Fishing Vessel Safety Advocates For More Than 25 Years.

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. Ed McCauley, president, United States Marine Safety Association;
Mr. Richard Hiscock, former member of Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Advisory Committee; Ms. Kari Guddal, president, Guddal Enterprises LLC; and Mr. Tom Thompson, executive director, United States Marine Safety Association.

In 1983, the U.S. Lifesaving Manufacturers’ Association was formed to promote performance, manufacturing, maintenance, service, and training standards for lifesaving and emergency rescue equipment. It eventually became the United States Marine Safety Association (USMSA).

The association represents all segments of the marine safety industry, including individuals as well as companies involved with safety training, the manufacture, maintenance, promotion of lifesaving and emergency rescue equipment, and classification societies.

The United States Marine Safety Association: A history of support for marine safety:

• In 1985, the USMSA supported the Coast Guard with a proposal related to the delegation of its responsibilities regarding factory inspections of life boats and other lifesaving equipment. Equipment and marine safety inspection remains under the purview of the U.S. Coast Guard.


• In 1986, the USMSA urged its members to express their support for pending fishing vessel safety bills. As a result, the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988 was passed.


• In 2005, the association organized an international life and fire safety systems and equipment summit that brought together industry leaders from around the world. The importance of developing uniform standards for extended service interval life rafts was brought to the forefront at this summit. The exploration of this topic at the summit galvanized the USMSA membership to play an active role as standards evolved.

Subsequently, the International Maritime Organization published guidance that helped to fill a gap in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)’s 1974 regulations, which previously lacked any substantial guidance on life raft design and maintenance.

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Interventions in the Interest of Safety-- PART 2

Training, research, and outreach in Maine’s commercial fishing industry.

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Ms. Ann S.N. Backus, M.S., occupational safety instructor, Harvard School of Public Health.

Mandated Training Part 2
In a parallel effort to establish a more safety-savvy cadre of dive tenders for the hand-harvest industry (urchins, scallops, lobster), the DMR collaborated with the Maine Commercial Fishing Safety Council in 2009 to create a dive tender rule and a DMR online diving safety course for tenders.

Under the rule, those seeking a dive tender license must pass a test and present current first aid and CPR certifications. As of mid-June 2010, forty people had been issued dive tender licenses through this process.

In the most recent three years, there was a 19 percent incidence rate of diver deaths recorded in the USCG First District. With dive tenders now presumably alert to unsafe diving situations and able to recognize divers in distress, we hope to see a reduction in Maine’s contribution to this rate.

Research and Outreach
The Harvard Education and Resource Center (ERC) is currently one of the hubs for research and outreach activities that engage Maine’s fishing industry. In 1999 the Harvard ERC launched a lobsterman entanglement study along the Maine coast in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control/National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Alaska Field Station in Anchorage, Alaska.

Additionally, Mary Davis, Ph.D., of the Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, and Ann Backus, M.S., of Harvard collaborated on a study titled “Safety and Compliance in the Maine Commercial Fishing Industry” that was funded by NOAA and the Maine Sea Grant. This study investigated the current level of safety preparedness in the industry from the equipment and training perspectives.

Future Direction
Fishing safety is—and has to be—a joint effort of government, industry, and private players. I would like to acknowledge those mentioned here and all others who are participating in building an infrastructure that will drive and support a culture of safety in Maine.

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Interventions in the Interest of Safety-- PART 1

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Ms. Ann S.N. Backus, M.S., occupational safety instructor, Harvard School of Public Health.

Maine’s Commercial Fishing Industry
Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated more than 233 million pounds of live fish landed in 2008 by Maine commercial fishermen included: the American lobster, accounting for 30 percent of the catch; the Atlantic herring for 28 percent; and the cultured Atlantic salmon for nine percent.

In terms of dollar value, the American lobster catch accounted for 68 percent of the $362 million industry in Maine in 2008, cultured Atlantic salmon accounted for 17 percent, and the value of the Atlantic herring catch was only two percent of the total catch.

High Dollar, High Risk
The average price per pound for lobster was at an all-time high of $4.43 in 2007 and has dropped each of the succeeding years in spite of (or perhaps because of) major increases in landings in 2008 and 2009.

Fatality rates in the lobster fishery are also of great concern. In terms of casualty data, from 1993 to 2010, according to U.S. Coast Guard First District statistics:

• 29 percent of the deaths were in the trawler industry,
• 24 percent were in the lobster fishery,
• 6.7 percent were divers.

If we look at deaths by fishery in the last three years we see that:

• 37 percent were trawler industry deaths,
• 11 percent were lobster fishery deaths,
• 19 percent were diver deaths.

Mandated Training
In 1995, the Maine DMR supported the apprentice license requirement and apprentice program that became effective in 1996. In November 2006, the Maine Commercial Fishing Safety Council recommended that fishing vessel drill conductor training be part of the apprentice program. Under this program, those wishing to become lobstermen must complete an apprenticeship that requires 1,000 hours of lobstering and complete an accepted Coast Guard fishing vessel drill conductor course and a first aid course. To date, almost 900 apprentices have completed the program.

PICTURED: John McMillan and

Coast Guard commercial fishing safety examiner Paul Smith-Valley teach escape techniques using an egress trainer at the 2010 Fishermen’s Forum, Rockport, Maine. Photo courtesy of Ms. Ann Backus.
In Part 2 we will find out more about Maine’s commercial fishing industry.

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

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Survival Through Education: National Marine Fisheries Service observer safety training.

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Petty Officer 3rd Class Colin White, public affairs specialist, U.S. Coast Guard Thirteenth District.

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) observers work to collect at-sea scientific data required for the conservation and management of marine resources within the United States’ exclusive economic zone.

The U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA share a mutual interest in fishing vessel safety and National Marine Fisheries Service observer safety. As part of the NMFS observer program, it is mandatory that all observed fishing vessels pass a Coast Guard commercial fishing vessel safety examination and that all observers participate in marine safety training demonstrating competency in emergency response skills.

The Training
Observers are trained over a three-week period. For two weeks they learn how to collect catch and by-catch data from U.S. commercial fishing and processing vessels. In the final week, they are introduced to required vessel safety equipment, the use of personal survival equipment, and survival techniques in the water.

The last day of survival training combines all knowledge and skills the observers-in-training have been taught into a practical in-water exercise. Observers must don their immersion survival suits in less than 60 seconds, demonstrate the proper water entry method, inflate and enter a life raft from the water, display the heat escape lessening posture, initiate methods of arrangement to better signal possible rescuers, and enter a mock Coast Guard helicopter rescue basket.

Putting the Training into Practice
Aboard the Alaska Ranger.
The Alaska Ranger flooded and sank 180 miles west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on March 23, 2008. The crew and NMFS observers abandoned ship at night into frigid waters, facing 15-foot seas and 30-knot winds. Fortunately, an NMFS observer aboard, Jayson Vallee, activated a personal locator beacon, providing the Coast Guard critical search and rescue information. He attributed his success and ultimate survival to his training.

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

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The Coast Guard and the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association Partners in fishing vessel safety.

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. David Belliveau, U.S. Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Division.

Fishing vessel casualties were on the rise in the 1980s and 1990s. So, the U.S. Coast Guard concluded that in conjunction with writing and implementing new regulations, implementing an aggressive fishing vessel safety training program would help reduce fatalities.

The Coast Guard sought assistance from other organizations to provide products and services to enhance the training infrastructure for commercial fishermen in Alaska and throughout the U.S. In 2001, USCG awarded a contract to the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA).

AMSEA focused its training on practical information delivered in a hands-on format. The initial training focused on cold water safety and survivability and was presented to school children, commercial fishermen, and the general boating public in remote areas of Alaska.

Its courses have expanded and now include training for:

fishing vessel drill conductors,

fishing vessel marine safety instructors,

fishing vessel crew survivability,

fishing vessel stability awareness,

fishing vessel examiners,

fishing vessel inspection techniques.

To date AMSEA has trained approximately 9,500 fishing vessel drill conductors, more than 1,000 vessel marine safety instructor trainers, 114,300 school children, and 55,000 members of the general public.

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AMSEA’s Port-Based Safety Training PART—2

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. Jerry Dzugan, executive director, Alaska Marine Safety Education Association.

Accomplishments
The first Marine Safety Instructor Training (MSIT) course was held in Sitka, Alaska, in 1986. Since that time, more than 1,000 instructors from American Samoa to Maine, and from Florida to Northwestern Alaska, have been certified to train commercial fishermen.

Almost 10,000 fishing emergency drill conductors have been trained in more than 1,000 workshops since 1990. In addition, over 180,000 fishermen and other mariners have also been provided with hands-on safety training in custom courses on different topics.

The National Marine Fisheries Service Observer Training Program
The National Marine Fisheries Service Observer Training Program uses the MSIT training as the basic qualifications for their instructors. “AMSEA training” has become synonymous with marine safety training in many parts of the country.

Results
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has documented that a mariner is one and a half times more likely to survive an emergency at sea if he has taken safety training. Additionally, the majority of instructors teaching marine safety to commercial fishermen in the U.S. have now been trained in AMSEA’s Coast Guard-accepted MSIT course.

Due in part to these efforts, in the last 20 years the average number of fishing fatalities in Alaska fell from 38 per year to an average of 11.2.

PICTURED: Floyd Tomkins splits wedges wrapped in cloth to fix one of several flooding problems in AMSEA’s flooding control trailer.

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

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AMSEA’s Port-Based Safety Training PART--1

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. Jerry Dzugan, executive director, Alaska Marine Safety Education Association.

Commercial fishing has been a mainstay for all of the communities on the emerald-green island of Kodiak, which rises out of the Gulf of Alaska about 25 miles from its mainland, about 200 miles from Anchorage.

Unfortunately, plane fare to Anchorage to take fishing vessel safety training would cost around $600. Fortunately for Kodiak fishermen, they do not have to travel to take safety training, since it has been brought to them for years.

History
Individuals from the University of Alaska Sea Grant/Marine Advisory Program and Coast Guard air stations in Alaska pulled together resources from their own agencies, and flew out to remote fishing ports to teach marine safety workshops.

The non-profit group Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) was formed to address the high fatality rates in boating activities. Core principles of AMSEA’s safety training program:

• the training had to be meaningful, relevant, and hands-on,
• it had to be delivered to their homeports when fishermen were not fishing, additionally, the training needed to be low- or no-cost to effectively include even small fishing ports that did not have a steady cash economy.

Program Basics

Initial efforts focused on four areas.
First, new information needed to be incorporated in a cold weather-relevant marine safety manual on cold water survival.

Second, marine safety instructors needed to be trained so remote fishing ports could have their own local training resources.

Third, an inventory of marine safety training gear such as immersion suits, life rafts, wearable lifejackets, etc., had to be established so this gear could be procured, maintained, and sent to instructors in these ports.

Finally, these instructors would need support staff to help acquire funding, promote safety workshops, maintain training gear, coordinate classes, and perform other duties.

PICTURED: AMSEA instructor Steven Campbell explains to commercial fishermen how to form a human raft in pool exercises. USCG photo.

In Part 2 we will explore the AMSEA’s training accomplishments and results.

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Proceedings Winter 2011-12 online!

The current edition of Proceedings (Winter 2011-12 Enhancing Global Supply Chain Security) is available online at http://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/issue/51874.

This edition’s highlights include the DHS Secure Supply Chain Initiative, International Port Security, Multi-Agency Strike Force Operations, Securing Certain Dangerous Cargoes, and Area Maritime Security Plans.