Maintenance and Cure Rates for 2025 Alaska Fishermen

If you’re injured while working on a vessel in Alaska, your maintenance payments should reflect the actual cost of living there, not just employer-set rates. Many vessel owners underpay maritime workers during recovery, disregarding the higher costs in remote locations.

While this article will address the specific rates and challenges facing Alaska’s commercial fishermen and processors, a detailed explanation of maintenance and cure is available at Maintenance and Cure Medical Treatment Rights.

The True Cost of Living

Alaska’s maintenance rates must accurately represent local expenses. Maintenance is meant to cover your basic living expenses during your recovery from an injury, expenses such as rent, utilities, food, and other necessities. Federal maritime law requires these payments to be reasonable based on your actual circumstances, not an arbitrary figure chosen by your employer.

In Dutch Harbor, one of America’s most expensive and remote communities, the same maintenance rate that works in Seattle might be inadequate. Housing can often cost double or triple what it does in the Lower 48. A gallon of milk can cost $10-12, and fresh produce are at premium prices when available at all.

Kodiak, Nome, and other Alaska ports face similar challenges. The Alaska Department of Labor consistently documents cost of living premiums of 30-60% above the national average for these communities. Your maintenance rate must reflect these realities.

Common Employer Tactics to Avoid Fair Payment

Vessel owners routinely offer Alaska resident workers the same daily rates they pay in Lower 48 cities, arguing that this is their standard rate or that is where the vessel is registered. This method fails to consider local economic conditions or recognized legal precedents. Daily rates must be consistent with the true cost of living in a given location.

Your Medical Treatment Location Rights

Where you receive medical treatment directly impacts your maintenance rate. As an Alaska resident or worker hired in Alaska, you generally have the right to treatment near your home and family. Vessel owners cannot force you to seek treatment in another city simply because it’s cheaper for them. You may be required to seek treatment outside Alaska only if your injury requires specialized care unavailable locally or in the state, or if you were hired outside of Alaska and were only temporarily working these waters. Even then, your employer must cover all transportation costs and adjust maintenance to reflect your actual recovery location.

Choose Your Own Doctor

You are not required to use the fishing company doctor. While your employer must pay for treatment, you can select your own physician when reasonably necessary for proper care. This matters in Alaska, where the company’s preferred doctor might be hundreds of miles away.

Rights for Different Types of Workers

Although there are various kinds of workers and circumstances, all workers retain the right to maintenance and cure.

Seasonal Workers: If you are injured during the season, your employer cannot simply send you home when fishing ends. Your maintenance and cure rights continue until you reach maximum medical improvement, regardless of the calendar.

Share Fishermen: Vessel owners often claim share fishermen aren’t entitled to maintenance and cure. This is false. If you are a crew member working aboard a vessel, you are a seaman with full maintenance and cure rights, regardless of how you’re paid.

Out-of-State Residents: Working in Alaska doesn’t eliminate your rights. If you are injured in Alaska and need immediate treatment, you are entitled to maintenance rates that reflect Alaska costs during your recovery.

It is imperative that you protect your rights by documenting all expenses during your recovery. This includes items such as:

• Housing costs
• Food expenses
• Transportation costs
• Medical expenses

Request appropriate maintenance rates in writing. If your employer refuses to pay Alaska based rates or forces you to leave for treatment, seek legal counsel immediately.

The maritime attorneys at Stacey & Jacobsen, PLLC have decades of experience ensuring that Alaska maritime workers receive fair maintenance and cure benefits. Contact us for a free consultation about your rights under federal maritime law. Offices are located in both Alaska and Washington.