With five seasonal, migrant workers dead in the worst boating accident in Cook Inlet in at least a quarter century, Pacific Alaska Shellfish, the Oregon company which encourages people to come to Alaska to dig for clams, says it will for the first time start a safety program.
Pacific Alaska noted in a press release Tuesday that it had supported clam diggers near Polly Creek for nearly 30 years with never "a fatal or even serious injury. We are devastated by this tragedy."
The tragedy to which the press release referred was the death last week of Roberto Ramerez, 42; Jose A. Sandoval, 34; Avelino Garcia 36, of Oregon; Jose Rever, 24; and Ramon Valdiva, 31. Ramerez, Garcia and Valdiva were from Oregon. Sandoval and Rever were from California. All were aboard a skiff that swamped in waves while being used to ferry buckets of clams back to a Pacific Alaska clam-processing camp.
No one made it to shore alive. What killed the men has yet to be determined. They most likely drowned or succumbed to hypothermia in the 41-degree water of the Inlet. In recognition of the latter danger, Pacific Alaska said it will require clammers to complete "Cold Water Survival training. The safety training will be conducted on-site by the U.S. Coast Guard."
That training is already underway for workers who stayed on the clam grounds about 90 miles southwest of Anchorage. Starting next season, the company said, the course will be required of all clammers at the start of the season. The clammers work about a three-month season in Alaska. They are paid by the pound of clams delivered to camp. It is hard work digging the clams out of the Inlet sands, but those who have been to the camp said the workers seem to be happy to have the jobs.
Pacific Alaska said it was already providing life preservers and whistles to all of the contract diggers there, although it is now being reported by the Coast Guard and the Alaska State Troopers that only one of the dead men was wearing a personal flotation device when found. Apparently in recognition of that, Pacific Alaska said it would increase the "focus on personal safety as a priority above all. Additionally, the team of contract diggers has relied upon and gleaned from the knowledge and experience of veteran diggers, with several of the individuals having 10 to more than 20 years experience."
Other programs to be implemented, according to the company, include:
Forty-two-year-old Noel Garcia of Aberdeen, Wash., had decided he wasn't getting in a 20- to 21-foot long skiff carrying five people and an estimated 3,500-pounds of clams in more than 100 buckets. Garcia thought the boat was overloaded and decided to hike back to camp. He was the one who spread the word that the others should have arrived. Their tardiness led to a call from a clammers' camp to a clam-processing plant in Nikiski, which than called the Coast Guard.
Their bodies were found along the Polly Creek beaches. A retreating tide later revealed the boat where it had apparently sunk along the beach.
Pacific Alaska noted in a press release Tuesday that it had supported clam diggers near Polly Creek for nearly 30 years with never "a fatal or even serious injury. We are devastated by this tragedy."
The tragedy to which the press release referred was the death last week of Roberto Ramerez, 42; Jose A. Sandoval, 34; Avelino Garcia 36, of Oregon; Jose Rever, 24; and Ramon Valdiva, 31. Ramerez, Garcia and Valdiva were from Oregon. Sandoval and Rever were from California. All were aboard a skiff that swamped in waves while being used to ferry buckets of clams back to a Pacific Alaska clam-processing camp.
No one made it to shore alive. What killed the men has yet to be determined. They most likely drowned or succumbed to hypothermia in the 41-degree water of the Inlet. In recognition of the latter danger, Pacific Alaska said it will require clammers to complete "Cold Water Survival training. The safety training will be conducted on-site by the U.S. Coast Guard."
That training is already underway for workers who stayed on the clam grounds about 90 miles southwest of Anchorage. Starting next season, the company said, the course will be required of all clammers at the start of the season. The clammers work about a three-month season in Alaska. They are paid by the pound of clams delivered to camp. It is hard work digging the clams out of the Inlet sands, but those who have been to the camp said the workers seem to be happy to have the jobs.
Pacific Alaska said it was already providing life preservers and whistles to all of the contract diggers there, although it is now being reported by the Coast Guard and the Alaska State Troopers that only one of the dead men was wearing a personal flotation device when found. Apparently in recognition of that, Pacific Alaska said it would increase the "focus on personal safety as a priority above all. Additionally, the team of contract diggers has relied upon and gleaned from the knowledge and experience of veteran diggers, with several of the individuals having 10 to more than 20 years experience."
Other programs to be implemented, according to the company, include:
- "A clam diggers' safety curriculum and guidelines as part of our existing online employee training program, called Pacific Seafood University. Contract clam diggers will be required to complete the
online safety curriculum each year prior to the start of the season. We will ensure that each digger has access to a computer to complete the training."
- And the company will, at the suggestion of the Coast Guard, outfit each vessel working along the Polly Creek beaches and the main camp with a waterproof, marine VHF radio. "Diggers will be trained on the use of the radios,'' the press release said. "We are awaiting receipt
of the radios and the vessels will not be in service until they have arrived and are installed."
Forty-two-year-old Noel Garcia of Aberdeen, Wash., had decided he wasn't getting in a 20- to 21-foot long skiff carrying five people and an estimated 3,500-pounds of clams in more than 100 buckets. Garcia thought the boat was overloaded and decided to hike back to camp. He was the one who spread the word that the others should have arrived. Their tardiness led to a call from a clammers' camp to a clam-processing plant in Nikiski, which than called the Coast Guard.
Their bodies were found along the Polly Creek beaches. A retreating tide later revealed the boat where it had apparently sunk along the beach.
Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com