Fishermen's Health Research Articles

Hierarchical Control Planning Based on the Film 'Avatar: The Way of Water' to Minimize Work Accidents Among Fishermen

Cultivating health and occupational safety among fishermen can involve various strategies, such as reviewing movies for insights. These films serve as reflections of the relevance to the cultural aspects of fishermen's health and safety, contributing to the Health and Occupational Safety Triangle or Hierarchy Control. Hierarchy Control, a sequential risk reduction process, encompasses elimination, substitution, design, administration, and personal protective equipment (PPE). The study aims to reduce or eliminate work accidents for fishermen, utilizing planning hierarchy control with an approach involving Macro Ergonomics, Semiotics, and the Fogg Behavior Model. Findings identify a minimal health and safety culture during service, leading to the design of three hierarchy controls: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for machines and equipment (administrative control), ship closures for noise reduction (engineering controls), and the implementation of Personal Protective Equipment. However, elimination and substitution remain challenging to implement in daily service activities.

Health and behavior factors, quality of life and productivity among commercial fishermen in Rhode Island, US: a research framework.

Commercial fishermen represent a particularly vulnerable group within the Blue Economy (BE), enduring hazardous working conditions, strenuous labor, prolonged exposure to extreme weather, and irregular sleep and nutritional patterns. The health of these invisible workers holds significant implications for the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of fisheries, as it directly influences productivity. Despite their importance, no public data are available on fishermen's cardiometabolic health and health behaviors in Rhode Island. However, sound evidence suggests elevated cardiometabolic risks, altered sleep patterns, and chronic stress in similar fishermen populations globally. This paper establishes a comprehensive research framework to examine commercial fishermen's cardiometabolic health, protective and risk factors, quality of life (QoL), lifestyle behaviors, and productivity. The overarching goal is to identify potential targets for intervention to improve commercial fishermen's health behaviors, QoL, and cardiovascular health. Following the STROBE guidelines, this framework includes methodological, societal, environmental, and economic aspects to guide the development of an exploratory study protocol. A two-phase mixed-methods study will be conducted. Phase 1 (qualitative) will hold two focus groups (n = 6-10 participants per group) and will inform Phase 2 (quantitative), where biomarkers, health factors and behaviors, QoL, and productivity of commercial fishermen (n = 59) will be gathered. Recruitment began in January 2024, and data collection will end in August 2024. The results of this study are expected to be published in 2025. A framework was developed considering the impact and implications of commercial fishermen's health-related behaviors on BE-based states, sustainable communities, and marine ecosystems. This protocol established a guideline-based, two-phase mixed-methods study to explore the cardiometabolic health, QoL, and productivity of commercial fishermen. Since better cardiovascular health is associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease death and all-cause mortality, the findings will provide a situational screening and inform the development of tailored theory-based preventive behavioral interventions.

A WSN-based maritime border alert system to protect fishermen

The safety of fisherman has become a big issue in Tamil Nādu because of fishermen invading the Sri Lankan border. This initiative primarily seeks to save fishermen's lives by tracking the location of their boats and alerting them to the boundary limit, which is then sent to the control centre. A pulse detector is also included, which aids in the monitoring of the fishermen's health. The concept is built around an embedded system that protects fisherman by alerting them to the country's border via a wireless sensor network (WSN) and a global mobile communication system (GSM). Each zone in the region has a different function, but they all have four things in common: they're all in the same general area. While fishing, if the fisherman ignores or fails to see the display, the alarm will go off, alerting him and slowing down the boat as it gets close to the forbidden zone. It includes a pulse oximeter as well; in case the user has any health issues. This information is sent to the command centre.

Profil Kesehatan Kerja Nelayan Tangkap di Desa Papela Kecamatan Rote Timur Kabupaten Rote Ndao

Papela Village is one of the coastal villages on Rote Island where most of the population works as fishermen. This work has been carried out by the people of Papela Village for generations. However, health problems caused by fishermen's work and work environment have not received serious attention. This study aims to obtain an overview of the occupational health status of catch fishermen in Papela Village, Rote Timur District, Rote Ndao Regency. This research is a descriptive study with a quantitative approach. A total of 71 people randomly selected were assigned as research respondents. Fishermen's health status is determined based on three parameters, namely anemia status, muscle complaints, and skin diseases. The results showed the occupational health status of catch fishermen in Papela Village as much as 60.6% had a low occupational health status and 39.4% of the people had a high occupational health status. The low health status of fishermen was caused by anemia with a proportion of 26.8%, musculoskeletal complaints with a proportion of 19.7%, and skin disease with a proportion of 38%. It can be concluded that the occupational health status of fishermen in Papela Village is still low and needs to be improved through efforts to minimize the negative influence of the risk factors.

