As commercial fishing boat captains and crews prepare for Alaska's pending salmon season, they confront new complications imposed by the state's Mandate 17: Protective Measures for Independent Commercial Fishing Vessels. The mandate requires commercial fishing vessel operators to develop and implement mitigation plans designed to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 within the fleet and to Alaska's remote, rural communities. Vessel operators' plans must address a required fourteen-day self-quarantine of crew traveling from out of state, minimizing contact with other vessels and communities, sanitation protocols, and the quarantine and transport of any crew that may fall ill.
National Fisherman magazine recently hosted a one-hour webinar with Dr. Ann Jarris to address some of the many questions vessel operators have about meeting these new requirements. Dr. Jarris is the CEO and co-founder of Discovery Health MD, medical risk management company serving the commercial fishing fleet. The team at Discovery Health MD have developed draft onboard procedures for use on large catcher/processors ships, catcher vessels and fish tenders, and shore side processing plants. You can register to watch a recording of the webinar here:
Developing Vessel Procedures and Performing Symptomatic Crew Assessment in the Midst of COVID-19 Dr. Jarris explains the relevant facts you need to develop an effective vessel plan. The webinar concludes with a twenty-minute Q&A with questions sent in by the audience. As their were more questions than time allowed, National fishermen recorded a followup Q&A that you can view here:
There's a lot of confusion and understandable worry about how to meet the requirements of Mandate 17. Dr. Jarris explains it all in plain English. If you have questions about developing plans for your fishing operation, these presentations are well worth your time.
Photo Credit: Emma Fosberg/CC BY 2.0
Comments