The best gift any commercial fishing family can get this holiday season is to have their loved ones return home from the water safe and sound.
Each year, The Navigator Magazine devotes its May issue to the crucial topic of safety in the commercial fishing industry. But as you all know, you can never overemphasize too much safety when it comes to fishing. And with the lobster fishing season kicking off in Southwest Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy, safety needs to be top of mind more than ever.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) recently released its latest Watchlist, highlighting systemic safety issues that continue to put people, property and the environment at risk across Canada’s air, marine and rail sectors.
Since 2010, the Watchlist has focused national attention on safety issues backed by years of investigation work, compelling data and TSB recommendations. Despite progress in some areas, serious and often preventable occurrences continue to happen.
At the top of the TSB’s list is commercial fishing safety. From 2010 to 2025, the TSB investigated 27 commercial fishing-related occurrences, which revealed recurring unsafe conditions.
“Despite years of attention, unsafe conditions continue to put thousands of Canadian commercial fish harvesters — and the communities that rely on them — at risk. The TSB has issued 55 recommendations on fishing vessel safety; however, progress remains inconsistent across regions and even among fishing communities,” the TSB stated.
The TSB has monitored commercial fishing safety since 1999. Despite various initiatives that have sparked the development of a safety culture within the commercial fishing industry, the same safety deficiencies on board fishing vessels persist. In 2012, a TSB’s safety issues investigation revealed systemic factors behind fatal fishing vessel accidents that continue to require attention. These include:
- Vessel modifications and stability risks: Many vessels undergo structural or operational changes without proper stability assessments. For small vessels (15 GT and under), there are currently no defined criteria for what constitutes a major modification, leaving authorized representatives (ARs) without clarity on when to seek pre-approval or expert evaluation.
- Lack of stability knowledge and training: While Transport Canada (TC) does provide some guidance to help ARs and masters identify major modifications made to vessels, the guidance is qualitative and requires knowledge of stability to interpret it correctly.
- No centralized record of vessel modifications: Without a maintained and accessible history of vessel changes, it is difficult for ARs, masters and regulators to evaluate current stability and safety conditions — especially when vessels change ownership.
- Lifesaving equipment not used or maintained: Despite being available, some lifesaving equipment, such as immersion suits and in particular, personal flotation devices (PFDs), are often not worn or are not worn correctly. Other critical equipment, such as emergency signaling devices or life rafts, may not be properly maintained.
- Unsafe work practices: Hazardous routines — such as working alone, operating in poor weather, or handling gear without proper training — remain common.
Inadequate regulatory oversight: Enforcement of safety regulations is inconsistent across regions. Voluntary compliance and limited surveillance mean that unsafe vessels may continue operating without intervention.
The TSB explained that Watchlist issues are complex and require coordinated action from operators, regulators and other stakeholders, and while some progress has been made, much more is needed.
To date, the TSB reports that the following steps have been taken to date:
- The implementation of the Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations and the Navigation Safety Regulations, 2020 by the fishing industry were supported by TC through policy guidance, outreach and programs. While fish harvesters are generally aware of these regulations, many lack knowledge of specific requirements and measurable safety gains have yet to be shown.
- Phase 2 of the Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations (Parts III and IV), which will address vessel design and construction requirements, has not yet been published in Canada Gazette, Part I but is expected in spring 2026. The status of further amendments to the Large Fishing Vessel Inspection Regulations, originally planned for 2023, remains unknown.
The TSB added that positive developments toward sound safety are being made in the Canadian commercial fishing industry. Some fish harvester associations have taken proactive leadership roles, introducing guidelines for vessel modifications and stability, developing codes of best practices for their fisheries, and providing subsidies for safety equipment.
As well, several provincial workers’ compensation boards have strengthened their approach to safety, increasing education and enforcement efforts, imposing fines to discourage unsafe work practices and collaborating with other provincial organizations to launch education initiatives.
However, these initiatives have been inconsistent from region to region and even from one fishing community to the next, so there is still much work remaining to be done — by all stakeholders in the industry.
The TSB said commercial fishing safety will remain on the Watchlist until there is demonstrable progress on several indicators, including coordinated regulatory oversight.
“TC and Fisheries and Oceans Canada collaborate to ensure fish harvesters meet all requirements before operating commercially. Federal and provincial authorities also coordinate regulatory oversight of commercial fisheries.”
Other indicators include promotion of stability guidelines and clear evidence of a sound safety culture.
And overall, commercial fish harvesters need to demonstrate that they are taking ownership of safety, specifically with respect to the use of stability guidelines, PFDs, immersion suits, emergency signaling devices and safe work practices. This only makes sense. Why would harvesters not want to do this?
The TSB is obviously taking this issue of safety on the water very seriously, everyone else
should as well.
