Alaska fishermen have embraced a project that will result in many saved lives.

Over the past year, more than 200 Alaska fishermen field-tested personal flotation devices -- PFDs -- as part of a life-saving project by federal safety specialists. Fatalities from falls overboard are the leading cause of fishing deaths. But fishermen resist wearing PFDs and a goal is to find out why.

"Since 1990 there have been 83 commercial fishermen who have died from falls overboard. None was wearing a PFD. Many were in minutes of being rescued when they lost strength and drowned. In those cases it very clearly could have been prevented with a PFD," said Devin Lucas, project leader with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

The project targeted trawl, longline, crabbers and salmon fisheries, and randomly assigned six new styles of PFDs to fishermen in Dutch Harbor, King Salmon, Kodiak, Homer, Seward and Bristol Bay. Each wore the PFD while working for 30 days and then rated it on comfort, how hot or cumbersome it was, and any modifications they might suggest.

Jennifer Lincoln, head of the NIOSH Commercial Fishing Safety Research and Design program, said she was amazed at the response by fishermen.

"Eighty-nine percent of the guys who tested the PFDs returned their forms -- that is almost unheard of. You'd expect 30-40 percent would be a respectable response rate. Fishermen really gave us the information we were asking," Lincoln said.

Read the rest of this story at The Anchorage Daily News here: http://alaskarepossessions.com/Fishermen test personal flotation devices