Fishery regulation involves onboard observers at sea--a very dangerous job

 Next time you eat a salt water fish, spare a thought for how fisheries are regulated to keep them viable as a common pool resource.  There are catch limits, whose enforcement requires deep sea fishing boats to have onboard inspectors, called observers.  Apparently that's a dangerous job.

The Guardian has the story:

Death at sea: the fisheries inspectors who never came home.  by Bernadette Carreon 

"Being an observer, which involves monitoring fishing practices and catches to make sure boats follow the rules, is a dangerous job that can put observers in conflict with the crews on the vessels on which they are working, often hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometres from the nearest port.

"According to the Association of Professional Observers, there have been over a dozen cases of observers dying on the job since 2009 alone, including three involving Kiribati nationals."

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The Association of Professional Observers maintains a site that includes a page on Observer Deaths and Disappearances, as well as one on Harassment of observers, for example in ways that may compromise their data.