Goals Accomplished by the NORA Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector Council

Activity/Output Goal 8.1.4: Evaluate the effects that fisheries management practices have on safety in six different fisheries in the United States.

• Partners: NIOSH, University of Alaska Anchorage, National Marine Fisheries Service

Activity/Output Goal 8.1.1: Identify the fishery specific hazards across the country for vessel sinking and subsequent fatalities. Apply risk management techniques.

• Partners: NIOSH, U.S. Coast Guard

Activity/Output Goal 1.2.1: Work with U.S. Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service to apply the NIOSH methodology to estimate the size and makeup of the commercial fishing workforce population by federally regulated fishery.

• Partners: US Coast Guard, NIOSH, National Marine Fisheries Service, Natural Resources Consultants

Activity/Output Goal 8.4.2: Form a National Fisheries Management and Safety Coordination Committee to coordinate national policy integrating fishery management and safety regimes.

• Partners: NIOSH, National Marine Fisheries Service, US Coast Guard (USCG), National Transportation Safety Board

NIOSH is working with the USCG and the National Marine Fisheries Service to establish guidance on analytical methods to evaluate safety in the fisheries management process. Recent work by NIOSH and the US Coast Guard has shown that the fishery management process can more explicitly address safety at sea by analyzing fatalities and calculating fatality rates for the fishery and understanding the overall trend in fatality rates. This information can be used in risk assessments to identify major hazards within a fishery.

Activity/Output Goal 8.2.1: Develop and evaluate best practices for preventing falls overboard and fatalities due to falls overboard. These would include activities such as field evaluations of Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs), surveys of fishermen, developing better recovery devices and practices.

• Partners: NIOSH, US Coast Guard, Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health (PNASH) Center, Oregon Health Sciences University, Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA), Personal Flotation Device Manufacturers Association, Mustang Survival

NIOSH completed the PFD evaluation with commercial fishermen in Alaska. We also supported a repeat of the study among Dungeness crab fishermen in OR. We are currently working with PFD manufacturers, safety trainers, and industry partners to promote the results of the study and to encourage fishermen to establish PFD policies for their vessels as well as finding comfortable PFDs that work for them. In addition, we will be releasing the Man Overboard DVD that shows ways to prevent falls overboard as well as how to recover a person in the water once they fall over. The DVD is due out in March 2011. Falls overboard are still a leading cause of fatalities. Continued effort is needed to address this hazard.

Activity/Output Goal 8.1.5: Develop a Top 10 list of fisheries management practices that contribute to unsafe practices in the commercial fishing industry.

• Partners: NIOSH, Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA), North Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association (NPFVOA), US Coast Guard, Federal Commercial Fishing Industry Advisory Committee, University of Alaska, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

This Top 10 list of fisheries management practices was completed by the Federal Commercial Fishing Industry Advisory Committee during their May 2010 meeting in Oakland California.

Activity/Output Goal 1.1.8: In collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard, expand the NIOSH Commercial Fishing Incident Database (CFID) to other regions of the U.S.

• Partners: US Coast Guard, NIOSH, Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (FACE), Oregon FACE

NIOSH now maintains the CFID for all commercial fishing fatalities for the country. It currently contains data from 2000 to 2009. We are currently updating CFID with information from 2010.

Activity/Output Goal 1.1.1: The Coast Guard, working with NIOSH, will develop an improved and realistic data collection regime for improving what is learned from casualty investigations within the commercial fishing industry.

• Partners: US Coast Guard (USCG), NIOSH, Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (FACE), Oregon FACE

The US Coast Guard and NIOSH have established a data sharing agreement. We are working together to improve the quality of data collection during USCG investigations by creating the “NIOSH Supplement” to be used during fatality investigations. In addition, the USCG continues to consult with NIOSH after vessel casualties to make sure the correct information is being collected. These activities continue with the rotation of USCG personnel. In addition, the USCG is placing a junior officer on a 6-week detail with NIOSH to understand how commercial fishing fatality data are coded and analyzed using the Commercial Fishing Incident Database (CFID).