The Maine Lobster Apprenticeship Program is the first of its kind in the US that requires not only hours of apprenticeship but also the successful completion of a US Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Drill Conductor Course, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), which administers the program.<\/p>\n
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This was not always so.\u00a0 The initial apprenticeship program, which began in 1998, basically required 1,000 hours of apprenticeship and 200 days of fishing over a minimum of 24 months.\u00a0 The impetus for adding the safety training came from the Maine Commercial Fishing Safety Advisory Council.<\/p>\n
The Coast Guard currently requires all documented commercial fishing vessels of any length or crew size that fishes beyond the \u201cBoundary Line\u201d to carry out monthly safety drills.\u00a0 An individual who has completed the drill conductor course must conduct these drills.<\/p>\n
The course, which safety experts describe as \u201ctraining the trainer,\u201d consists of instruction in safety education, responding to vessel and crew emergencies, and how to go about conducting a whole range of drills, including:\u00a0 abandoning ship; firefighting; retrieving a man overboard; minimizing flooding; launching the life raft; donning immersion suits; igniting flares; calling in emergencies on the radio; and activating the general alarm.<\/p>\n
Thus, Maine lobster apprentices receive the most thorough training required by law in the US commercial fishing industry.<\/p>\n
As part of a 2007-2009 Maine Sea Grant-funded study that I conducted with Mary Davis in collaboration with the Maine Marine Patrol, we collected survey data from 259 captains.<\/p>\n
We found that 78% of the captains had never taken a drill conductor course.\u00a0 In addition:\u00a0 76% had not had coldwater survival training; 66% had not been trained in operating a life raft; and 59% had not participated in survival suit training.<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of their apprenticeships, Maine lobster apprentices \u2013 100% of them \u2013 will be able to answer \u201cyes\u201d to having had these trainings.\u00a0 As a result, a whole new safety-trained cohort of fishermen is being licensed to work on the water in Maine.<\/p>\n
However, conversion of these apprentice licenses to full commercial licenses is not necessarily immediate or even assured.\u00a0 Six of Maine\u2019s seven Lobster Zones have limited entry and exit\/entry ratios, which result in apprentices who have completed the requirements not being able to immediately purchase a commercial license if they designate a closed zone as where they plan to fish a majority of their traps.\u00a0 Apprentice applicants go onto a \u201cwait list\u201d for all zones except Zone C, which remains open to entry.<\/p>\n
According to the DMR website, the wait list in January 2013 included 314 persons who had Coast Guard training, and the zone-specific number of qualified fishermen on the wait lists ranged from 26 in Zone E to 61 in Zone A.<\/p>\n
The calculation of how many people can come off the wait list in each zone is based on the number of fishermen retiring their licenses and the number of lobster tags they relinquish.\u00a0 In Zone A, the ratio is 1:3 \u2013 one new entrant is permitted for every three who retire their licenses.\u00a0 For Zones B, D, E, F, and G, the ratio is 1:5.<\/p>\n
Regardless of your license status, enrolling in and successfully completing a Fishing Vessel Safety Drill Conductor Course is a wise thing to do to comply with Coast Guard regulations and ensure that you\u2019re prepared for emergencies, as well as properly trained and qualified to teach others how to be safe at sea.<\/p>\n
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Ann Backus, MS, is the director of outreach for the Harvard School of Public Health\u2019s Department of Environmental Health in Boston, MA.\u00a0 She may be reached by phone at (617) 432-3327 or by e-mail at <abackus@hsph.harvard.edu>.<\/i><\/p>\n
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