America's deadliest catch? It's Gulf shrimp, not Alaskan crab

Many have witnessed how dangerous Bering Sea crabbing can be on Discovery Channel's popular "Deadliest Catch" program.

But it turns out that crabbing is not nearly as dangerous as shrimping in the Gulf of Mexico.

A new federal study that ranks fatalities associated with U.S. fisheries reveals that 55 shrimpers have perished over the past decade, compared to 12 Alaska-based Bering Sea crabbers.

Buddy Guindon, a veteran Texas shrimp fisherman who was interviewed by Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times, said he was surprised by the findings but added that the derby-style shrimp fishery has become so fiercely competitive that crewmen often work past the point of exhaustion.

Causes of death in more than half the cases between 2000 and 2009 included falls overboard in choppy seas and becoming tangled in lines dragged overboard, unnoticed by crew members.

According to the study, released by the Alaska office of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, these victims were not wearing life jackets. Study authors Jennifer Lincoln and Devin Lewis pored over U.S. Coast Guard reports of 504 fatalities logged during the study period.

They found there were a total of 44 fatalities associated with the Atlantic scallop fishery; 39 with the Alaska salmon fishery; 26 apiece during the Alaska cod and Northeast groundfish harvests, and 25 during the West Coast Dungeness crab seasons.

Commercial fishing is the most dangerous occupation in the country. Lincoln states in a blog post that on average 142 people die annually while trying to make a living from the sea. That's nearly 36 times higher than the fatality rate for the average U.S. worker.

Despite the harsh conditions in the Bering Sea, Alaska's fatality rate among fishermen has decreased sharply since the early 1990s, because of more industry scrutiny and effective safety measures.

Clearly, more attention needs to be paid to the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery.

Bernton points out that a new season, now underway, is expected to lure more than 500 boats, including some whose crews have come from areas closed due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Guindon, the veteran shrimper, said he'd rather see a quota system than a frenzied derby-style operation, in which hundreds of fishermen vie for shares of the catch during a specific period. Guindon describes this system as "a nightmare."

-- Pete Thomas

Photos: A live shrimp, courtesy of Wikipedia (top), and Wild Bill and the Kodiak crew of crab fishermen, featured on "Deadliest Catch," courtesy of the Discovery Channel.

Editor's note: This post also appears on the GrindTV outdoors blog.