More lobstermen in New England are wearing life jackets while they work.
It s thanks to a research project from the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety. Over the past few years, researchers surveyed and recruited 181 lobstermen to test out different styles and used their feedback to redesign the jackets so that they worked for their needs. Lifejackets for Lobstermen then took 11 final designs and drove them from port to port, helping lobstermen at each dock figure out which option was best for them, and then selling them at a discount. The conversation usually started with, I don t know if I could wear anything like this, said Jessica Echard, one of the project coordinators. But once they started trying on the new designs, then they d start trying on more. And then they d call their friends over. And then they d get their crew. And then they d call their family to come down. So the conversation would go from somewhat skeptical to very interested.
Tue, 01/12/2021 - 5:45pm
“I wear a lifejacket for my own safety, of course, and most importantly, I wear it for my family and loved ones. Fishing is important, and so is coming back safely.” Captain Stefanie Alley, Islesford
From 2000-2016, the Centers for Disease Control charted 204 commercial fishing fatalities from falls overboard. None of the fishermen recovered were wearing a lifejacket, and 108 of the fishermen’s bodies were never found, according to a report of the Lifejacket Project, which was launched to identify solutions and increase fishermen’s interest in wearing lifejackets.
In its recently published, 20-page summary report, the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing chronicles stories from the Lifejackets for Lobstermen Project and provides examples of the fishing community’s interest and engagement with the project.
SANDWICH Temperatures at the Sandwich Marina on Friday morning stood at the freezing mark, with a bitter wind and driving snow. Despite this, 25 crewmen and captains from Cape and New Bedford fishing vessels sat down in slushy snow to wriggle into what could be the most important article of clothing they will ever try on.
They call them Gumby suits, and it’s easy to see why. A survival suit is bright orange with oversized hands and feet and a tight-fitting hood that reveals only a small moon of flesh: eyes, nose and mouth.
The water temperature in the marina was 47 degrees, and Dan Orchard, the vice president of Fishing Partnership Support Services, had the men suit up and jump into the water within a half-hour of arrival. The shock of going from comfort to cold, disorienting water temperatures was about as close to the real thing as could be had shoreside.