Occupational Safety in Commercial Fishing

Commercial fishing ranks among the world’s most hazardous occupations, characterised by elevated rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries. Crews contend with dynamic and often extreme maritime environments, where vessel instability, severe weather and mechanical failures can precipitate falls overboard, collisions and onboard trauma. Ergonomic strain from repetitive handling of heavy gear, prolonged exposure to cold, wet conditions and inadequate rest periods further contribute to musculoskeletal disorders, fatigue and cognitive errors. Chemical and biological hazards, including fuel vapours, dermal irritants and zoonotic pathogens, pose additional health threats. Recent efforts to reduce risk have combined engineering controls—such as non-slip decking, winch guards and stabilising systems—with behavioural interventions, including mandatory use of personal flotation devices, man-overboard alarms and crew-drill programmes. Organisational and regulatory measures play a vital role: comprehensive training standards, incident reporting frameworks and cross-sectoral collaborations foster a robust safety culture. However, inconsistent enforcement, high compliance costs and socio-cultural norms can impede adoption of best practices, particularly in small-scale and artisanal fisheries. Advances in risk assessment methodologies now allow for targeted prevention strategies, integrating work-process classification tools and systems-based analyses. A global perspective emphasises the need for harmonised regulations, stakeholder engagement and sustainable development goals that balance economic viability with human welfare at sea.

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Occupational Safety in Commercial Fishing publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in occupational safety in commercial fishing across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Fatality rate: The number of deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers over a given period, used to quantify the lethality of an occupation.

Personal flotation device (PFD): A safety garment designed to keep an individual afloat in water, often mandated for crew members on vessels.

Haddon matrix: A framework that organises injury-related factors across pre-event, event and post-event phases to identify prevention and mitigation strategies.

Work-process classification system: A method for coding and analysing tasks on board to determine which work activities are most frequently associated with injuries.

References

1. Facilitators and barriers to implementing occupational safety interventions in the fishing industry: A scoping review. Safety Science (2022).
2. Improving Crew Overboard Recovery for Commercial Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Agromedicine (2023).
3. Utilizing Haddon matrix to assess nonfatal commercial fishing injury factors in Oregon and Washington. Injury Epidemiology (2023).
4. Utility of a Work Process Classification System for characterizing non-fatal injuries in the Alaskan commercial fishing industry. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2016).