The seventh edition of
“Beating the Odds: A Guide to Commercial Fishing Safety,” by Susan Clark
Jensen and Jerry Dzugan of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, is
hot off the presses, with updated information on survival at sea.
The 250-page book tackles a wide range of issues, from
reading the weather and handling fishing gear safely to fatigue, hydration and
nutrition, putting out fires onboard and the importance of safe seamanship.
Since the first edition was first published in the early
1990s, it has been given to over 15,000 commercial fishermen in Alaska and
throughout the United States in every drill conductor workshop taught by AMSEA,
says Dzugan, director of AMSEA.
The new seventh edition has more updated information on
survival equipment and procedures and first aid, an outline on safety drills
for solo operators , and more examples of casualties from parts of the United
States beyond Alaska, information on safety and survival related to warmer
fishing environments and much more.
It’s a book that “every fisherman should have on board and
should read cover to cover,” says Jennifer Lincoln, an injury epidemiologist
with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, based in
Anchorage, Alaska. Lincoln, who has
worked collaboratively with AMSEA for two decades, says the training and
education provided by AMSEA has proven critical in improving commercial fishing
safety across the United States.
The decline in vessel sinkings and fatalities
notwithstanding, fishing is still a dangerous industry to work in and
commercial fishing remains the most dangerous job in the nation, says Lincoln.
The chapter on orientation, emergency instructions and
drills gets into the fine details of vessel safety orientation, vessel safety
and survival equipment, specific duties in the event of an emergency, how to
don an immersion suit, how to make a distress broadcast, and more.
The softcover book and the 5.5 MB PDF download may be
ordered online at seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/MAB-41.html