We all have dreams. If you're a commercial fishermen, yours might involve smooth seas, high dock prices, and returning to port deck-loaded. Or some variation on that theme. However, to realize your dreams, you have to stay healthy and able to fish. Right now, one of the biggest threats to your livelihood and your dreams is COVID-19.
COVID is a threat to your health and you don't get paid when you aren't physically capable of fishing. COVID can keep you off the water for weeks, months, or forever. You can lose your job, your boat, your permits, your dreams. You can even lose your life. Fortunately, vaccinations for COVID-19 are safe, effective, readily available, and they're free.
Catch Fish. Not Covid. is an online project of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association. We have watched in dismay as more than 14 million Americans have been sickened by this disease and 658,000 have lost their lives. Efforts to control the pandemic have been disruptive, to lives and the economy. When we were asked by NIOSH to submit a proposal for a project to encourage fishermen to get vaccinated, we were happy to get to work.
The goal of the project is to reach as many commercial fishermen and seafood workers as possible through social media and connect them to nearby vaccination sites. Along the way, we hope to provide you with good reasons to get vaccinated, connected to your livelihood and way of life.
Since 1985, AMSEA has been committed to helping prevent injuries and deaths at sea by providing skills-based training and accurate information on safety risks and best practices. Giving fishermen accurate, science-based information they can use to protect their health and livelihoods doesn't seem like stretch to us.
Please connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and if you haven't already gotten vaccinated, use our Vaccination Locator to find a location to get you and your crewmates vaccinated. We all want to get this pandemic behind us and getting vaccinated is the single most important step you can take to help us get there, so that you can Catch Fish. Not COVID!