The Assistant Commandant’s Perspective

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by RADM Paul Zukunft, U.S. Coast Guard Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship.

A recent Department of Labor finding indicates that the fatal injury rate for fishers and fishing-related workers, at 200 per 100,000, is the highest of any occupation. That number stands in sharp contrast to the fatal injury rate for all workers at 3.3 per 100,000, and necessitates a call for action. The Coast Guard 2010 Authorization Act provides one additional vehicle to improve fishing vessel safety.

The following blog posts include a summary of the fishing vessel safety provisions in the Authorization Act, which notes their impact on the industry and outlines tentative plans for implementation. Although many of the articles in the Proceedings fishing vessel safety issue were written before the Coast Guard Authorization Act was signed, the information is still timely, relevant, and vital to addressing fishing vessel safety issues.

Let’s make it our goal in the next commercial fishing safety edition to celebrate a significant decrease in commercial fishermen injured or lost in their profession.

Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/winter2010-11/

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