A project of the Alaska Sea Grant College Institute, Beating the Odds on the North Pacific: A Guide to Fishing Safety, is a first-rate booklet on offshore commercial fishing safety. Anyone who decides to work on an offshore fishing vessel should get a copy and study it.

To order one, contact the Alaska Sea Grant College Program and ask for Marine Advisory Bulletin #41, 1994. Several books full of real-life accounts of sea survival are available. Working on the Edge, by former crabber Spike Walker, details the excitement, adventure, and danger of the Bering Sea crab fishing industry. This is the most dangerous fishery of all, and anyone unsure about whether they're up to the work should read through this site carefully before deciding. Survivor, by Michael Greenwald, is one of the most comprehensive books ever written on sea survival. It includes many true stories and covers every aspect of life on a fishing boat. There are several good magazines about commercial fishing. Three with excellent coverage of Alaska fisheries are Pacific Fishing, National Fisherman and Alaska Fisherman's Journal. These magazines have up-to -date coverage of fishing news including catch quotas, new equipment, safety laws, and everything else a fisherman might want to know.

CPR and First Aid training

For courses in your area, call your local fire department or ambulance service, or contact:

Emergency Medical Services Section
P.O. Box 110616
Juneau, AK 99811-0616
(907) 465-3027

Marine Safety & Survival Training
University of Alaska Marine Advisory Program (MAP)
2221 E Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 110
Anchorage, AK 99508-4140
(907) 274-9691

There are also MAP offices in Cordova, Dillingham, Homer, Kodiak, Kotzebue, Petersburg, and Sitka.

North Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners Association (NPFVOA)
1900 W Emerson Street, Suite 101
Fishermen's Terminal
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 285-3383

Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA)
P.O. Box 2592
Sitka, AK 99835
(907) 747-3287; fax (907) 747-1406

AMSEA trains marine safety instructors and lends videos, supplies, and training materials for safety instruction. According to a recent study, "AMSEA has had a statistically significant impact on the approximate 50 percent reduction in commercial fishing fatalities in the last two years in Alaska."

Safety videos

MAP, AMSEA, and NPFVOA all produce and rent out safety training videos, many of which are available in public libraries in Alaska.

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