Any commercial fisherman knows the risks that come with the job, and it’s an added benefit to have deckhands with safety course certification.
To that end, the Wrangell School District migrant education program is covering the cost of an upcoming drill conductor safety course for students who are at least 14 years old and their families work in commercial fishing and the student may miss part of the school year to help with the family business.
The class is open to everyone, though the school district will pay the fee only for such migrant students and their families.
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) is presenting the course, which comes with certification upon completion. The class is planned for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 10 at the Nolan Center.
That certificate can open up a lot of opportunities for people who take the course.
“A student who is now a senior took (the course) with his father,” said Holly Padilla, the migrant education teacher. “They both went to Sitka and took it there, where AMSEA is based. He’s being very heavily recruited by a fisherman who is in Sitka. Now you have this training, now you’re a better candidate to be a deckhand.”
The cost of the course is $125 for commercial fishermen and $225 for others interested in getting certified.
So far, two school students have signed up for the course in Wrangell, but there is plenty of room for more.
“Our limits largely are dependent on the size of the space. Our average class size is 10 through 15,” said Ashley Green, a training coordinator with AMSEA. “The course in Wrangell would be limited to 15 or 20.”
Drill conductor training covers cold-water survival skills, emergency position indicating radio beacons, signal flares, mayday calls, man-overboard recovery, firefighting, flooding and damage control, dewatering pumps, immersion suits and personal floatation devices, abandon-ship procedures, helicopter rescues, life rafts and emergency procedure drills.
AMSEA has been providing marine safety training since 1986 and drill conductor training since 1991, which is U.S. Coast Guard approved. Though drill conductors do not have to be aboard a vessel while a crew is out fishing, a fishing vessel is required by the Coast Guard to conduct monthly drills if it is being operated three miles beyond the boundary lines of fisheries or meets other certain criteria. Green said oftentimes it comes down to what and where a vessel is fishing.
She said the certification helps “enhance” a person’s employability, adding to a resume and increasing the chance at finding a job. “In many ports around the country, captains are having new crew members attend training, both individually or as a crew, to provide background and the information to increase the crew’s response in the event of an emergency at sea,” Green said.
Padilla said the migrant education program got involved after learning that families wanted more opportunities “for youth who want to continue in the footsteps of their family through commercial fishing and/or just need more safety training to be involved the way they (already) are.”
Most of the students who qualify as migrants in the school district are part of commercial fishing families and will often miss the tail end of the school year or beginning because of the family business.
“Unfortunately, those are critical times, and they miss out on some transition information between grades,” Padilla said.
Migrant students and their families who want to sign up for the course can contact the district at 907-874-2347. Everyone else can register through the AMSEA website at amsea.org or by calling 907-747-3287.
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