Alaska Maritime Lawyer

The maritime industry in Alaska revolves around fishing, which is inherently risky. If you work in the state and are injured in a maritime job, you can seek compensation, thanks to federal and state programs. An Alaska maritime lawyer can help you determine what steps to take.

Alaska’s Maritime Industry

Alaska is a big state with a sparse population and a big maritime industry. With the most coastline of any other state, maritime work is a big part of Alaska.

Many of the state’s residents live in coastal areas, where fishing, crabbing, container shipping, cruise lines, harbor work, and other maritime jobs are popular. If you live in Alaska and work in the maritime industry, you have a lot of job opportunities.

You also have a lot of risks when working on or near the water, especially in a state where weather and ocean currents conspire to make conditions rough and dangerous.

What makes maritime jobs here even more hazardous is employers’ and ship and boat owners’ negligence. If they do not provide adequate training for workers, seaworthy vessels, and maintained fishing and shipping equipment, workers can get hurt. 

Crabbing and Fishing in Alaska

The most dangerous of all maritime jobs is working aboard a fishing boat. In Alaska, crabbing ranks as the most hazardous of all fishing jobs. Crab boats go out from Alaskan harbors during the fall and winter when the water is at its roughest and the weather is coldest.

This job is so dangerous that reality shows demonstrating the excitement of handling heavy equipment and battling big waves and severe weather while crabbing have been popular with viewers.

These workers, as well as those on other fishing vessels, spend long, physically-demanding hours on the decks of fishing boats, hauling in heavy catches and just trying to stay upright in the swells.

Crabbers and fishermen risk being injured by the fishing equipment, hypothermia from cold temperatures, wind, and water, and the possibility of falling overboard and being lost and injured in other accidents.

In just one of many examples of how dangerous this job is, a man was lost at sea and presumed dead in 2014 when he fell overboard while working on a fishing vessel in the Bering Sea. The exact cause of his fall was unknown, but winds were up to 35 miles per hour, and waves were up to ten feet high.

These rough conditions likely caused him to fall into the below-freezing water. A fall overboard in such conditions is typically fatal. The fisherman was quickly lost, and searches could not find him.

While the job is inherently risky, as the above example illustrates, many accidents on Alaska’s fishing boats are preventable with appropriate steps:

• Fishermen need to be given time to rest because fatigue causes accidents.
• They need to be well-trained in using the equipment and in safety procedures.
• They should know how to communicate effectively with each other.
• They also need to be prevented from going out into waters that are simply too dangerous.

The Alaska Tourism Industry

Another important shipping industry in Alaska is related to tourism. Alaska is a popular stop for cruise lines, with visitors hoping to spot whales and other wildlife, not to mention the beautiful scenery on the land in the state.

Cruise ship workers in Alaska may not have jobs as dangerous as those of fishermen and crabbers, but they take risks.

Any maritime job is inherently hazardous and can lead to falls overboard, trips and falls, being hit by cargo, or in the case of cruise workers, being harassed or assaulted by passengers and falling victim to fast-moving onboard viruses.

Employers are responsible for maintaining the safest environment possible, and when they don’t, these types of incidents can cause injuries and illnesses.

Harbor and Dock Workers

Alaska also has plenty of maritime workers who do not go to sea on ships. These dock and harbor workers have many jobs: 

• Load and unload cargo ships
• Make repairs on and maintain vessels
• Move supplies from warehouses to the docks
• Drive trucks
• Operate cranes and forklifts

Accidents in harbor areas are not uncommon. These are crowded, busy places with many people operating big machinery simultaneously.

Small mistakes can easily become big accidents, like dropping cargo from a crane, slipping and falling from a walkway into the water, or even being hit by a truck. These accidents cause injuries and even deaths.

The Alaska Fishermen’s Fund

Because fishing and crabbing are such vital industries to the state, a special fund was created to help workers and their dependents get financial assistance in the event of costly accidents.

Alaska is the only state with this kind of special fund, and it provides up to $10,000 per worker, depending on the situation. The money is designed to cover expenses like medical bills and lost wages for the injured worker or a deceased fisherman’s family.

The Alaska Fishermen’s Fund provides this money when insurance money and other public assistance have been exhausted. Recipients must meet qualifications.

To get the money, you must have a valid state commercial fishing license and have been injured while doing work related to the fishing industry. The accident that led to an injury must also have occurred in Alaska or the state’s waters.

Other Maritime Laws

While the state offers this special fund for commercial fishermen, it is far from the only option that Alaskan maritime workers have when injured on the job. If you work in any aspect of the industry in the state, you may be covered by any number of federal laws.

The Jones Act, for instance, covers accidents caused by negligence but only if you qualify as a seaman, someone who spends a significant amount of working time on a working vessel in navigation.

Harbor workers can get money after an accident through the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. This law provides compensation regardless of whether negligence played a role in the incident.

If you die on the job, the Death on the High Seas Act may provide your surviving dependents with much-needed benefits to cover funeral and other expenses.

If you live in Alaska, work in the maritime industry, and have been injured on the job, you can get money that will help you get back on your feet. With the guidance of an experienced maritime lawyer, you can be sure to take the right steps to get the compensation you are owed.