Fishing safety now

In the past fi ve years, in addition to the 22 people who died working in the industry, there have been more than 1,500 fi shing injuries reported to the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia (WCB), with more than 500 resulting in time lost from the job. [...] Not long aft er, the WCB, the Department of Labour and Advanced Education (LAE), and the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA) began the conversations. [...] The Transportation Safety Board’s three-year study and 2012 report into safety in the fi shery called for “focused and concerted action to fi nally and fully address the safety defi ciencies that persist in Canada’s fi shing industry.” That’s exactly what this plan works to accomplish. [...] It is grounded in the commitment of the industry and various government and other agencies involved in the fishery to work together to prevent or reduce injuries and death. [...] At the same time, fi shermen and others in the industry add that having multiple agencies in two levels of government all deeply involved in the fi shery has resulted in confusion around awareness of regulations and compliance.