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> Here is the drug testing issue from my point of view. > > (Kent, you still live in Alaska, stop me when I am wrong) [long story snipped] Scott: I haven't seen much random testing up here. Most of the at-sea fisheries work on vessels and processors is short-term contract work. You sign a 2-4 month contract in Seattle, go do a physical and drug test, hop a plane to Alaska, work at sea for for a couple months then hop a plane home. Every time you go back up it's usually a new contract and you repeat the process except that you usually only have to do a physical once a year. It's probably very similar to the oil rig work in the Gulf of Mexico actually. When I was doing this, most of the big fisheries companies would send their applicants to Ballard Hospital in Seattle to pee in a cup so on any given day you might see a dozen or more fishermen sitting around the waiting room of Ballard Hospital waiting to pee in a cup. Most of the boats also had on-board drug test kits so if they hire anyone off the docks in Alaska the ship's medic just does the test and sends off the results. You don't even get to setp onto any documented fishing boat or processor in Alaska without peeing in a cup. Some of the bigger companies running factory trawlers or processors may also do random tests. I was always working as a Federal observer so I never had to deal with that. As for the rest of your message about the injustice of it all. You have no argument from me. I'm not an advocate of drug testing at all. It rubs me the wrong way just like it does you. The only reason I started this thread was to point out that drug testing was probably not something that the dive shop in question thought up on their own. It is required by law for companies employing people at sea. But just because I'm uncomfortable about drug testing from a civil rights standpoint doesn't mean I think anyone should be working at sea under the influence of any kind of legal or illegal drug. The Bering Sea is a dangerous enough place to work without having to worry about whether that guy operating a deck crane over your head in icy 20 ft seas is wasted or drunk. I will say this though. Given what I've seen working at sea in the industrial fishing industry, I am absolutely positive that drug and alcohol use would be totally rampant were it not for drug testing and zero tolerance by the companies. The industry has to be super hard-assed about it or drug use would explode instantly. The way it works now, you get caught smuggling drugs or booze onto any factory trawler or processor in Alaska and you will find your ass booted off immediately and with extreme prejudice. None of this counseling crap. You will find youself standing on the dock of some lonely fishing outpost on the Bering Sea without even a plane ticket home. And that's the way it should be. Most of the companies actually search allc crew members bags for drugs, booze, and weapons before even letting them on board. Like it or not, that's how things are done in the world of industial fishing. Kent Lind Juneau, Alaska -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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