The Deadliest Catch: Discovery Channel on crabbing

[jhlurie]

Info: http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/splash.html

The claim seems to be that this is one of the most hazardous jobs on the planet--with a 100% injury rate and pay as high as $140K for a single five day assignment.

The show sounds... interesting.

[fifi]

I think I have seen it, or one like it. It sure makes you appreciate that crab.

[mizducky]

IIRC, Discovery Channel did have a version of this show on before--it was a special, and now I'm not remembering if it was a one- or two-parter. Looking over the crew on the various boats, I recognize at least one man from the previous show (a greenhorn then, he survived going overboard, a rather spectacular incident; the site refers to this having happened to him last crabbing season). I'm guessing the original show must have been a pilot, and now they're going ahead with a series.

When I lived in Seattle, I knew a couple of different people who would regularly go up to Alaska to work in the commercial fisheries. They weren't into the crabbing as far as I know, but to hear one of them tell it, all the work on deck hauling in sea-critters could be pretty darned dangerous.

Edited April 6, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[Peachpie9]

Jhlurie,

Thanks for posting this. I rarely watch TV, so appreciate heads up on stuff like this.

Trying to think if there's anything I would NOT do if someone paid me $140K for five days of it. Hmmm. Kill people. Hurt children. Steal. Eat spiders.

April 12, 2005 is my husband's and my 30th wedding anniversary. Probably I will record the crab show to watch at a later date. Thanks again.

Catherine

[Luckylies]

damn, I've got a reservation at March...guess I'll have to tape this one. it sounds so interesting!

[Andrew Fenton]

Wow. I'm totally gonna watch that.

The irony is that I've spent some of my most relaxing, lazy summer afternoons on the dock crabbing for blue crabs in Savannah and the Jersey Shore...

[jhlurie]

The irony is that I've spent some of my most relaxing, lazy summer afternoons on the dock crabbing for blue crabs in Savannah and the Jersey Shore...

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I suppose we should be specific then, that this is about people who haul 700-pound crab pots around in icy, freezing arctic weather, while riding 40 foot waves (sometimes the boats are almost riding sideways, I believe) in search of Alaskan King crabs. These guys work from four to twelve days just once per year, in order to pay for an entire year of living expenses, and are probably dead drunk the rest of the year.

Although apparently this is all changing. Half the danger is supposedly because they are in such an all-fire rush to grab as much as possible in that short season, but apparently Alaska is now switching to a longer season with quotas rather than a race-against-the-clock free-for-all.

[Mayhaw Man]

These guys work from four to twelve days just once per year, in order to pay for an entire year of living expenses, and are probably dead drunk the rest of the year. 

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Actually, though I am not involved in pulling crab traps from freezing arctic waters, this more or less describes my natural work ethic.

There was another program, that I cannot find right now in Google, but that I believe was a National Geographic show, about these guys. They earn the dough. It's a very tough gig.

[jhlurie]

Imagine slipping on the inevitably icy deck, when cresting a 40 foot tall wave, and dropping 700 pounds of metal on your foot.

Bam! Bye, bye, foot!

[WolfChef]

I had a cousin who went off to Alaska to make his fortune on the crab boats. He was back within a week I found out later. Dad said that they had to come get him off the boat with a helocopter at his expense halfway through day one. His fortune was a net loss of over ten grand. But that's far better than buying the farm, I guess.

Edited April 6, 2005 by AgaCooker (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

The irony is that I've spent some of my most relaxing, lazy summer afternoons on the dock crabbing for blue crabs in Savannah and the Jersey Shore...

←

I suppose we should be specific then, that this is about people who haul 700-pound crab pots around in icy, freezing arctic weather, while riding 40 foot waves (sometimes the boats are almost riding sideways, I believe) in search of Alaskan King crabs. These guys work from four to twelve days just once per year, in order to pay for an entire year of living expenses, and are probably dead drunk the rest of the year.

Oh, I realize that we're talking about a whole 'nother kind of crab and a whole 'nother kind of crabbing here. With blue crabs, you either set out a pot or just dangle a chicken neck on a string: no danger, no stress. Also, I'm more likely to be dead drunk while crabbing than after.

Well, after too.

Edited April 6, 2005 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[johnnyd]

I saw a show like this a while back too. From the trailer, this looks like a better version.

These guys remind me of the Urchin Diving biz years ago. How many times did I hear guys say "I'm retiring after this year,"? A million at least. It took a certain type to handle the weather and the physical toll. Most of them were back the next year though.

We thought we were a bit luckier than the Alaskan crabbers because we were already in the water, covered head to toe in a dry suit and wool sweaters. We didn't make as much money (but $1k days were common) still, we didn't have 700lb crab pots dangling above us in 20 foot swells. We had our share of accidents and fatalities too. Very sad but sometimes painfully boneheaded. I learned that If you don't pay attention at all times to absolutely everything you are open to bigtime risk. The littlest oversight can kill you. That heightened sensitivity to my surroundings has never gone away.

Will I be watching this? You bet. But I have this feeling I've been there.

