Is Deadliest Catch a model of Safety?

An article at the link below wonders if the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” could actually be a model of safety.

The weathered sea captains who star in the Discovery Channel's reality series "Deadliest Catch" might be surprised to hear what safety researchers in the United States government think of them.

Officials say that other U.S. fishing industries are actually deadlier than crab fishing in the seas off Alaska's Bering Strait.

Crab fishing anywhere is one of the deadliest jobs in the United States. At times, men on deck work through freezing weather, daylong shifts, and brave up to 40-foot waves and 80 mph winds.

The fishermen who venture out on Alaskan crab fishing boats also face an average annual fatality rate of 115 deaths per 100,000 workers. The average job in the U.S. has a rate of four deaths per 100,000 workers.

But deaths among Alaskan commercial fisherman have dropped by half since 1990, thanks to strategic efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard, the fishing industry and government regulators.

Now that smaller crab-fishing industries off the coasts of Washington state and California and Oregon can claim the title "deadliest," will the Discovery Channel cameras follow them instead of Alaska’s crab-fishing industry?

Link