, cold or biting. Redness or swelling in the gum tissue or on the face occur in the later stages and should be treated promptly by a dentist. Treatment at sea could include oral antibiotics; have an in-date supply onboard before problems arise. They may be successful in somewhat suppressing the infection, but won’t cure the problem. A gum s...

How West Coast Fisheries Can Prepare for Challenges of Climate Change

The bad news about climate change is that nearly everything in our fragile ocean environment is about to shift, and indeed is already changing, in ways likely to be detrimental to our existing fisheries. The good news, however, is that there are a number of things our fisheries managers—and our industry—can still do to prepare and be ready for those challenges. In case you missed them, two thorough California Current climate change Vulnerability Assessments (VAs) have been released for Pacific Salmon & Steelhead (VA 2019) and Other Managed Species (VA 2023). The latter also includes salmonids. Data and assessments from these documents, produced by National Marine Fisheries Services Science Center staff and other partners, are also being made available in other formats (e.g., the Pac...

New Data Visualization Tool Helps Fishermen See Where, How At-Sea Injuries Happen

Oregon State University and Oregon Sea Grant, as part of ongoing work with the commercial fishing fleet in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, have developed a research program based on fishermen’s feedback on topics related to injury prevention and health of the fleets. One important part is sharing what we learn with fishermen. As health and safety professionals, understanding the patterns of injuries and what has happened helps to identify opportunities to support fishermen. The Risk Information System for Commercial Fishing (RISC) project (https://tinyurl.com/3zhavcun) uses existing datasets from the U.S. Coast Guard and state emergency room registries, as well as information collected straight from fishermen, to help estimate injury risk and risk factors in commercial fishing in the...

From the Editor: Maritime Publishing Acquires The Log

The Maritime Publishing family of periodicals has gotten bigger. On June 12, the company announced the acquisition of The Log newspaper from Newport Beach-based Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. For those who aren’t familiar, The Log is a biweekly publication based in Orange County, Calif. It been a boating and fishing essential for recreational anglers throughout Southern California since 1971. “The Log is an iconic publication,” Maritime Publishing owner and CEO Dave Abrams said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “I’ve been reading almost every issue since 1990, and I look forward to (acquiring) it. As a boater, it keeps me apprised of everything going on in the SoCal maritime community and provides a great resource for finding service providers, slips, equipment, etc. I’m really prou...

MPAs and Commercial Fishing

For some time, the conventional wisdom has been that designating certain waters as Marine Protected Areas—where commercial fishing is off limits—hurts the fishing industry due to a corresponding reduction in catch, and that the reduction in turn drives seafood prices higher globally. But is this really accurate? A new study published in the scientific journal Science Advances, says it is not. According to the study, which was published in the magazine’s June 2023 issue, the largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) in North America, located in the Mexican Pacific, does not harm industrial fishing. In fact, the information uncovered by four researchers concludes that the protected area has actually helped commercial fishing in the long run. The researchers, including a marine ecologist at th...

Finally—A U.S. Ocean Climate Action Plan

The Earth’s oceans are fragile ecosystems that nevertheless provide essential protein to about 3.3 billion people. We ignore the potential ocean impacts of accelerating climate change at great peril to this major world food supply and to the 6% of the world’s economy represented by its seafood harvest and distribution sector. With so much recent research and concern about the onrushing impacts of climate change on land, its remarkable that so little attention has been paid to these impacts likely to hit our oceans. This is extremely short-sighted. Fortunately, some of this neglect is now being addressed—at least in the U.S.—by the first-ever U.S. Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP) released in March 2023. The OCAP includes three broad themes: (a) creating a carbon-neutral future; (b) impl...

Joint NIOSH-USCG Grant Program Provides Funds for Improving Commercial Fishing Safety

You’re a Dungeness crab fisherman. It’s 4:30 p.m. on a cold and rapidly darkening January day. It has been a great day, with a catch like you have never seen. You and your crew are pulling the last of your pots when you look over and see one of your crew not looking right. A crew member is standing near the winch with his left arm bending the wrong direction. He’s not saying anything, but he’s wet and starting to shiver. You are 30 miles offshore and even further back to port. The seas are building, winds picking up and the clouds are dropping. This scenario is part of Fishermen First Aid Safety Training (FFAST), developed by Oregon State University (OSU) and Oregon Sea Grant, to address the specific first aid needs of commercial fishermen responding to workplace injuries on their vess...

The Battle Over Columbia River Salmon

Over the next several months, the West Coast has a golden opportunity to push for a serious Columbia River salmon recovery plan. This chance to finally get it right comes after decades—and more than $15 billion—spent by the federal government trying to fix a broken system, along with more than 20 years of litigation. After decades of dam building, four final dams—Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite—were built on the Snake River, the Columbia River’s largest tributary, in the 1960s and ‘70s. Before they were constructed, Washington’s Department of Fisheries warned that the Lower Snake River dams would spell trouble for salmon: “The development would remove part of the cost of waterborne shipping from the shipper and place it on the taxpayer, jeopardizing more than...

Commercial Fishing Near Miss/Close Calls Program Development

As the old trope goes, wise men learn from their own mistakes, but wiser men learn from the mistakes of others. It’s also a lot less expensive. So, how can vessel operators learn from their own mistakes without injuring anyone and incurring the costs? Wouldn’t it be more effective to learn from the near misses/close calls of other fishermen in similar regions or fisheries in order to lessen injuries on their own vessels? AMSEA is looking for fishermen who want to help evaluate an anonymous, cost-free, near-miss reporting system on their own vessel. AMSEA is working with NIOSH (the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and the ABS Group to develop a type of reporting system in which operators can share examples of close calls that have occurred on their own vessels wit...

Alaska Native Salmon Set Gillnetters in Norton Sound Brave Fierce Conditions

Kyle is a young commercial fisherman from an Alaska Native salmon fishing community in Norton Sound. He learned how to fish from his dad, who is also his captain. They manually set nets and haul catch by hand, like many salmon set gillnetters. And like many fishermen, Kyle has close calls from time to time in Alaska’s Bering Sea, with wild weather in the remote wilderness. Like the time a half-hour trip for firewood turned into a two-day, 30-mile trek home after their 24-foot skiff was swamped. Still, Kyle doesn’t always wear a life jacket. “Once I’m getting to a point when I’m my dad’s age, that’s when I’ll have a life jacket on every day,” he said. Research led by Leann Fay, Ph.D., recently gathered knowledge and lessons through interviews with members of this unique fishery to und...