When Things Go South, It Does Affect You: Perceptions of Vibrio- Related Occupational Risk and Harm Among Chesapeake Bay, USA,-Based Watermen

Abstract

Abstract: Commercial fishing is a dangerous profession with known hazards for musculoskeletal injuries, yet minimal examination of microbiological or attendant psychosocial hazards from water- and food-borne pathogens like Vibrio vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus exists. Improving knowledge of Vibrio -related hazards addresses Total Worker Health® concerns for commercial fisheries workers.

Methods: Following a grounded theory approach, we conducted semistructured interviews with watermen and related workers who fish and harvest shellfish in the Chesapeake Bay, USA, to investigate risk perceptions and understanding, and compliance with regulations intended to reduce worker and consumer illnesses and injuries from pathogen exposures.

Results: Worker and consumer illnesses and injuries, and threat of fishery closures-with regulatory and organizational factors-influence this workforce.

Conclusions: Our findings support interventions that promote monitoring, surveillance, and awareness of Vibrio- related risk among watermen, regulatory officials, medical professionals, and the public.