Senators Maria Cantwell and Olympia Snowe can make fishing-vessel safety a priority

Two senators on opposite coasts, each from a state with a rich maritime tradition, are key to passing legislation requiring the first overhaul of standards and inspections for the nation's fishing fleet.

Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell chairs the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe is the subcommittee's senior Republican member.

The Senate has been the Bermuda Triangle of vessel-safety legislation, and it will take purposeful effort by these two lawmakers to address a fundamental flaw in overseeing an industry with the nation's highest worker fatality rate.

Commercial fishing is so lethal that a reality TV show on the Discovery Channel, "Deadliest Catch," is one of the highest-rated cable offerings. In breathless prose, viewers are assured, "the seas are rougher, the stakes are higher," for these celebrity captains and crews.

Eyes turn toward the Senate even before legislation leaves the House. A similar bill was voted out of the House in 2008, only to disappear in the Senate.

The difference, as explained by Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton, in a detailed June 28 article, is the investment of time and interest by Minnesota Rep. James Oberstar, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Oberstar, long a champion of worker safety, saw the lethal gap in safety efforts: fishing-vessel construction standards. The House bill looks at design, construction, maintenance and operating standards for new vessels. Safety standards are phased in for older boats, and sets a 2020 deadline for all vessels to meet.

A Coast Guard analysis of 934 U.S. deaths between 1992 and 2007 assigned 55 percent of the fatalities to vessels flooding, capsizing or sinking. Most of the fatalities in the fleet, in the same time period, were on vessels between 50 and 79 feet long. No safe operating guidelines exist, new boats are not approved by naval architects and inspections of all vessels are voluntary.

Survival rates improved over the years, but it took the worst sorts of disasters to require emergency beacons, survival suits and Coast Guard-approved life rafts. Commercial fishing is 28 times more hazardous than ordinary jobs, and multiples more dangerous than logging, the next-deadliest job.

The known weakness in a harsh, unforgiving workplace is the vessel. The House has a well-researched piece of legislation before it this summer. Chances are good for passage.

The legislative hazard exists in the Senate. Cantwell and Snowe can make a lifesaving difference for their constituents, their families and the source of their livelihood.