By NOAA Fisheries
Scientists and law enforcement officers team up to lay a foundation for strengthening NOAA Fisheries’ efforts to improve observer safety on commercial fishing vessels and in seafood processing plants.
In the United States and other countries, scientists known as “fishery observers” deploy alongside fishing crews for weeks and months at a time. They also take part in shore-based monitoring in seafood processing plants.
Their job is to collect essential biological data on commercial fish and crab species, information on species taken as bycatch and report on fishing regulation violations they may witness. Although U.S. fisheries are among the safest in the world, there are inherent risks that observers face while working in remote and offshore locations.
Their work can be dangerous and puts them in vulnerable situations. They may be exposed to harassment and unsafe working conditions during the course of the work.
In an effort to get a more complete understanding of harassment rates and strengthen protective measures for observer safety, researchers undertook a multi-year study focused on the North Pacific Groundfish and Halibut Observer Program—the largest fisheries monitoring program in the U.S.
The team estimated that 45% of observers who experienced victimization disclosed harassment in a given year. They also estimated that the true prevalence of harassment for fishery observers in the North Pacific varied from 22% to 38% of observers annually (2016-2022).
That is more than twice that estimated from observers’ official statements following fishing trips.
“This is an incredibly important study that provides proof positive that official statements don’t capture the whole picture of harassment rates—it presents a new method for better accounting for non-disclosure. It also is the first time that we have been able to quantify non-reported harassment incidents of fishery observers,” NOAA Fisheries Acting Administrator Emily Menashes said.
“The work of this team is a critical step to help us focus our continuing efforts to end these types of behavior and provide a safer working environment for fisheries observers,” she added.
The study provides a more complete understanding of the rate at which harassment goes unreported and the true prevalence of victimization.
With this, NOAA Fisheries can redouble its efforts, with partners, to develop targeted strategies for combating harassment and track the efficacy of those efforts over time.
Methodology for Estimating Observer Disclosure and Victimization Rates
Each year, to quantify cases of harassment, authorities rely on official statements submitted by observers following their assignment. However, many victims tend not to disclose harassment events they experience.
As a result, tallies of official statements do not represent the true prevalence of harassment. Researchers suspected that their information was likely biased low, but the degree of bias was unknown. They undertook a multi-year effort to determine the true rate of victimization occurring at sea over recent years.
Scientists at the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and special agents at the Alaska Office of Law Enforcement undertook the study. They modeled it after the Bureau of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey. They designed and distributed an anonymous survey to NOAA Fisheries observers working in Alaska. They collected responses between 2016–2022 to understand barriers to disclosure and estimate disclosure rates.
Researchers also hoped to better understand the experiences of observers and to ultimately improve practices and enforcement regarding harassment.
“Official statements submitted by observers reflect both an incident of harassment and also an observer’s willingness to disclose, tangled up together” said Lacey Jeroue, co-author and Alaska Marine Mammal Observer Program Project Manager, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. “Relying on official statements alone makes it impossible to know if risk reduction strategies moved the needle on actual harassment or just the tendency to disclose it.”
Supplementing official statements with estimates of disclosure rates from anonymous survey data provided a means of mitigating biases. It allowed researchers to obtain estimates of harassment untangled from fluctuations in reporting tendencies.
Harassment in the study was classified as sexual harassment, assault, and intimidation, coercion and hostile work environments.
Disclosure Rates
Scientists estimated disclosure rates overall were 45% and found that those rates weren’t influenced by observer gender or experience, but heavily influenced by the type of the harassment experienced; reported types of harassment (e.g., the percentage of observers who reported victimization annually via official statements) for 2016–2022:
- Sexual harassment (18%)
- Assault (57%)
- Intimidation, coercion and hostile work environment (37%)
Victimization Rates
Scientists estimated a range of victimization rates for observers annually during 2016–2022 after correcting for biases:
- Observers overall (22-38%)
- Female observers (24-60%)
- Male observers (12-24%)
- Sexual harassment (8-43%)
- Assault (< 1-2%)
Intimidation, coercion and hostile work environment (22-34%)
Researchers estimated that about one third of the 350-400 North Pacific observers experienced victimization annually. Sexual harassment of females has been increasing over the last six years, while disclosure rates remain the same.
Female observers were at least twice as likely to become targets of victimization as males.
During 2016–2022, researchers estimated that 24-60 percent of female observers were victimized annually, compared to 12-24 percent of male observers.
Commitment to Observer Safety
NOAA has taken an aggressive approach to addressing employee safety on NOAA vessels and has set clear expectations for conduct, to assure swift and appropriate accountability and adapt to ever-changing workforce and workplace conditions.
However, not all of its seagoing mission occurs on NOAA vessels. For those engaged in activities on private vessels, ensuring workplace safety presents additional challenges. This is the case for fisheries observers.
Since the inception of the observer program in the 1970s, NOAA has developed and instituted world-class training and safety protocols, including a zero-tolerance policy for observer harassment or assault.
NOAA Fisheries, including NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Law Enforcement and Office of General Counsel and NOAA’s Workplace Violence Prevention and Response Program, works with observers, observer providers, the U.S. Coast Guard and the fishing industry to prepare observers for safe deployments. These efforts have increased awareness, training, reporting and resources for observers.
For example, observer certification training includes harassment awareness and how to document experiences for investigation. Observers are trained that their own safety is their highest priority.
Scenario-based training helps observers prepare for potential negative interactions and possible responses.
In 2023, NOAA released a Notice on Preventing Observer Harassment. It makes clear to vessel owners and operators, who are required to carry fishery observers, that mistreatment of observers is unlawful and subject to enforcement action. The notice reminds them of their responsibility to provide a safe working environment for fishery observers.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act provides the Office of Law Enforcement with jurisdiction to protect observers. Enforcement officers conduct regular outreach to vessel company representatives, co-op managers and plant managers to remind them of regulatory requirements.
This includes the importance of ensuring that observers are able to work in a safe environment.
“Enforcement investigations on the deterrence and detection of observer sexual assault, assault, harassment, observer safety, interference and significant sample-bias violations are our highest priority,” James Binniker, the director of NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Law Enforcement, said. “There is zero tolerance for assault or harassment of observers in any form and criminal prosecution will be sought for the most serious of these incidents. We encourage any observer who feels they may have been a victim of harassment to contact our 24-hour Law Enforcement Hotline at (800) 853-1964.”
NOAA also provides numerous victim advocacy resources such as NOAA’s Sexual Assault/Sexual Harassment Helpline and RAINN.
Based on the findings of this study, NOAA Fisheries intends to take aggressive steps to improve observer safety beginning with:
Re-evaluating its observer safety training programs to identify areas that need attention.
Reminding vessel owner/operators of their responsibilities under the NOAA Notice on Preventing Observer Harassment to promote a safe working environment for fishery observers so that notice is prominently posted on fishing vessels and in processing plants.
Implementing further outreach to commercial fishing and processing vessel crew as well as shore-side processing plant owners to raise awareness and understanding that mistreatment of observers is unlawful and the detection and prosecution of such violations is one of our highest enforcement priorities.
Stressing the important role that fisheries observers play in enabling fisheries to sustainably target commercial fish species and minimize bycatch in all education and outreach efforts.
“Observers are our eyes and ears on the water, collecting needed data and information to sustainably manage U.S. commercial fisheries,” Menashes said. “Observers deserve to work in a safe environment free from harassment of any kind.”
“Our responsibility,” she added, “is to make the workplace for fishery observers as safe as we possibly can.”