Sleep Deprivation in the Seafood Industry

Many animals go into hibernation during the cold dark months. Most people catch their beauty rest during the night. To me this cycle feels pretty normal, even if some days I don't feel like waking up with the sun.

Imagine going into work at midnight and leaving at 7am five days per week. This is reality  for fishmongers waking and working during the darkest of hours. Big city fish markets do most of their business at night in order to feed the city the following day. Fishermen in a 9 man crew usually sleep in shifts. Four hours on and four hours off. Ouch. People in the seafood industry tend to be saltier than most but these strange hours and environments still take their toll.

Pretend you are an Apple Computer. Your biological clocks are synching with each other and backing up information under one master clock, sort of like Time Machine. Circadian rhythms are driven by our biological clocks and  controlled by factors inside of our bodies such as temperature, hormones, sleep-wake cycles and even genetics. Outside factors like the 24-hour light schedule and seasons have strong effects on our systems as well.

Sleeplessness in fishermen is not well documented, but it contributes to accidents in a high risk situation.  Obviously being on a boat in high seas, cold weather, wind, water and operating heavy machinery is a high risk environment. Varying home sleep and sea sleep schedules can also add to biological confusion and exacerbate risk at work. 

Truth be told, most of the commercial fishermen and fishmongers I know rarely ever sleep. To me the sleeplessness is just another sweet reason why this industry is totally nuts and not for the faint of heart.