Alaska Commercial Fishing Injury Lawyers

Reviewed by Mark Choate, J.D. · Updated August 2026

Representing Alaska's fishing crews since 1980 · Juneau, on Alaska's working waterfront · Free consultation · No fee unless we win

Quick answer

If you were injured working on a commercial fishing vessel in Alaska, you are almost certainly not limited to workers' compensation. Federal maritime law gives fishing crew three separate rights: maintenance and cure — your daily living costs and medical bills, paid by the employer no matter who was at fault; a Jones Act negligence claim (46 U.S.C. § 30104) if the employer's or a crewmate's carelessness played any part in your injury; and an unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner if defective gear, an inadequate crew, or unsafe procedures contributed. Most of these claims carry a three-year deadline (46 U.S.C. § 30106) — but vessel owners start protecting themselves the day you're hurt, so you shouldn't wait. Choate Law Firm has represented injured Alaskans from our Juneau office since 1980. We know the difference between a gillnetter and a catcher-processor because we live where you work. Free consultation: (907) 586-4490.

The most dangerous job in America happens in Alaska's waters

Commercial fishing consistently ranks as one of the deadliest occupations in the United States — according to NIOSH, its fatality rate has run more than 40 times the national average for all workers, and NIOSH data attribute roughly a quarter of all U.S. commercial fishing deaths to Alaska's fisheries. The reasons are the ones every Alaska crew member already knows: freezing water that kills in minutes, ice on deck and rigging, heavy gear under load, sleep deprivation during openers, and ports that are hours — sometimes days — from a trauma center.

That danger is concentrated in the fisheries we know best: the Bristol Bay sockeye run, where a six-week season packs a year of exhaustion into forty days; the Bering Sea crab and pollock fleets running out of Dutch Harbor — the nation's highest-volume fishing port, per NOAA Fisheries — in the worst weather in the hemisphere; Southeast Alaska's salmon trollers, seiners, and gillnetters working the waters around Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan; and the factory trawlers and floating processors where processing crews work 16-hour shifts around moving machinery.

Your three claims after a fishing vessel injury

1. Maintenance and cure — owed no matter what

If you were injured or fell ill in the service of the vessel, the owner owes you "maintenance and cure" even if nobody did anything wrong. Maintenance is a daily allowance for room and board while you recover ashore. Cure is payment of your reasonable medical care until you reach maximum medical improvement. The vessel owes these benefits from day one, and an owner who unreasonably cuts them off can be liable for substantially more — including, in bad-faith cases, punitive damages. If your maintenance checks have stopped or the company is pushing you back to work before your doctor agrees, that is exactly the moment to call a lawyer.

2. Jones Act negligence — the claim companies fear

The Jones Act (46 U.S.C. § 30104) lets a seaman sue the employer for negligence, with a jury trial — something no ordinary workers' compensation system allows. The causation standard is famously relaxed: if the employer's negligence played even a small part in producing your injury, liability attaches (a standard borrowed from the federal railroad-worker law, FELA, as explained in CSX Transportation, Inc. v. McBride (2011)). In a fishing case, negligence looks like: an inexperienced or shorthanded crew, no non-skid on a deck that ices over, winches and blocks that haven't been maintained, skippers pushing through weather to make an opener, missing machine guards on processing lines, and inadequate safety training or drills.

3. Unseaworthiness — the vessel itself was not fit

A vessel owner owes the crew an absolute, non-delegable duty to provide a seaworthy vessel — hull, gear, equipment, and crew all reasonably fit for their intended use (Mitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc. (1960) — itself a fishing-vessel case). You do not have to prove negligence. A parted line that should have been retired, a crab-pot launcher with a failed hydraulic, a processing line missing its guard, or a crew too small or too green for the job can each make the vessel unseaworthy and support a claim independent of the Jones Act.

Who counts as a "seaman"? (Deckhands, processors, tenders — usually yes)

You qualify as a Jones Act seaman if your work contributes to the vessel's function and you have a substantial connection to a vessel or fleet in navigation — the U.S. Supreme Court's test from Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis (1995), with a rule of thumb that about 30% or more of your working time in service of a vessel usually qualifies. In Alaska's fleet that typically includes deckhands, engineers, skiff operators, cooks, processors working aboard catcher-processors and floating processors, and tender crews. Shore-based cannery and dock workers usually fall under a different federal system instead (the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. § 901 et seq.) — the earliest and most important question in your case is which system covers you, and we sort that out in the first conversation.

