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May 29, 2005
Deadliest Catch
Jim and I have been watching this cool show on The Discovery Channel, Deadliest Catch. It's a reality show that follows a number of Alaskan fishing boats as they travel the Bering Sea in the hopes of making big money off of crabs, particularly Alaskan King Crab. Why do a reality show about fishing? Well, this isn't just any kind of fishing - Alaskan King Crab fishing is one of the world's deadliest jobs with a high injury rate. Unfortunately as the show reflects, there is also a high mortality rate as well. What's so good about this show is that it portrays the reality of what is being filmed a lot more than most reality shows do these days. While I'm sure the crews are still conscious of the cameras and may adjust their behavior accordingly there isn't as much fakeness or exaggeration of behaviors as you would see on reality shows like "The Real World" or "Survivor." Because after all these guys have a job to do and it's not play to the cameras.
Viewers get to know the crews of each ship from the rookie "greenhorns" to the experienced deckhands to the captains of each boats. It's incredible what the crews of these boats go through and how hard they work. First of all, the conditions they have to endure would be unbearable for a lot of people. It's amazing what these men put themselves through in the hopes of a big payday. In a snowstorm many people stay home from work. But not Alaskan crab fisherman. Because the season is so short they can't wait out a storm, they must set huge crab pots and haul them in while it's snowing, in gale force winds, with huge waves crashing over the ship. In addition, they work around the clock often just getting an hour or two of sleep before they have to get back on deck to work their tails off again.
The captains don't just steer the ships either. They must figure out where in the vast Bering Sea to go to find crab, preferably where they can haul in a huge amount in every pot, with no other ships nearby. This involves strategy and a bunch of educated guesswork. Sometimes it pays off big time and sometimes it doesn't. When a ship hauls in a bunch of empty pots the captain must then figure out what to do next - whether to keep fishing in the same area in the hope that the next string of pots will pay off or move on to a different area. In addition, the captain directs the crew and is responsible for their well-being as well. So he has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders.
Each ship has a different feel to it from the ultra-religious, to the family-type atmosphere with one captain's wife on board to cook for the crew, to the discordant atmosphere on one ship in which virtually everything that could go wrong did go wrong for them including having almost their entire catch ruined by the time they got back home. The ship that I, and most other viewers, like the most is the Northwestern, captained by Sig Hansen. There are two other Hansen brothers who are part of the crew and the crew overall has been together for ten years. It shows because they have a great rapport with each other and work really well together. Which pays dividends as they rank among the ships to haul in the most crab each season. One interesting thing about the Northwestern is they are very supersitious and it's interesting to see some of the things that they do in the hopes of bringing good luck and big hauls which of course which equals big money.
As already noted crab fishing in the Bering Sea is dangerous work and the show doesn't shy away from showing it. If someone is swept overboard if they don't have survival gear they will probably drown within minutes and even with survival gear they will only last a limited period of time in the ultra-cold water. So we see one crew member fall overboard and the frantic effort to haul him back in. Ultimately they are successful but he later twists his ankle badly on the deck. However, since the rest of the crew can't haul pots without him he must deal with the pain and work on. During the opi crab season a whole ship is lost. During the big storm, the Big Valley went down with five men on it. Unfortunately even though three men have survival gear, only one of them survives. The show captures the search and rescue effort, including the one survivor who is plucked from the sea, as well as the reaction of the crews of the other ships who hear the news that their fellow fishermen have paid a heavy price for fishing the Bering Sea. Later another man loses his life separately when he is swept overboard off another boat.
It's a ten part series and I'd be interested in The Discovery Channel doing other reality shows like thia that follow people who work in other dangerous jobs. From watching this show I definitely have a better understanding of why Alaskan King Crab is so expensive and I also have a new appreciation for what these men are doing out on the Bering Sea.
Posted by silverdsl at May 29, 2005 05:01 PM