Commercial fishing is a major industry in Alaska, and has been for hundreds of years. Alaska Natives have been harvesting salmon and many other types of fish for millennia Including king crab. Russians came to Alaska to harvest its abundance of sealife, as well as Japanese and other Asian cultures.
Alaska's commercial fishermen work in one of the world's harshest environments. They endure isolated fishing grounds, high winds, seasonal darkness, very cold water, icing, freezing cold temperatures, days upon days away from family, and short fishing seasons, where very long work days are the norm. Fatigue, physical stress, and financial pressures face most Alaska fishermen through their careers. The hazardous work conditions faced by fishermen have a strong impact on their safety. Out of 948 work-related deaths that took place in Alaska during 1990-2006, one-third (311) occurred to fishermen. This is equivalent to an estimated annual fatality rate of 128/100,000 workers/year. This fatality rate is 26 times that of the overall U.S. work-related fatality rate of approximately 5/100,000 workers/year for the same time period. [1] Most of these fatalities are due to vessel disasters which lead to crewmembers drowning. From 1991-1993 alone, 91% of fatalities came from drowning. With this being one of the leading causes of deaths amongst crewmembers, the use of Personal Flotation Devices (PFD) is recommended. Data shows a survival rate of 63% for workers who ended up in the water who used PFDs during this period. [1]
While the work-related fatality rate for commercial fishermen in Alaska is still very high, it does appear to be decreasing: since 1990, there has been a 51 percent decline in the annual fatality rate. The successes in commercial fishing are due in part to the U.S. Coast Guard implementing new safety requirements in the early 1990s. [2] These regulations were published on August 14, 1991, which is known as the "Final Rule" entitled ‘‘Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Regulations’’. These changes were put in place to improve the safety of commercial fishing and the overall work environment in the commercial fishing industry. These requirements include regulations for: stability for fishing vessels, the termination of unsafe operations, safety equipment such as immersion suits and personal flotation devices, survival craft, distress signals, means of escape, and many more regulations that all contributed to the increased survival rate of commercial fishermen. [3] These safety requirements contributed to 96 percent of the commercial fishermen surviving vessel sinkings/capsizings in 2004, whereas in 1991, only 73 percent survived. [4] While the number of occupational deaths in commercial fishermen in Alaska has been reduced, there is a continuing pattern of losing 20 to 40 vessels every year. There are still about 100 fishermen who must be rescued each year from cold Alaska waters. Proper training or the participation in a marine safety class for crewmembers could be the difference of knowing how to survive a vessel disaster. Successful rescue is still dependent on the expertly trained personnel of the U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue operations, and such efforts can be hindered by the harshness of seas and the weather. Furthermore, the people involved in Search and Rescue operations are themselves at considerable risk for injury or death during these rescue attempts. [5]
Purse seine usage in the Alaska salmon fishing industry:
Purse seining is a method of fishing that includes a large net that is used as a barrier to collect a school of fish. [6] A commercial fishing boat, used for purse seining in the Alaskan salmon fishery, is typically between 40 and 58 feet (18 m) long. Toward the bow is a cabin, where the skipper and crew live (typically three to six people). The aft third of the boat consists of a flat deck, with a low rail around it. Amidships are hatch covers, which cover the fish hold, a tank where the fish are placed when caught. The stern is a simple flat area that holds the purse seine when it is out of the water. There are several booms, with various types of pulleys, used for working with the seine, and a deck winch for the same purpose. Shortly after the end of World War II, the modern type trawler for use in Alaska was introduced which could be used for all the various fishing seasons with its own processing ability, including freezing, was introduced, tripling production. After crab season these boats are used as floating factory ships. [7]
There is also a skiff, a small boat used for towing. When not in use, the skiff is usually towed behind the fishing boat, though in rough weather a boom can be used to lift it up and set it on the deck. For long trips where rough weather is likely, the seine will be placed into the fish hold as well, to lower the center of gravity of the vessel and make it safer.
The purse seine itself is usually black in color, with colorful "corks" (floats of some sort) strung along the cork line, and lead weights strung along the lead line. The size and attributes of purse seines are regulated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which oversees the industry. A typical length may be 1,200 feet (370 m) long, by 40 feet (12 m) deep (distance between cork line and lead line). It is stacked on the stern of the fishing boat with the corkline coiled on the port side, and the lead line coiled on the starboard side, with the web taking up the middle. The seine, when piled on board, is about the size of a large pickup truck, and is very heavy as well.
