Commercial fishing in Alaska

Alaska Natives have been harvesting salmon and many other types of fish for millennia Including king crab.

The successes in commercial fishing are due in part to the U.S. Coast Guard implementing new safety requirements in the early 1990s.

These requirements include regulations for: stability for fishing vessels, the termination of unsafe operations, safety equipment such as immersion suits and personal flotation devices, survival craft, distress signals, means of escape, and many more regulations that all contributed to the increased survival rate of commercial fishermen.

[4] While the number of occupational deaths in commercial fishermen in Alaska has been reduced, there is a continuing pattern of losing 20 to 40 vessels every year.

Proper training or the participation in a marine safety class for crewmembers could be the difference of knowing how to survive a vessel disaster.

[6] A commercial fishing boat, used for purse seining in the Alaskan salmon fishery, is typically between 40 and 58 feet (18 m) long.

For long trips where rough weather is likely, the seine will be placed into the fish hold as well, to lower the center of gravity of the vessel and make it safer.

The size and attributes of purse seines are regulated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which oversees the industry.