Fishing and workboat crew medicine
Written for the operator, cited to the rule
The medical realities of commercial fishing and workboat operations: what a small crew carries, who they call, and how operators keep a season staffed.
Most maritime medical content is written for cruise and merchant fleets. Fishing vessels have smaller crews, longer isolation and their own rule set, including 46 CFR 28.210 for the medicine chest. Discovery Health MD was founded in Seattle around exactly this work.
What medical equipment and guides must a ship carry?
The guide operators open first
21 CFR 1301.25 explained, for the people who have to comply with it
- August 5, 2026
Answers operators and search engines look for
US commercial fishing industry vessels have medicine-chest requirements under 46 CFR 28.210. What goes in it depends on the vessel, route and crew size. See MedChest.
46 CFR part 28 sets the first aid and medicine chest duties, and there is no federal crew fitness certificate for fishing crew. The full set of obligations is in US commercial fishing vessel medical requirements.
The free radio medical advice service is the baseline. The harder calls are whether to evacuate and what the chest can treat in the meantime, set out in when to medevac a seafarer and Alaska fishing vessel medical compliance.
Yes. The company was founded in Seattle in 2016 around commercial fishing and workboat operations, and Alaska Sea Grant risk-management guidance names Discovery Health as a provider of remote medical advice to Alaska fishing fleets.
Reading about compliance is not the same as being compliant
- ✓ Physician-led review, not a sales call
- ✓ Every flag state and voyage type
- ✓ One team for all three services
- ✓ We reply within one business day
Call our physician team
888.683.7988