I agree with Rick on this matter. Although my shipboard watch/off watch
experiences were onboard surface navy ships. There still were ~ 8 hour
periods where a crew members absense could go unnoticed.

However, a surface navy ship has lookouts on watch 24 hours a day. One or
more of these lookouts is assigned to watch from the stern or some other
elevated location that overlooks the stern wake of the ship. Of course,
there are an abundance of available watch standers on a navy ship. On a
commercial vessel these watch standers may not be.

Another thought. Over the past few years the USCG has been requiring more
and more safety equipment to be made available to commercial fishermen. Most
noteably in the N. Pac fish industry, the cold water survival suits. I'm
wondering how much longer it will be before they require man-over-board
beacons for crew and locator systems onboard. The technology is there!!

Just my thoughts, FWIW.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions