Fish like there is a tomorrow - fish safe.
A web site for the Commercial Fishing Vessel Industry
Welcome to our training page. Here you will find information on important topics related to safety and survival.
US documented vessels that operate beyond the boundary line are required to conduct shipboard emergency drills under the supervision of a person qualified to conduct these drills. There are various organizations that can provide this training. Contact your District Fishing Vessel Safety Coordinator for more information on who conducts this training in your area.
Here are pictures of some courses we conducted in Oregon.
The damage control trainer constructed on a trailer and towable to most locations, the damage control trainer provides the opportunity for hands-on practice with various types of flooding scenarios you might encounter on fishing boats. It's better to get hands-on practice in a trainer than dealing with it for the first time in a real flooding situation at sea.
Training includes discussions on creating a damage control kit, and techniques for using the items in the kit to deal with hull breaches, damaged seams, hoses, shafts and through hull fittings. Come on and get your hands wet.
Using our transportable tank and stability boat, we can provide examples of real world stability concepts. Showing how various scenarios such as the affects of raising and lowering the center of gravity, free surface effect, reserve buoyancy, deck edge immersion to name a few. This is a very engaging demo and fun, well until the boat sinks! Actually that's fun too, since it is just a demo.
Surviving a Fall Overboard (Hypothermia and PFDs) - There is a misconception in the fishing industry that if you fall overboard there is no need to wear a Personal Floatation Device (PFD) because you are going to die quickly of hypothermia anyway. This is not true. Two things happen when you fall in cold water...
Depending on factors such as water temperature and body makeup, even in Alaska waters you can survive for approximately 1/2 hour. That's enough time for the vessel to return and recover you from the water.
WATCH THE 2 MINUTE VIDEO - COLD WATER BOOT CAMP
For more infomation, see http://coldwaterbootcampusa.org/
What type of PFD should I consider?
With the advent of new technology in PFD design we wanted to know which type PFDs were best for wearing while working on deck. So we asked fishermen what they thought. Below are the results of what fishemen told us.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) surveyed Alaska fishermen in the following fisheries. Here is what they had to say about various PFDs they tested.
In addition to the Alaska study, we also asked NIOSH to do a similiar study for fishermen in the Oregon and Washington Dungeness Crab fishery. This study was done by the University of Washinton in cooperation with NIOSH. Here is what these fishermen had to say.
What does the U.S. Coast Guard have to say about excess life saving equipment aboard a commercial fishing vessel? The Coast Guard is encouraging crew to wear PFDs while working on the deck of commercial fishing vessels, even if the equipment is not Coast Guard approved.
There has been some concern from the commercial fishing industry that the Coast Guard will not allow excess or unapproved equipment aboard commercial fishing vessels.
Excess equipment even if it is not Coast Guard approved is allowed to be kept and used on board a commercial fishing vessels provided the vessel has the PFDs or immersion suits as required by the fishing vessel safety regulations. The following regulations and guidance support this interpretation.
Select this link to view the various types of commercial fishing vessels that work the Pacific Northwest waters and how various types of vessel use different methods to catch their targeted species of fish.