Deakin-led research highlights poor health of Aussie commercial fishers

The extent of pain, psychological distress and anxiety among Australia's commercial fishers has been revealed in the final results of a survey of 872 commercial fishers, with 22.2 per cent of respondents indicating they experienced high or very high levels of distress. The rate was almost twice the national average of 11.7 per cent recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Dr Tanya King, from Deakin's School of Humanities and Social Sciences, led the development and running of the national survey of the health, safety and wellbeing of the Australian commercial fishing industry with funding from the Fisheries Research Development Corporation (FRDC).

In the survey, almost 60 per cent of fishers reported a higher rate of moderate to very severe body pain compared to 46.5 per cent of the general population, with more than half of fishers surveyed saying the pain had interfered with their lives.

Dr King said fishers also reported being diagnosed with a number of serious health conditions at a higher rate than the general population, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, diabetes and cancer.

"We found fishers are at particular risk of certain kinds of illnesses through the nature of their work and from lifestyle factors, such as skin cancer from sun exposure, cardio-vascular disease related to diet, and hearing-related problems," she said.

"Documented accidents, injuries, and chronic musculoskeletal problems have also been shown to occur as a result of working in unpredictable weather conditions, using heavy machinery on unstable platforms, and fatigue related to long work hours.

"We also found less than 11 per cent of fishers wear a personal flotation device every time they go to sea, and only 16 per cent wear an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon – a disturbing statistic when you consider that almost half of the fishers surveyed work in areas with poor phone or internet reception."

While Dr King said all of those risk factors contributed to poor mental health and high levels of stress among fishers, the top sources of stress identified by fishers related to how their lives could be impacted by government regulations and red tape.

"Fishery management red tape, governance uncertainty and access security – what are known as 'modern uncertainties' – are reported to have a more detrimental impact on the mental health of fishers than factors such as isolation, bad weather or physical dangers, or the 'traditional risks' that fishers say they signed up for," she said.

Dr King and her colleagues at the National Centre for Farmer Health with the Western District Health Service have since developed and trialled a successful pilot to address the specific health issues and needs of Australian fishing families.

The Sustainable Fishing Families report has now been presented to the FRDC, a statutory authority within the portfolio of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, jointly funded by the Australian Government and the fishing industry.