Over 1,000 fishing crew casualties in 5 years — 3 in 4 outside mandatory safety training

More than 1,000 fishing crew members have been killed or injured in on-the-job accidents since 2021, with three out of four casualties occurring among workers not required by law to complete safety training, prompting calls for regulatory reform.

According to data submitted to People Power Party lawmaker Lee Yang-su of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee by the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, a total of 1,074 fishing crew members were killed or injured between 2021 and August this year — 477 deaths and 597 injuries.

Of those, 814 people, or 75.8 percent — including 309 fatalities and 505 injuries — were general or foreign crew members not subject to mandatory safe-fishing education requirements.

Safe-fishing education is designed to prevent maritime accidents. Under current law, vessel owners, captains, chief engineers and communications officers — senior crew members — are required to complete the training.

In practice, the gap is stark. Last year, 94.3 percent of senior crew members completed the training — nearly all of them — while the completion rate stood at just 1.5 percent for general crew members and 27.3 percent for foreign crew members.

The infrastructure for hands-on training was also found to be inadequate. Permanent training facilities have been established at all 10 regional fishing vessel safety offices nationwide, but only eight have safety experience centers. Incheon and Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province have none.

"General and foreign crew members are the ones who directly carry out the most dangerous tasks on fishing vessels, yet they are excluded from mandatory safety education," Lee said. "We must strengthen accident prevention by expanding the scope of mandatory training and building more hands-on facilities that allow for repeated practice."