Occupational safety and health in maritime sector in Morocco 60 years after independence: current state, constraints and prospects.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the situation 60 years after independence, to assess the current state, to highlight the constraints and to propose recommendations for improving occupational health in the maritime sector. This study was based on collecting data of: 1) Legislative texts on occupational health and safety; 2) Statistics from administrations (Ministry of Health and Ministry of Marine Fisheries), general medical council of Morocco, scientific societies and associations of occupational health and maritime medicine; 3) Analysis of a self-questionnaire sent to 22 physicians working in fishermen's health services and listed in the yearbook 2017 of the Moroccan Society of Maritime Medicine. It included five sections: socio-demographic and professional characteristics, training, assessment of activities, constraints in their exercise and ten priority recommendations to improve the situation. Health and safety in maritime sector are progressing since the Labour Code of 2004 and the Convention of December 27, 1996 between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Marine Fisheries. It concerns the organisation of a fishermen's health prevention with the establishment of the fishermen's health office at central level and fishermen's health services at the main ports. However, medical coverage is still insufficient. Maritime medicine remains an unattractive specialty because the physicians are a poorly paid and have some difficult working conditions. The absence of up-to-date synthetic data on safety and health in maritime sectors led us to carry out this study, which showed some dysfunctions and deficiencies that hinder the promotion of workers' health in this sector. The recommendations proposed by the physicians should be the backbone of any improvement related to occupational health and safety. It is the practitioners themselves who, faced with their practice, are the best able to disseminate a reflection qualified as ethical, which cannot be dissociated from their everyday activities.

The health and lifestyle of Scottish fishermen: a need for health promotion.

It has long been known that fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations. In the year 2001, 33 boats were lost and 10 fishermen killed in UK waters. Despite the dangerous nature of the occupation, very little research has been conducted on fishermen's health and safety. The few studies that have been conducted are spread widely around the globe, and tend to focus on mortality rates and accidents. Few studies considered fishermen's lifestyle behaviours. To address this gap in current knowledge research was conducted to gain an understanding of health and lifestyle issues affecting Scottish fishermen. Data was collected using a postal questionnaire survey in the Scottish fishing population and health diaries in a small subsample. High rates of smoking were prevalent and passive smoking was a considerable problem. Fewer fishermen drank alcohol compared to the general population, but fishermen lacked knowledge about what safe levels of alcohol consumption were. Diet was lacking in fruit and vegetables, and meals were eaten at very erratic intervals. Fishermen may benefit from health promotion and education in the areas of smoking, diet and alcohol consumption.

Medical emergencies at sea and injuries among Scottish fishermen.

It has long been known that fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations. In 2001, 33 boats were lost and 10 fishermen killed in UK waters. Despite the dangerous nature of the occupation, very little research has been conducted on fishermen's health and safety. Aims To address this gap in current knowledge, research was conducted to gain an understanding of health and lifestyle issues affecting Scottish fishermen. It was hoped that the study would identify aspects of fishermen's health that could be improved. This paper considers medical emergencies at sea and injuries among fishermen. Data were collected using a postal questionnaire sent to the Scottish fishermen population and health diaries in a small sub-sample. In total, 1157 usable responses were received, giving a response rate of 57%. One-fifth of respondents had been involved in a medical emergency at sea that required them to be evacuated to shore for immediate treatment. The incidence of injuries was high, and one-third of the injuries experienced were to the back. The likelihood of evacuation for a medical emergency or experiencing an injury was increased both for certain occupations and with increasing number of boats worked on during the fisherman's career. Groups identified as being at a high risk of experiencing medical emergencies or injuries should be targeted in training initiatives or accident awareness and prevention initiatives.

A Study on SCUBA diving of local fishing community in Okinawa

The fishing activity with self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (shortly SAC U B A) diving method and the fishermen's health condition were investigated. Data were obtained by field survey on diving fishermen on two fishing communities in Okinawa in June and July, 1979. Another data were based upon the clinical records of sickness, usually called divers' disease, patients who attended the Hospital, College of Health Sciences, University of the Ryukyus for the hyperbaric therapy from July, 1973up to August, 1979. Results are summarized as follows:(1) Divers' disease patients have increased rapidly among SCUBA diving fishermen in these few years.(2) As to the cases of the patients, the Bends-typed sickness, the comparatively slight one, occupies the highest ratio (59.6%).(3) The failure in the decompression method for the therapy, which has been almost done among the diving fishermen, makes sometimes them more serious sickness.(4) SCUBA diving fishermen force themselves considerably to be engaged in the diving activity as compared with the standard diving method not to be suffered from the divers' disease.(5) Their forcible diving activity is connected with their competition for a good catch, which seems to be leading to the exhaustion of marine resources.(6) The frequent occurrence of the diving fishermen's sickness is closely related to the cultural factor of traditional fishing method, ecological factor of marine resources, and social factor of social structure such as co-operative systems of Okinawan fishermen.