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Hard Hat North Commercial Fishing Guide
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Fishing Injuries: Why It’s One of Canada’s Most Dangerous Jobs

Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous ways to make a living in Canada, and it’s not exaggerated — small, moving boats, cold water, and work before dawn in weather a captain has judged still fishable. Understanding the specific hazards, not just “it’s dangerous” in the abstract, is what makes a new deckhand safer.

What actually causes fishing deaths

Transport Canada’s own guidance on small fishing vessel safety is direct about where the risk concentrates: four out of five deaths on fishing vessels are related to vessel stability — capsizing, foundering, or sinking — or to crew falling overboard (Transport Canada, “Small fishing vessel safety,” accessed 2026-09-07). That’s a narrower, more useful picture than “the ocean is dangerous” — it means the two things that matter most for survival are how the boat is loaded and maintained, and what happens in the seconds after someone goes into the water.

Regulations that came into force in 2017 apply to Canadian fishing vessels up to 24.4 metres and 150 gross tonnage and require safety equipment, defined operating procedures, and vessel stability assessments, with a stability notice posted onboard once an assessment has been done (Transport Canada, “Small fishing vessel safety,” accessed 2026-09-07). Those rules exist because stability failures — often triggered by overloading, poorly secured or modified gear, or ice buildup on deck and rigging in cold-weather fisheries — have been a repeat cause of vessel losses.

What Canada’s fishing vessel safety regulations actually require

If you’ve heard the phrase “commercial fishing industry vessel safety act,” that’s a US statute — it applies to American-flagged vessels and does not apply in Canada. Canada’s own rules are the Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations (SOR/2016-163), which took effect in phases starting July 13, 2017 for vessels up to 24.4 m in length and up to 150 gross tonnage (Transport Canada, SSB No. 03/2017, accessed 2026-09-11). The Canadian regulations require, among other things:

  • Written safety procedures. The vessel’s authorized representative must set out written safety procedures, in English, French, or both, covering things like emergency response and man-overboard recovery, and crew must actually drill on them — with records kept of each drill — so the requirement is proficiency, not just a document on a shelf (Transport Canada, SSB No. 03/2017, accessed 2026-09-11).
  • Personal life-saving appliances and firefighting equipment scaled to the boat. The specific gear a vessel must carry — life jackets or flotation suits, firefighting equipment, and more — is set by hull length bands (under 6 m, 6-9 m, 9-12 m, 12-15 m, and over 15 m), so a small open boat and a larger offshore crab boat don’t carry identical kit (Transport Canada, SSB No. 03/2017, accessed 2026-09-11).
  • Life rafts or an EPIRB, depending on the voyage. Vessels over 12 m on near coastal Class 2 voyages must carry an EPIRB (emergency position-indicating radio beacon); smaller vessels or those on more sheltered voyages can carry an EPIRB as an alternative to a life raft or recovery boat, and one EPIRB can satisfy both the fishing vessel rules and Canada’s separate navigation safety regulations at the same time (Transport Canada, SSB No. 26/2022, accessed 2026-09-11).
  • Vessel stability assessment. New-construction vessels over 9 m (under contract signed after July 13, 2018) must have their stability assessed by a competent person, with smaller vessels under 6 m built to the TP 1332 stability standard and 6-9 m vessels following recognized practices for that vessel type (Transport Canada, SSB No. 03/2017, accessed 2026-09-11).

None of this is optional paperwork — it’s the direct regulatory response to the stability-and-overboard death pattern described above, and it’s worth a new deckhand actually asking their captain whether the boat’s stability assessment and safety-procedure drills are current, not assuming they are.

The other hazards worth knowing before your first season

Beyond capsizing and falling overboard, gear entanglement is a real and constant risk on any boat running traps, pots, or lines under power — a foot or hand caught in rope as gear pays out over the side can pull a person overboard or cause severe injury in seconds, which is why experienced crew are strict about where you stand and how you handle line near a hauler or winch. Cold water itself is a hazard on its own: a fall overboard in Atlantic or Pacific coastal waters most of the year means a short window before cold incapacitates a person, which is part of why staying aboard in the first place matters so much more than any equipment carried for after a fall.

Fatigue from long hours and early departures — covered in more detail on our 4am departures post — compounds all of the above, since tired crew make slower decisions around moving gear and rough footing on a wet, rolling deck.

What new crew should actually do about it

None of this means the job can’t be done safely — thousands of Canadians fish commercially every season. It means a new deckhand should treat safety briefings as more than a formality: know where the immersion suits and life rafts are before the first trip out, ask the captain or senior crew directly about how gear is run on that specific boat, and never treat a captain’s caution about weather as boats being “soft” — see our storm days post for why staying tied up on a bad day is a real safety decision, not an overreaction. Our safety hub has a fuller rundown of what to expect and ask about before your first season.

FAQ

What is the leading cause of death on fishing vessels in Canada? Transport Canada’s own data points to vessel stability problems — capsizing, foundering, sinking — and crew falling overboard as the cause of four out of five fishing vessel deaths, which is why stability assessments and safety equipment rules exist for vessels up to 24.4 metres.

Why is cold water such a big risk factor for fishermen? A fall overboard in Atlantic or Pacific coastal waters for most of the year gives a short window before cold incapacitates a person, which is why staying aboard and preventing a fall in the first place matters more than most after-the-fall equipment.

What should a first-time deckhand ask about before going out? Ask specifically where the immersion suits and life raft are, how that boat runs its gear and where you should stand around the hauler or winch, and what the captain’s own weather limits are — every boat is a little different, and senior crew expect new hands to ask.

Does the US “commercial fishing industry vessel safety act” apply to Canadian boats? No. That’s a US federal statute covering American-flagged commercial fishing vessels, and it has no legal force in Canada. The rules that actually govern a Canadian fishing vessel are Transport Canada’s Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations, which came into force in 2017 — see “What Canada’s fishing vessel safety regulations actually require” above.

What are five concrete safety precautions a commercial fisherman should follow? Know the location and how to put on the boat’s immersion suits and life-saving appliances before the first trip out, not after something goes wrong; stay clear of rope and gear paying out near a hauler or winch, since entanglement can happen in seconds; treat a captain’s decision to stay tied up in bad weather as a safety call, not overcaution; get proper rest between early departures, since fatigue is a real factor in deck injuries; and confirm the boat’s stability assessment and written safety procedures are current and that you’ve actually drilled on them, not just been told they exist.