Check out our new, online ergonomics training for fish workers. Click HERE!
AMSEA works with government agencies, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and foundations.
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Current Projects
AMSEA works with government agencies, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and foundations.
A project of Oregon State University and the university's The Fishermen Led Injury Prevention Program (FLIPP), AMSEA is assisting to identify and share best practices for first aid training, develop any regionally specific aids for training, hosting first aid kit building parties in conjunction with local commercial fishing groups, and providing outreach and communications support for the project. This project is funded by NIOSH and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Researching Marine Safety in Alaska's Commercical Setnet Fishery
AMSEA’s Leann Fay, Ph.D. went to Unalakleet for the summer to research marine fatalities in the commercial salmon setnet fishery in Norton Sound. While marine disasters have been declining in Alaska over the last several years, the commercial setnet fishery has had increased fatalities. Leann is working with Alaska Native and Tribal Health Consortium and the US Coast Guard with funding from Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, to discover why fatalities are on the rise, and what may be done to reverse the trend. Leann is working closely with the Alaska Native community conducting face-to-face interviews to learn about the setnet fishery. To learn more about this project, click here.
Current Projects
AMSEA works with government agencies, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and foundations in order to increase the quality and availability of marine safety training and educational materials for commercial fishermen, recreational boaters, and other mariners.
Commercial Fishing Safety Training
Currently in its fourth year, this project is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), helps to fund AMSEA’s train-the-trainer and commercial fishing vessel safety classes. The project continues to expand the network of port-based fishing safety instructors around the United States by providing fishermen with qualified fishing safety instructors from the fishing industry, who know the local area and local fishery risks.
The training assists them in meeting training requirements and reduces the number and rate of commercial fishing fatalities. Central to these training efforts is the emphasis on performance-based, hands-on training. The training delivered under this program provides much needed emergency skills to thousands of fishermen in scores of fishing ports around the U.S.
National Fishing Safety Training Infrastructure
This project enhances both the quantity, quality, and availability of safety training for commercial fishermen in under-served regions of the United States. Train-the-trainer classes are being held to train instructors able to teach in rural Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and the SE regions of the U.S. In addition, the project provides new instructors with peer-to-peer training, designed to provide mentoring and share effective instructional methods, as well as demonstrate new safety technology (life jackets, emergency signals) that can be shared with fishermen.
Additionally, the project seeks to reduce the risk of work related illness to workers in the commercial fishing industry by conducting ergonomics training to commercial fishermen. Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are a major cause of injuries in commercial fishing. This two-year project is in its first year and is funded by NIOSH and the United States Coast Guard.
Assessments of Sleep Deprivation and Associated Health and Cognitive Impacts in Commercial Fishermen
AMSEA is partner in a research project of the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital and the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety. Funded by NIOSH and the U.S. Coast Guard, the project examines sleep patterns and the potential health and safety impacts related to sleep deprivation. The aim of the study is to develop a broad base of knowledge on how sleep debt affects fishermen health and how it may pose risks for injury and/or fatality while working on a commercial fishing vessel. The study intends to identify ways to reduce these risks.