A "set" is a single operation of the purse seine, intended to result in a catch of fish.
Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn through the water. This may be behind a moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from a static position, or even sweeping the line from side-to-side, e.g. when fishing from a jetty. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as salmon, mackerel and kingfish.
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets that are pulled along the bottom of the sea or in midwater at a specified depth. A trawler may also operate two or more trawl nets simultaneously.
The yellowfin tuna is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.
Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is generally referred to as a "cork line." The line along the bottom of the panels is generally weighted. Traditionally this line has been weighted with lead and may be referred to as "lead line." A gillnet is normally set in a straight line. Gillnets can be characterized by mesh size, as well as colour and type of filament from which they are made. Fish may be caught by gillnets in three ways:
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Large-scale commercial fishing is also known as industrial fishing.
Seine fishing is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be deployed from the shore as a beach seine, or from a boat.
Deadliest Catch is an American reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The base of operations for the fishing fleet is the Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Produced for the Discovery Channel, the show's title is derived from the inherent high risk of injury or death associated with this line of work.
Artisanal fishing consists of various small-scale, low-technology, low-capital, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishing households. Many of these households are of coastal or island ethnic groups. These households make short fishing trips close to the shore. Their produce is usually not processed and is mainly for local consumption. Artisan fishing uses traditional fishing techniques such as rod and tackle, fishing arrows and harpoons, cast nets, and small traditional fishing boats. For that reason, socio-economic status of artisanal fishing community has become an interest of the authorities in recent years.
The Scottish east coast fishery has been in existence for more than a thousand years, spanning the Viking Age right up to the present day.
Alaskan king crab fishing is carried out during the fall in the waters off the coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The commercial catch is shipped worldwide. Large numbers of king crab are also caught in Russian and international waters.
The fishing industry in Scotland comprises a significant proportion of the United Kingdom fishing industry. A recent inquiry by the Royal Society of Edinburgh found fishing to be of much greater social, economic and cultural importance to Scotland than it is relative to the rest of the UK. Scotland has just 8.4 per cent of the UK population but lands at its ports over 60 per cent of the total catch in the UK.
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Modern factory ships are automated and enlarged versions of the earlier whalers and their use for fishing has grown dramatically. Some factory ships are equipped to serve as a mother ship.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:
Until the 1960s, agriculture and fishing were the dominant industries of the economy of South Korea. The fishing industry of South Korea depends on the existing bodies of water that are shared between South Korea, China and Japan. Its coastline lies adjacent to the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the East Sea, and enables access to marine life such as fish and crustaceans.
The Puretic power block is a special kind of mechanised winch used to haul nets on fishing vessels. The power block is a large pulley of aluminium with a hard rubber-coated sheave. While many men were needed for the back-breaking work of hauling a purse seine manually, the same work could be done by fewer men with a power block.
Fishing in Cornwall, England, UK, has traditionally been one of the main elements of the economy of the county. Pilchard fishing and processing was a thriving industry in Cornwall from around 1750 to around 1880, after which it went into an almost terminal decline. During the 20th century the varieties of fish taken became much more diverse and crustaceans such as crab and lobster are now significant. Much of the catch is exported to France due to the higher prices obtainable there. Though fishing has been significantly damaged by overfishing, the Southwest Handline Fishermen's Association has started to revive the fishing industry. As of 2007, stocks were improving. The Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee is one of 12 committees responsible for managing the corresponding Sea Fisheries District. The Isles of Scilly Sea Fisheries Committee is responsible for the Scilly district.
A salmon cannery is a factory that commercially cans salmon. It is a fish-processing industry that became established on the Pacific coast of North America during the 19th century, and subsequently expanded to other parts of the world that had easy access to salmon.
US FWS John R. Manning was an American fisheries research vessel in commission in the fleet of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from 1950 to 1969. She explored the Pacific Ocean in search of commercially valuable populations of fish and shellfish. After the end of her Fish and Wildlife Service career, she operated as the commercial fishing vessel MV R. B. Hendrickson until she sank in 1979.
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