The Dungeness Crab Fishery - The Deadliest Occupation in the World

The United States Coast Guard is taking further measures to educate Dungeness crab fleets and confront the risks intrinsic with crabbing in the Pacific Ocean. The waters off of the Pacific Northwest offer some of the most bountiful fishing opportunities, and Dungeness crab fleets from Washington state and Oregon prove to be some of the best in the world. However, 27 fishermen have died while working the Dungeness fishery in the last decade, and this is too high a price to pay for the most valuable catch on the West Coast.

One of the main reasons for deaths and accidents is the lack of proper safety training. Once the training void was discovered, the Coast Guard took special care to provide specific and up-to-date safety training to fishermen along the central and southern Oregon coast. The Commercial Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor Course provides practical information on conducting onboard emergency drills and survival equipment on fishing vessels, all in a hands-on learning format. Safety courses like this are important for the crab fishery industry because of the large number of crab fleets on the water today.

There is a huge overinvestment in the crab fishery industry and every year there is a race to grab up the crabs before they are gone. This race is dangerous, and some captains choose to go out in poor weather conditions because they want to get in on the early days of the race. Crab fishermen are attempting to find ways to make their business more safe and rational to lower the number of fatalities and injuries. If you have worked on a crab fleet, it is possible that you have been injured in pursuit of fishing for crabs. Contact a Texas offshore injury attorney about your injuries and the circumstances that led to your accident. You may be able to seek the compensation that you need to recover and get back to work. A Texas offshore injury attorney can provide you with the high level of legal representation that you deserve for your crab fishery accident, so call today.