Report finds commercial fishing off West Coast more dangerous than in Alaska

Published 12:27 pm Thursday, April 24, 2008

SEATTLE — A new report from the federal government says fishing off the West Coast of the United States has one of the highest death rates among commercial fishing — even higher than in Alaska.

A National Institute for Occupational Safety and Heath report finds that commercial fishing off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington had a fatality rate 68 percent greater than the national commercial fishing average between the years of 2000 and 2006.

In that time period, 58 deaths were reported for the three states. Most of the deaths came when ships sank or capsized.