Although the current trend in Europe, and North America is to use safe equipment, usually of commercial manufacture, operated under a set of standard safety guidelines, it has not always been that case. In the past, most equipment was homemade, primarily by fishery workers with little or no electrical experience (Lazauski and Malvestuto, 1990). Accidents were quite frequent with persons often receiving minor shocks, burns and abrasions while operating under the ever present threat of being struck by inexperienced operators. Contrary to Hartley (1975), and despite new commercially built equipment being available, a lot of this homemade equipment still exists. This practice is also particularly prevalent in developing countries where financial constraints prevent the purchase of modern gear.
Part of the problem stems from fisheries personnel being reluctant to part with old equipment in order that standardized catch data can be maintained (Lazauski and Malvestuto, 1990). However, as new regulations and policy comes into place, many of these units are having to be upgraded or replaced.
Safety and reliability, however, are still of concern, for example, in 1982, Lazauski and Malvestuto (1990) conducted a survey in the USA and determined that there were over 450 reported incidents of minor shocks due to electric fishing with ten persons admitted to hospital and two reported deaths. Considering these were only the reported incidents and the responses were from only 74% of the 50 states and five of ten federal laboratories, it is a rather staggering number. Additionally, these figures do not include the other electric fishing accidents quite unconnected to electrical causes.
Due to the ever present dangers and continual reports of accidents and close calls, many jurisdictions (often prompted by fisheries workers) have started to police themselves. These agencies should be commended for their efforts. Additionally, more papers have been appearing in the primary literature which extol the virtues of electric fishing safety (Hartley, 1975; Lippett, 1978; Reynolds, 1983; NJH&SCWS, 1983; Eloranta et al. 1990, Hickley and Millwood 1990) and increase our awareness of the need for proper equipment construction (Novotny and Priegel, 1974; Hickley, 1985; Williams, 1984).