[Peachpie9]

Maybe the TV special will explain this, but if these guys spend the rest of the year dead drunk, no wonder the injury probablility is 100%! I can't imagine taking on work like that unless I was very fit and stone cold sober.

Catherine

ARE women allowed on these boats, BTW?

Edited April 6, 2005 by Peachpie9 (log)

[johnnyd]

ARE women allowed on these boats, BTW?

It's considered bad luck! ... and no whistling allowed. ...and don't paint your hull blue. ...and...

[Peachpie9]

ARE women allowed on these boats, BTW?

It's considered bad luck! ... and no whistling allowed. ...and don't paint your hull blue. ...and...

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Thanks, JohnnyD. I read up a little since I posted that, and the literature didn't preclude the idea of female workers per se, but it DID say that there is absolutely no privacy on the boats. The bathroom facilites are out in the open and shared by all. Sounds pretty romantic to me!

Catherine

[jhlurie]

Lets just say that apparently working these boats is a real Hemingway-type experience. Lots of grunting.

[johnnyd]

Suffice to say superstitions abound in the fishing world.

[winesonoma]

Lets just say that apparently working these boats is a real Hemingway-type experience.  Lots of grunting.

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Lets say Life or Death. Until you have been out in an ocean gone mad, you have no idea. Hemingway-type experience My ass.

Edited April 7, 2005 by winesonoma (log)

[scordelia]

These guys remind me of the Urchin Diving biz years ago. How many times did I hear guys say "I'm retiring after this year,"? A million at least.  It took a certain type to handle the weather and the physical toll.  Most of them were back the next year though.

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Yeah, I used to work on a lobster boat in Maine and knew a bunch of urchin and scallop divers. It's hard work but good money--especially since the Japanese prefer winter urchins. They claim that in the summer that urchins crawl into the lobster pots (which they do) and eat the bait (rotten herring heads) and that ruins the taste of the urchin (how can you tell? they are foul anyway). It's hard to give it up. It's also like the guys who work longliners for tuna and swordfish--it's dangerous, lonely and cold but each trip can pay tens of thousands.

Edited April 9, 2005 by scordelia (log)

[johnnyd]

I missed the show last night, another testament to my dead-on sense of organization.

For those who are as interested but as addle-pated as I, here is a schedule of re-runs for the month of April '05.

[Rebel Rose]

I suppose we should be specific then, that this is about people who haul 700-pound crab pots around in icy, freezing arctic weather, while riding 40 foot waves (sometimes the boats are almost riding sideways, I believe) in search of Alaskan King crabs.  These guys work from four to twelve days just once per year, in order to pay for an entire year of living expenses, and are probably dead drunk the rest of the year.

We watched part of it last night--up until the part that they were going back to their sister boat to pull two men out of the water and two helicopters arrived. Granted, these waters are so cold that survival time with a survival coat is less than twenty minutes, and granted, filming in rough weather is almost impossible, and granted, no helicopter pilot in his right mind is going to go out in rough weather just for a film, and granted, the actual conditions are undoubtedly rough, but . . .my SO said, "What the h***? How did the guy fall in the water in the first place? There's not a cloud in the sky and there's no waves." And he changed the channel. Back to Rachel Ray.

I hope someone else got to see the whole thing.

[Oyster Guy]

Whether or not the guys spend the rest of the year drunk is irrelevant and I personally wouldn't blame them if they did.

Having experienced rough seas on both the Atlantic and Pacific in various fishing boats, I have nothing but respect for them myself.

I am glad to hear they have lengthened the season so that it is no longer a rushed free-for-all as it has been in the past.

A lot of fatalities came from simple exhaustion more than anything else.

It's hard to pay attention when you are dead tired and if you are not watching where you put your feet when they send the pots over the side and your foot gets caught in the rope, you are are on your way to the bottom of the Bering Sea in no time flat.

The money might be good but what good is money if you're dead?

Oyster Guy

[scordelia]

For those of us who missed it, Discovery has been re-running the first 3 episodes. It's pretty good, a little repetitive at times and overly dramatic, but interesting.

Next episode, the red king season will close after only 80 hours, but then they steam off because another crab season opens in the Bering sea.

[johnnyd]

Caught a re-run last night where they hear the season closure announced. I'm glad they are covering several boats at once to see the differences in gear, technique and morale. Boy those crabs are huge.

[Lone Star]

The irony is that I've spent some of my most relaxing, lazy summer afternoons on the dock crabbing for blue crabs in Savannah and the Jersey Shore...

←

I suppose we should be specific then, that this is about people who haul 700-pound crab pots around in icy, freezing arctic weather, while riding 40 foot waves (sometimes the boats are almost riding sideways, I believe) in search of Alaskan King crabs. These guys work from four to twelve days just once per year, in order to pay for an entire year of living expenses, and are probably dead drunk the rest of the year.

Oh, I realize that we're talking about a whole 'nother kind of crab and a whole 'nother kind of crabbing here. With blue crabs, you either set out a pot or just dangle a chicken neck on a string: no danger, no stress. Also, I'm more likely to be dead drunk while crabbing than after.

Well, after too.

←

That was my first thought when I saw the title. How dangerous can a chicken neck and a piece of string be?