Alaskan Fishing Jobs Could Be Dangerous

College students responding to an ad for employment on Alaskan fishing vessels could be risking their lives, according to a report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety (NIOSH).

The ad--which has run in many campus newspapers including The Crimson--does not adequately explain the hazards of the job, according to the government agency's report.

The ad promises high pay for students with no previous commercial fishing experience.

In a recent press release, NIOSH Acting Director Richard A. Lemen said that nearly 100 workers have died in the commercial fishing industry in the past three years.

Typically, such ads offer jobs in canneries or no fishing boats, with salaries that sometimes reach up to more than $4,000 per month for the latter.

According to the release, at least one college students is known to have died while salmon fishing in 1985.

NIOSH said that workers on fishing boats and in canneries often work extended hours and are not trained in emergency cold water survival techniques.

NIOSH said that in most cases, lack of safety precaution caused losses of life that were preventable.

Although some die when vessels sink, many perish as a result of falling overboard without personal flotation devices. In several cases, the victims could have been kept afloat long enough to be rescued by fellow crew members.

The Harvard Crimson business department, which handles advertisements and classified ads, said that the fishing ads were usually taken out in the classified section of the paper at about $4 per day.

Currently, there are no others, to run any additional adds, they said.