The safety of observers while at sea is one of the most important aspects of this program. We spend
part of our training session going over basic survival skills, safety gear, safety issues on board
commercial fishing vessels and how to react in the case of an emergency. All of the vessels that
participate in our observer program are required to possess a Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Decal
and no observer will be placed on board vessels that do not. To make sure the observers are familiar
with all safety gear on board the vessels they are assigned to, a safety checklist must be filled out
prior to departure. The following links provide some basic information about emergency situations on
boats, how to deal with them and what type of safety gear to look for on commercial fishing vessels.
