There is no doubt that just because it's not "deadliest catch" it's not dangerous.

RIP to the dude and peace to his fam.

Edit// a good reminder to everyone about life jackets.

It's very sad and happens all too often. Three people harvesting clams in a 12-foot skiff in a chop is never a good idea.

I remember clamming with my dad (rip) and we never went into the water. Now I see why he wouldn't. Since then I've seen people do all sorts of things but it's supposed to be a good time.

Life jackets, but also learn to swim. It was shocking when I found out how many fisherman in my town can’t swim, don’t wear life jackets, and go out alone.

On a whole it's alarming how many people cannot swim. Honestly it's like taxes, insurance, first aid, etc. On the list of things we SHOULD be teaching in basic education.

The ability to swim doesn't mean much in 35-40 degree water. You are likely to die even with a life jacket if they don't pull you out in a few minutes.

I agree with you, 71 percent of the earth is covered in water your bound to run across it at some point.

The others literally survived because they swam to shore. I’m certainly not saying the other man died because he couldn’t swim, maybe he could, because as you say cold water kills. But the ability to swim is still prettt important for working on the water.

> There were life jackets on board the boat but the three were not wearing them.

Another death that occurred by easily-preventable stupidity.

Wear your life jackets, folks.

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Don't know the details in this case but, you're right, we shouldn't be quick to make assumptions about swimming ability or even life jackets.

Cold water kills, sometimes even if the victim knew how to swim.

https://www.coldwatersafety.org/

To be clear, they weren't clamming in the skiff; they'd just been harvesting at an island and were crossing the river back to land, presumably with a load of clams as well as the 3 people.

Remember the 50/50/50 Rule:

If you’re 50 yards from shore, and the water is below 50 degrees, you have a 50/50 chance of making it back alive.

[deleted]

Did you even read my comment?

Very good rule of thumb. Although in Maine in March, it’s probably more like 10% chance of survival. Always stay with the boat if you can

The boat sank

Stay if you can.

That sounds terrifying. Everyone should learn to swim, but it should be a fucking requirement for getting a fishing permit and I’m kinda shocked it’s not. I kinda doubt this was the issue this time (that water’s frigid this time of year) but like… what?

You don't even need to know how to swim to buy and operate a consumer-grade boat.