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FAO: About 24,000 fishermen die at sea annually

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-03 13:43

ROME -- Some 24,000 fishermen die at sea each year, making fishing probably the most dangerous occupation in the world, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report released on Monday.

The figure is "unacceptable," said the FAO in its annual report on the State of Fisheries and Aquaculture calling on nations to adopt its 1995 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

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The Code provides a necessary framework to ensure sustainable fishing and if implemented could help save lives, it said.

"Human behavior or error is estimated to be responsible for 80 percent of accidents in the fishing industry," said the report. "Safety at sea is a serious problem in both developing and developed countries."

"The main cause of accidents and loss of life in the fishing industry is not only poorly designed, constructed or equipped vessels, but inappropriate human behavior, sometimes compounded by error, negligence or ignorance," the report said.