You’re miles offshore, working a long shift hauling heavy dredge gear over slippery decks. Your gloves are soaked. Your body aches. You’ve done this hundreds of times without incident, but today, something goes wrong. A snapped cable, a shifting dredge, or just one misstep, and suddenly you’re down.
This is the brutal reality of scallop fishing. When the equipment fails or the crew is pushed past their limits, serious injuries happen. If you’ve been hurt dredging for scallops, you’re not alone. The experienced maritime lawyers at Hofmann & Schweitzer are here to help protect your rights.
How Scallops Are Harvested—and Why It's So Dangerous
Scallop fishing relies on heavy dredges dragged along the ocean floor to collect shellfish. These dredges are deployed and retrieved using hydraulic winches, cables, and mechanical systems that operate under extreme tension. Deckhands work near moving equipment, on slippery surfaces, and in unpredictable sea conditions.
The Dredge System: Power and Peril
The process seems straightforward: lower the dredge to the seabed, haul it back up, and dump the catch. But every step involves risk. Cables can snap under load. Hydraulic systems can fail without warning. Dredges swing wildly as the vessel rolls, creating crush zones anywhere on deck. Fishermen must stay alert through long shifts in freezing conditions, and exhaustion compounds every hazard.
Fatigue Increases the Risk
Scallop trips often last days, with crews working rotating shifts around the clock. Sleep deprivation slows reaction times and impairs judgment. Even experienced deckhands can misjudge distance or timing when they're running on empty.
Five Types of Scallop Fishing Accidents
Accidents in this industry can end careers, require surgeries, and reshape lives. They include:
- Entanglement in cables or gear. Lines under tension can catch clothing, limbs, or tools, pulling fishermen into machinery or overboard. The force involved makes escape nearly impossible without immediate help.
- Crushing injuries from swinging dredges. A fully loaded dredge can weigh multiple tons. When it shifts unexpectedly, anyone in its path faces broken bones, internal trauma, or other catastrophic injuries.
- Falls on slippery decks. Water, fish slime, and constant motion create treacherous footing. Falls can result in fractures, head injuries, or spinal damage, especially when workers land on metal equipment.
- Hydraulic system failures. When winches malfunction or hoses burst, the sudden release of pressure can cause equipment to drop, lurch, or collapse. Workers nearby may have no time to react.
- Repetitive strain and overexertion. Hours of lifting, pulling, and bending take a toll. Over time, fishermen develop chronic pain, torn muscles, herniated discs, and joint damage that may worsen without intervention.
What Injured Commercial Fishermen Can Do After a Scallop Fishing Injury
The moments after a scallop fishing accident are critical for your health and your possible legal recovery. Even if you think the injury is minor, taking the right steps now can prevent complications down the line. You can begin protecting yourself if you:
Report the Injury Immediately
Notify the captain or vessel owner as soon as possible, even if you can continue working. Delayed reporting can be used against you later to question the severity of your injury or whether it happened on the job. Make sure the incident is logged in the ship's official records.
Seek Medical Attention
Get examined by a doctor at the next opportunity, whether that's onboard, via telehealth, or at the next port. Document everything, including your symptoms, the treatment you receive, and any instructions for follow-up care. Medical records create a clear link between the accident and your injury.
Gather Evidence While It's Fresh
If you're physically able, take photos of the scene, the equipment involved, and your injuries. Identify witnesses who saw what happened. Conditions on fishing vessels change quickly. Evidence may disappear, gear may get repaired, and memories may fade.
Understanding Maritime Law and Your Right to Compensation
Commercial fishermen operate under a different legal framework than land-based workers. Scallop fishing injuries fall under maritime law, which includes protections specifically designed for seamen injured in the course of their employment.
The Jones Act and Seaman Status
The Jones Act allows maritime workers classified as "seamen" to pursue compensation when negligence contributes to their injury. This might include unsafe equipment, inadequate training, insufficient crew size, or failure to maintain the vessel. Unlike workers' compensation, the Jones Act requires proving fault. However, it also allows recovery of damages beyond medical bills and lost wages, including pain and suffering and loss of earning capacity.
To qualify as a seaman, you generally need to spend a significant portion of your time working aboard a vessel or fleet of vessels. Most scallop fishermen meet this definition, but the specifics of your work history matter.
Maintenance and Cure
Regardless of fault, injured seamen are entitled to "maintenance and cure", a form of support that covers basic living expenses and medical care until they reach maximum medical improvement. Maintenance provides a daily stipend for housing and food, while cure covers reasonable medical treatment.
Unseaworthiness Claims
If your injury resulted from a defect in the vessel or its equipment, you may have a separate claim based on unseaworthiness. This legal doctrine holds vessel owners strictly liable when a ship, its gear, or its crew is not reasonably fit for its intended purpose. Unlike the Jones Act, unseaworthiness claims don't require proving negligence.
Maritime injury claims have strict deadlines. Delays in reporting or seeking legal advice can jeopardize your ability to recover compensation.
How a Maritime Injury Lawyer May Help After a Scallop Fishing Injury
Scallop fishing is risky, and insurance companies know it. They may try to downplay your injuries, pressure you into a quick settlement, or argue that you "assumed the risk" by taking the job.
A commercial fishing injury lawyer can:
- Preserve crucial evidence before it’s lost at sea
- File the right claims under the Jones Act or general maritime law
- Negotiate with employers or insurance companies on your behalf
- Fight for full compensation for lost wages, future medical needs, and more
You’ve done your job. When something goes wrong, you deserve answers, care, and justice.