The injuries we see in Alaska's fisheries

Crush and amputation injuries from winches, blocks, crab-pot launchers, and processing machinery; back and shoulder injuries from hauling gear under load; falls on iced or fish-slicked decks; man-overboard and cold-water immersion events; hypothermia and frostbite; head injuries from swinging gear; and the fatigue-driven accidents that cluster late in an opener. In fatal cases, families may have claims under the Jones Act, general maritime law, or — for deaths more than three nautical miles offshore — the Death on the High Seas Act (46 U.S.C. § 30301 et seq.). See our wrongful death page.

What to do after an injury at sea

Report the injury to the skipper immediately and make sure it goes in the vessel's log. Unreported injuries become disputed injuries.
Get medical care at the first opportunity — the clinic in Dutch Harbor, Dillingham, or Naknek, a Coast Guard medevac if it's serious, or the ER when you hit port. Tell the provider exactly how it happened, on the record.
Photograph everything you can — the gear involved, the deck condition, your injuries.
Get crewmates' names and off-season contact information. Crews scatter after the season; witnesses are hardest to find exactly when you need them.
Do not sign anything or give a recorded statement to the company or its insurer before you talk to a lawyer. That includes "routine" injury report forms with liability language buried in them.
Keep every receipt — travel, lodging, medications. Maintenance disputes are won with paper.

How to choose a commercial fishing injury lawyer in Alaska

Ask these six questions of any firm you're considering: Does the firm actually try cases, or only settle them? (Insurers price your claim on the answer.) Does it know maritime law specifically — Jones Act, maintenance and cure, unseaworthiness — not just car-accident law? Does it know Alaska's fisheries — the difference between a Bristol Bay drift permit and a Bering Sea quota boat? Is it willing to front the costs of marine-safety experts and naval architects? Is the fee a contingency, with nothing owed unless you recover? And will an attorney — not a case manager — handle your file? Choate Law Firm answers yes to all six, and has since 1980.

Why Choate Law Firm

We are based in Juneau, on Alaska's working waterfront — not in Seattle, and not a Lower-48 firm with an "Alaska practice." Founder Mark Choate (J.D., Seattle University School of Law, 1980; graduate of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College) has tried hundreds of cases to Alaska juries over four decades. Partner Jon Choate (J.D., Harvard Law School, 2010; former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney) adds a second trial lawyer to every serious case. We handle fishing injury cases on a contingency fee: no fee unless we win. Call (907) 586-4490.

Frequently asked questions

I was hurt on a fishing boat — do I get workers' comp? Usually no, and that's good news: as a seaman you get maintenance and cure automatically plus the right to sue for full damages under the Jones Act — typically worth far more than a comp claim.

The company is already paying my medical bills. Do I still have a case? Paying cure is their legal obligation, not a favor — it says nothing about your negligence claim. Many crews are quietly paid maintenance while the company builds its defense.

I'm a processor, not a deckhand. Am I covered? If you work aboard a vessel (catcher-processor, floating processor), you are likely a Jones Act seaman. Shore-plant workers fall under a different system. We can tell you which in one phone call.

How long do I have to file? Generally three years for Jones Act and maritime claims (46 U.S.C. § 30106) — but evidence disappears with the season, and some claims are shorter. Call now, decide later.

What if the injury was partly my fault? You can still recover. Maritime law uses pure comparative fault — your recovery is reduced by your percentage, never barred.

What does it cost? Nothing up front. Contingency fee — we are paid only out of what we recover for you.

Sources

Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 30104: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/30104
Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347 (1995): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/515/347/
Mitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc., 362 U.S. 539 (1960): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/362/539/
Maritime statute of limitations, 46 U.S.C. § 30106: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/30106
Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C. § 30301 et seq.: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/30301
NIOSH — Commercial Fishing Safety: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fishing/about/index.html
NOAA Fisheries — U.S. port landings: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/

Disclaimer

This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes depend on the specific facts of each case. Attorneys at Choate Law Firm LLC are licensed in Alaska, California, Hawaii, New York, and Washington (specific jurisdiction varies by attorney).