Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The profession has a fatality rate more than 40 times the national average. Leann Cyr is the executive director of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association. Cyr said that commercial fishing deaths related to suicide and overdose are on the rise.
Recently introduced legislation, the Fish Wellness Act, introduced by Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Edward J. Markey, as well as growing efforts among fishers and fishing organizations, are seeking to improve access to mental health training for fleets so that crews can be better prepared for mental health emergencies. KDLG’s Christina McDermott sat down with Cyr to learn more. Here’s some of that conversation.
Christina McDermott: We were discussing commercial fishing. It comes with a lot of risk. How does that level of risk contribute to mental health?
Leann Cyr: There's a study from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). It lays out causes of fatalities in Alaska. Over time, fatalities have been declining, but fatalities related to mental health are on the rise.
In this report from NIOSH, the way these fatalities that might be linked to mental health can be seen would be a category called onboard fatalities. This is a period from 2013 to 2022. 25 fatalities were onboard, and eight were related to general fishing operations. But 17, I think would clearly be linked to mental health: nine were drug overdoses, seven were suicides, and one was a homicide.
Then [there’s] the fact that fishing is not only hazardous and dangerous, but it's also very stressful. It's isolating, so it's hard to get that social support that you would normally be able to get more easily on land. Same thing with access to healthcare, [which] is a challenge for a lot of fishermen.
McDermott: Thinking about the onboard dynamics [as] one thing. Are there other aspects of the industry itself that are stressful?
Cyr: Yes. So beyond the onboard environment: even before you go out on the water, there's a lot of stress going into your season. You're concerned about your boat. You're concerned about regulations, or how much fishing quota you have, and how many fish you're going to be able to catch this year. Are you going to be able to fish at all this year because maybe the prices aren't going to make it worth it?
McDermott: So how does this stress connect to these issues that you mentioned, like overdose and suicide? You said they are connected to mental health. How does that work? What is that connection?
Cyr: You have stress. It could be something really small like the sound of your engine all day for a week straight, or something larger like ‘Oh my gosh, I'm not catching enough fish,’ or crew stress, regulations, [or] economic stress. These all build up and it lives in your body. And so, with stress that builds up, it could turn into chronic stress.
People have different ways of coping with stress, and especially with chronic stress. There's also the physical aspect of having injuries and performing really hard work and repetitive motion. Fishermen are at an increased risk of developing substance abuse disorders, for example.
McDermott: I know that there's been some legislation and some initiatives to try and address this. Where are we in time right now with this problem?
Cyr: Definitely you have fishermen. There [are] a lot of different agencies and fishing organizations that are getting together and trying to address these problems. There's legislation that allows for training and research for commercial fishing safety. Currently, it doesn't give a lot of room for other health and wellness issues like mental health and substance abuse. So that's where the Fish Wellness legislation is — something that's new off of an older, more developed program to try to address those issues.
McDermott: Are there any roadblocks in any of these initiatives?
Cyr: If you're a training organization, you need to be able to pay for your trainings. With this legislation, if it does get passed, it'll make training cheaper and more accessible to fishermen.
Roadblocks — we can incorporate and we're starting to incorporate mental health into training and outreach. But of course, you need funding for that. You also need fishermen to show up to the classes and when the fisheries are hurting, they're not necessarily going to go out and take a training, especially if it costs money. So, it will help make training more accessible.
And also with the research, it helps develop the training. So that's included in that legislation as well.
You also have to consider the stigma and a culture around talking about mental health and fishing, and that's one [thing] that is starting to be broken through. That is kind of the first step — people getting together and saying ‘We want to address this.’
McDermott: Zooming out a bit from just the industry: as we're looking at addressing mental health on the fleet, which will hopefully help fishing fleets and fishermen, will that have any impact, or could that have a positive impact on the wider community that they're living in for the summer?
Cyr: Absolutely. If you have fishermen that commit suicide or have overdoses, it takes its toll on a community and it has a rippling effect.
Cyr said that the Marine Safety Education Association is also considering adding a mental health section to their marine safety class.
Get in touch with the author at christina@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
