At least 24,000 fishermen die at sea each year, making fishing probably the most dangerous occupation in the world, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a report released Monday.
The figure is ''unacceptable'', said the FAO in its annual report on the State of Fisheries and Acquaculture, calling on nations to adopt its 1995 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
The Code provides a necessary framework to ensure sustainable fishing and if implemented could help save lives, it said.
''In many developing countries the consequence can be devastating'' because without a welfare state and no alternative source of income ''widows and their children may face destitution''.
''Human behaviour or error is estimated to be responsible for 80 percent of accidents in the fishing industry,'' said the report, which stressed that ''safety at sea is a serious problem in both developing and developed countries''.
''The main cause of accidents and loss of life in the fishing industry is not only poorly designed, constructed or equipped vessels, but inappropriate human behaviour, sometimes compounded by error, negligence or ignorance''.
