Falls Overboard: A Leading Killer in U.S. Commercial Fishing, 2000–2016

Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. In 2016 its work-related death rate — 86.0 per 100,000 full-time workers — was 23 times the rate for all U.S. workers (3.6). Vessel sinkings cause the most deaths, and falls overboard the second most. CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) studied these falls to find where prevention was failing.

The data

Cases came from NIOSH’s Commercial Fishing Incident Database, which draws on Coast Guard investigations, law enforcement and medical examiner reports and news media. Because fishermen often live aboard, anyone who fell from a vessel at sea was counted as at work.

What happened

From 2000 to 2016, 204 fishermen died after unintentionally falling overboard — 27.0% of all work-related deaths in the industry. Deaths ranged from 20 in 2003 to five in 2016, falling by an average of 3.9% a year.

Fatal falls overboard by year, 2000–2016. Image from CDC’s page.

• Where: the East Coast (62), Gulf of Mexico (60), Alaska (51), West Coast (26) and Hawaii (5). The Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery had the most deaths (34), then East Coast lobster (18), Alaska salmon drift gillnet (16) and East Coast scallop (10).
• Who: almost all men (99.0%), with a median age of 43; most were deckhands, with a median of 16 years’ experience. Only nine had documented formal marine safety training.
• What they were doing: half of the falls with known activity happened while working with fishing gear — setting it, hauling it or handling it on deck — and 22.4% while off duty on deck.
• Why they fell: losing balance (32.2%), tripping or slipping (31.5%) and getting tangled in gear (20.8%). Common contributing factors were working alone (48.5%), alcohol or drug use (18.1%) and bad weather (11.8%).

Why so few survived

• No one saw most of the falls. Of 121 unwitnessed falls, 108 victims were never found.
• Of 83 witnessed falls, rescuers tried to recover 56 people; 22 were pulled from the water, and none could be revived.
• None of the victims wore a personal flotation device (PFD).
• A life ring was used in 19 events, and most attempts still failed. A man-overboard alarm was reportedly used just once.
• Of 30 crewmembers recovered within an hour, CPR was tried on 21, but none survived.

Outcomes of falls overboard, and prevention strategies at each stage. Image from CDC’s page.

Prevention at every stage

Keep people aboard. Enclosed work areas, higher gunwales (the top edges of the vessel’s sides), and lifelines and tethers — designed with a naval architect or engineer — can prevent falls. Line bins that catch excess line while hauling gear cut entanglement risks, especially in fisheries such as East Coast lobster. Drug- and alcohol-free policies may help too.

Stay afloat and be found. Without flotation, a person in cold water can drown within minutes from cold shock and failing muscles. Federal rules require a PFD aboard for every crewmember but not that it be worn; fishermen cite discomfort, cost, interference with work and entanglement. NIOSH research in Alaskan fisheries in 2008 found PFDs that workers were willing to wear, and a manufacturer developed a new design with the industry. Man-overboard alarms — worn devices that sound an alarm aboard when the wearer goes into the water, some of which also shut off the engine — could speed rescue, especially for people working alone, who also need a reboarding ladder.

Get them out and treat them. Recovery devices such as lifting slings, man-overboard drills, and crew trained in first aid — CPR, preventing further heat loss and rewarming — give victims a better chance.

Limitations

• Some data were often missing — years of experience for more than half of cases.
• Without data on how many people fish, rates could not be calculated, so it is unclear whether the risk itself fell.
• Nonfatal falls, which might show what makes rescues succeed, were not included.

Sources

Based on Case SL, Lincoln JM, Lucas DL, "Fatal Falls Overboard in Commercial Fishing — United States, 2000–2016," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as corrected by its published erratum; a work of the United States government in the public domain.