This video introduces fishermen to the Safest Catch Program, a safety program designed by and for commercial fishermen on both the west and east coast of Canada. Narrated by Jim Byrnes, this motivational program highlights professional fishermen demonstrating realistic safety drills and safety orientations for their crews.

The Safest Catch program is a British Columbia-based safety program for commercial fishermen. It was created by fishermen, for fishermen and is facilitated by actual commercial fishermen working as qualified Safety Advisors. As an end-to-end safety management system, the program is delivered on board vessels and focuses on 3 main areas: Safety equipment orientation, emergency drills and written documentation of emergency procedures.

In this video, we hear the story of two commercial fishermen whose boat capsized while fishing, one sport fisherman who fell overboard while guiding guests at sea, and a young commercial fisherman who died when he fell overboard. In each case, wearing a PFD could have changed the outcome of these events.

Knowing how to survive cold water immersion is essential for commercial fishermen.

Death due to drowning, often in very cold water, is the leading cause of death in the BC commercial fishing industry - it's also highly preventable. As part of Fish Safe's Safe at Sea video series, this video focuses on the effects of cold water immersion and how to survive.

Practice, practice, practice! When it comes down to surviving emergencies at sea while commercial fishing, practice of DRILLS beforehand can make all the difference.

How can you prevent a man overboard in the first place when commercial fishing? How can you protect the lives of your crew? What deck safety practices should you insist your crew follow to prevent man overboards in the first place? Without a plan, disaster often awaits.

All commercial fishermen need to understand the importance of maintaining vessel stability while working on the water. This video is part of Fish Safe's Safe at Sea video series and focuses upon how a commercial fishing vessel's stability is determined. Basic vessel stability concepts are also discussed - this is a great refresher!

Knowing the "feel" of your commercial fishing vessel is often not enough. Understanding the principals of stability while fishing is therefore essential. What are the threats to vessel stability? This video, part of Fish Safe's Safe at Sea video series discusses many of these major threats including the following: Vessel modifications, overloading, water tight integrity, free surface effect and more.

See with your own eyes as the fishing vessel Linda's Draw capsizes on camera in rough weather. Commercial fishermen know vessel stability is important, but what's most important to know? Whether you fish on a large or small vessel, this video produced by AMSEA (Alaska Marine Safety Education Assoc.)

On average, 1 commercial fisherman dies per month in Canada and it's for this reason the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) in 2009 began a process to find out why. This video provides a summary of their investigative findings and importantly, also provides valuable insights into ways commercial fishing incidents leading to death and serious injury can be prevented.

Making a living in BC's commercial fishing industry has never been easy - doing so safely has been equally challenging. With this history and reality in mind, Fish Safe is pleased to launch its new video Sustaining Fishermen in Sustainable Fisheries, a video that showcases important elements of BC's current wild capture commercial fisheries and the people who participate in them.