by cassie larue
The Deadliest Catch aired its first season on the Discovery Channel back in April of 2005. Due to its success, it recently completed its third season. The show is a documentary-style fishing journey that follows fishing boats into the Bering Sea to fish for Alaskan king crabs and Opilio crab (sold as snow crabs) to document the events aboard these boats. The show started after a special on Discovery called the The Worlds Deadliest Jobs and a three-part special series called America’s Deadliest Season. The series was well received.
According to the Division of Employment Security, commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Some may think you can go out for a few weeks and make mad money, but that is not always the case because of recent market conditions. A person will get paid with a cut of the profits made during that season or trip according to their work experience and other expertise, such as engineering or medicine. A greenhorn is someone that is inexperienced and will make less money than the more experienced deckhand, who can work faster and safer. The Captain owns the boat and will go where he decides that pots need to be dropped.
The pots are large metal cages weighing around 800 pounds that are baited and dropped into the deep sea tied to a long rope which is attached to a buoy. The boat will return to pick it back up, hopefully filled with king crab. One of the crew, usually the most experienced, will reach way out of the boat with a hook as the boat quickly passes by, to hook the the buoy and connect it to a chain to be reeled in. The gigantic waves easily knock people over or swish them right overboard. You cannot miss any of the buoys because then the boat must turn around, using up precious time.
In the first season, the fishing was done under the old derby style, wherein the boats compete with each other under a restricted time limit. This seemed fair and logical, but it was not safe. Boats would often do daring things such as venture into dangerous waters and storms to get to the king crab first. This type of fishing is fast, furious, competitive and cutthroat. Due to recent changes in Alaskan legislature, the fishing is now on an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) system. The well-established fishing crews are given a quota that they can easily fill, therefore they go at a much slower, safer pace. This has changed the fishery and the docks in Alaska drastically. Hundreds of dock and deckhand jobs have been lost.
The Deadliest Catch has documented the loss of one of the boats in the first season with 5 out of the 6 crew members perishing as the Big Valley fishing boat sank on January 15, 2005. The Alaskan Monarch and the Ocean Challenger sank in season three with one survivor from the Ocean Challenger and the whole crew rescued from the Alaskan Monarch. The show follows 10 boats each season and every episode is about one of the fishing boats.
The action of the show depicts the events that occur while working, occasional interactions with other boats, and the human drama that unfolds between Captain and crew. Medical emergencies can be devastating, because getting to medical attention can take days, if weather and transportation become issues, and it can mean a complete loss of profits for the entire crew. This show captures the serious dangers for these brave crewmembers and gives the viewer backgrounds on some of the crew, especially the greenhorns and the long-timer Captains.
The recent season had two film crews who live on the boats and film with handheld cameras in addition to the five mounted cameras on each boat. They added an underwater camera to capture the king crab entering into the pots and a helicopter to film from above. Using a chase boat and a submersible watercraft to all of these other camera positions, The Deadliest Catch enjoyed its most visual season yet. Each $20,000 camera needs to be replaced after each season, due to the saltwater corrosion and weathering.
This is an exciting insight to the dangers and the drive of the hardcore committed Alaskan fisherman who do this for the money and excitement of the catch, plus, I’d like to think, to bring delicious crab to the rest of us. Phil of the Cornelia Marie said, “You go through a couple marriages, smoke cigarettes like it’s going out of style, your body aches from the time you get up to the time you go to bed, and you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about where you’re going to put the next pot. Yeah, it’s a great lifestyle.”
The Deadliest Catch airs on July 19th at 10 am and 9 pm, on July 20th at 1 am and 10 am, and on July 23rd and 24th at 10 am on The Discovery Channel. For more information visit discovery.com.
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