Viewers watching television's “The Deadliest Catch” think the waters plied by the Alaskan crab boats of the Bering Sea are the most lethal in the world. BoatUS surprisingly reports the deadliest fishing area is actually here in New England's ground fish waters.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health figures reveal that from 2000 to 2009, New England's fishery for sole, flounder, monkfish, pollock, haddock and cod takes far more lives. Our region's 26 fatalities are more than twice the total for crab fishing.
Fishermen who go out in bad weather to pull lobster pots or are lured unreasonably by the price of haddock, cod or monkfish this time of year, need to resist bad judgment when venturing forth.
Read the complete story from The Worcester Telegram & Gazette.