Inside FDA:
Hazardous Duty in the Bering Sea

This is one in a series of articles on FDA activities and concerns.

Snow was blowing horizontally that January day as the wind whipped into a 50-mile-an-hour frenzy. Out in the Bering Sea, some 60 miles off Alaska, two FDA investigators wrapped up their inspection of a floating seafood processor.

Temperatures had dipped below freezing, and the sea was crashing with 15-foot waves. The investigators climbed down a rope ladder onto a 16-foot boat that was to carry them to a Coast Guard cutter about a quarter mile away.

After the small boat got under way, the pilot radioed the cutter that he wasn't sure the craft could make it through the severe weather. But he forged on, finally reaching the cutter and delivering the two to safety.

"We barely made it back," says Janelle Main, investigator in FDA's Puget Sound [Washington] resident post, who shared the adventure with investigator Elizabeth Sheller. "It was really, really rough out there."

Another typical day in the life of an FDA investigator? Well, not exactly. But it does illustrate the dangerous situations these folks can find themselves in while on duty. Main is one of seven investigators from FDA's Seattle district who have volunteered to inspect floating processors. These vessels, 65 to 300 feet long, actually are "factories" that catch, process, and prepare for market various types of fish while at sea. More than 85 of the processors, registered in the United States, operate off the coasts of Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

Inspecting processors in Alaskan waters poses major hazards, says Main, largely due to the risk of hypothermia--a dangerous lowering of body temperature--from the icy seas. "If you fall into the Bering Sea, you've got about two minutes to be pulled out or there's a good chance you could die," she says. When the seas are choppy, riders could be thrown overboard from the small boats. Or the boats could capsize.

Getting into the boats is a trick in itself. Boarding a floating processor usually involves descending a rope ladder from a Coast Guard cutter and taking a small boat to the processing vessel. Riders then must step--or sometimes leap--from the boat to another rope ladder. Going up this ladder, which may be as long as 30 feet, is not easy, especially in rough seas. "I've fallen off the rope before," says Main, "but fortunately I fell into the boat and not the water." She injured her knee in that incident and had to undergo physical therapy.

Why put your life on the line for this work? Because, Main says, it is important to ensure that floating processors, like seafood factories found on land, provide products that are safe for consumers. This means the processors must adhere to strict procedures for sanitation, storage and refrigeration.

In the past, FDA relied on Alaska state officials to inspect floating processors while they were docked. But because these ships don't process fish when in port, the state inspections didn't look at operations while they were going on.

In 1994, former Seattle investigator Debra DeVlieger set up a joint inspection program with the Coast Guard that allows FDA investigators to ride along on cutters as the Coast Guard conducts its own inspections of vessel safety and seaworthiness.

In August 1994, FDA boarded the first processing vessels under the program during hake season off Washington and Oregon. Since then, Chris Rezendes, FDA supervisory investigator, has expanded the program into Alaska. Investigators have gone into the Bering Sea during pollack A (January and February) and pollack B (August and September) seasons.

An investigator can inspect as many as 11 processors during a trip, which usually lasts two weeks. "Some trips have been less fruitful," says Main. "Because of weather, only two or three boardings could be made." Also, the cutters are sometimes diverted to search-and-rescue missions.

Main calls the joint inspection program "a good use of taxpayers' money." The Coast Guard does not charge FDA for lodging on board the cutters and charges only about $5 a day for meals. By comparison, an air flight to Alaska can cost as much as $800. "We've saved many thousands of dollars," says Main.

She adds that the program has paid dividends in other ways. Though the inspections have resulted in some warning letters, FDA investigators have set up "a really good relationship" with processors. In the off-season, FDA holds meetings to discuss concerns with quality control officials and others representing processors. By sharing information about what FDA is looking for in inspections, the agency receives a high degree of compliance and cooperation.

"I'm confident that the program is worthwhile and that conditions are better on the processors because we have a presence out there," Main says.

Besides Main and Sheller, the other FDA volunteer investigators are Jody Robinson, Gretchen Weber, Jim Vik, Gordon Wales, and Bob Williams.

John Henkel is a member of FDA's public affairs staff.