The United States seafood industry annually produces 9 billion pounds food valued at $8 billion and employs over 100,000 full and part-time workers (NMFS, BLS). These jobs provide income and livelihood benefits and can be more dangerous than the average job. Fatality rates in the seafood industry are 3 to 20 times higher than the average US worker (BLS). Since 2000, 19 US aquaculture workers, 36 US meat and seafood processing workers, and over 900 US fishermen died at work (BLS). Injury and illness rates in the seafood industry are twice the rate of the average U.S. worker (BLS) and underreporting remains a persistent challenge. There is also a lack of data on worker wellbeing, which is influenced by a variety of factors including worker health status, work evaluation and experience, the workplace physical environment and safety climate, workplace policies, and home, community and society (CDC).
This study proposes to fill key knowledge gaps about occupational safety and worker wellbeing by interviewing people associated with the US aquaculture, commercial fishing, and seafood processing sectors. These interviews cover worker demographics, common injuries and illnesses, wellbeing, and strategies that employers, worker collectives, and community groups are using to better support worker health. We propose to interview up to 90 individuals in the US in 2025 and 2026 (TABLE 1). This project can serve as a steppingstone for future studies, workplace interventions, and multi-stakeholder efforts to address stubborn occupational safety challenges, and ultimately to make workplaces safer which makes US seafood more sustainable and competitive. In this conference, we will be presenting an overview of the project, methodology, and progress to date.
If you are interested in learning more about the study, please contact PI Dave Love.
Data sources: BLS various reports; CDC Total Worker Health; NMFS; NOAA Fisheries of the US; USDA Census of Aquaculture.