Program Scoring and Rationale - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 149

a requirement for any vessels carrying a National Marine Fisheries Service observer onboard. Another
advance has been the recent USCG development of an alternative compliance safety agreement for a class
of vessels operating in Alaska. NIOSH has had little direct involvement in the latest developments, but it
appears that NIOSH efforts provided the necessary catalyst.
Man Overboard— Although time and resources have not allowed the Alaska Field Station to focus much
effort on man overboard injuries and deaths, a National Occupational Research Agenda project is under
way to gather the various devices, ideas, and practices used in man overboard prevention and recovery.
The project will evaluate the effectiveness of the prevention and recovery methods, identify barriers to
nation-wide implementation, and look at ways to improve.
Deck Injuries— After crab fishing was identified as the largest contributor to occupational injuries and deaths
in Alaska, members of the field station sought out fishermen to discuss the issues. Their discussions and
open-minded face-to-face approaches resulted in the publication of Deck Safety for Crab Fishermen , a 37-
page practical guide to techniques and modifications to improve safety on crab vessels.
Additional forums and cooperative efforts with the NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory identified
entanglement as an issue for fishermen. That resulted in the development and successful testing of a unique
emergency stop arrangement for capstan winches commonly used in purse seining. NIOSH took the capstan
winch emergency stop to the Pacific Marine Expo and other events to share the invention with fishermen
and has partnered with manufacturers to spread the use of the emergency stop on fishing vessels.
Watertight integrity and vessel stability are major causes of vessel losses and deaths, as demonstrated
by the Arctic Rose sinking in 2001 that resulted in the loss of 15 lives—the largest loss of life in U.S.
commercial fishing history. An engineering innovation now being tested is a fiber optics-based system
for monitoring watertight hatches on fishing vessels to ensure watertight integrity. The system enables a
captain to ascertain at a glance whether the important hatches are secured. Watertight hatches were not
considered a viable option until recently because of the demanding vessel environment.
Diving Deaths— The 1997 Alaska Diving Safety Workshop (at which a member of the Alaska Field Station
presented), sponsored by the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) and Alaska Sea Grant,
led to new diving regulations in Alaska and led NIOSH-supported AMSEA to develop an educational video
about dive-harvest safety that introduces dive tenders to vessel safety, basic dive operations, and dive
emergencies.
By highlighting those four issues, NIOSH confirmed USCG's belief that fishing safety was important,
and the research data prompted action and showed USCG how to set priorities among its efforts.
Rather than measuring success by the number, volume, and weight of peer-reviewed articles and
publications, the Alaska research field group has used practical methods to generate impact. Staff at the
field station have used commercial fishing trade journals and newsletters, such as those of the North Pa-
cific Fishing Vessel Owners' Association (NPFVOA) and AMSEA, to provide the latest safety information to
commercial fishermen.
The research and outreach work in commercial fishing safety has had a great impact not only on local
fisheries but on national and even international fisheries. This work and other publications have generated
worldwide interest and resulted in NIOSH-sponsored international conferences on fishing industry safety
and health: the first International Fishing Industry Safety and Health (IFISH) conference was held in Woods
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