Comments on: Why don’t the Deadliest Catch crab boats use cameras?

By: franky

franky — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:40:00 +0000

It’s been tried. I spent 8 years crabing up there and saw countless ideas that failed. In the end it’s some ground hearing and a couple of cod hanging in the pot is what draw the crab in. As far as being relatively shallow; it is relatively shallow compared to the 5000 foot depths beyond the chain but King Crab are still 200 to 500 feet down and Opilio even deeper, and Brown or Golden Crab deeper yet. I remember fishing Brown King Crab at 400 fathoms (2400 feet). If you think the deadliest catch seems dangerous you should ask discovery to film Crabbing by long line out on the chain. It is Crabbing on steroids. I measure all I do in my life against the time I spent up there and nothing compares. Not even a tour in Iraq with the National Guard as a Cav Scout seemed dangerous. War by comparison is mild. It makes me proud. It makes me think how lucky I was to not even sustain a serious injury in 8 years and how Mark JJ Mateuski was killed on his first trip. I often and think of the three men I called friends aboard the Pace Setter. Not a day passes without some reflection of my time in Alaska. If you are considering giving it a go, think long and hard about how much misery you can withstand without folding. Yes the work is difficult, and the hours are long but for me it was the compounding misery that made the biggest impact. Cold, wet, tired, sweaty, unshowered, sore, salt burning the eyes, fingers smashed, dinged in the head with a door, slip on a heavy roll, etc etc. WHAT IS YOUR LIMIT?

By: Marilyln Anderson

Marilyln Anderson — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:09:10 +0000

I am 75 years old, and enjoy the show immensly. I have trophy’s for Walleye’s which I won many years ago, but fishing for crab is really somthing.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:14:42 +0000

The answer is that of visibility and the darkness of the water. A camera wouldn’t see anything past about 5-10 feet in the water, meaning that you would have to drag it dangerously close to the bottom to see the crab. Being that close to the bottom in those rough seas means that the camera would be beaten against the bottom countless times and break sooner than you can get your money’s worth.

By: jojo

jojo — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:00:57 +0000

great show, cant argue about that, but their all pu**ies

By: JK24

JK24 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:16:24 +0000

Chrispbrew,

Regarding the “I know its a little windy out there guys, but we need to cover the pots to keep from tipping over” decision by Keith…didn’t they show Phil Harris from the CM at the very beginning of the show say “I’d never go out in this weather with that many pots on deck?” So Keith, being an experienced captain and all should not have been caught off guard by the weather…maybe he could have put the tarp over the pots before leaving the harbor.
His would be the last boat to work on for sure. Life as a greenhorn is terrible. There’s a constant urnover due to Keith and his meathead brother constantly beating up on them for every mistake while they do all the shit work and while Keith and the meathead conveniently avoid paying full deckhand wages. They hire kids with no idea what they are getting into who beg off the ship as soon as they get a chance, probably loosing out on wages as well. I think they are in deep on such a big boat and have to do all they can to keep it afloat.

Regarding the pots, does the gate on them close and latch automatically once they begin pulling them up off the bottom?

By: chrispbrew

chrispbrew — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:19:10 +0000

Continuing on my point. Recently Keith on the Wizard did one of the most boneheaded things I could imagine a skipper ever doing. When he put his crew out on the bow to cover the pots with tarp! As skipper he looks at his crew and says “this is going to work, right?”. At which point I yell at the TV and say, “hey dude it’s your idea and your the skipper, that isn’t a question you point towards your poor crew”. and the result was all too predictable. Keith is very lucky he didn’t kill three of his crew-members including his own brother. On that show, Kieth is easily the last person I would work for. Endangering the crew almost needlessly for a half baked idea like spreading a tarp over the pots in high seas is a huge no no in my book. Talk about a confidence killer to the crew.

Keith felt he needed to cover the pots because he knew he was in danger of capsizing. Why? because the pots are so heavy and any ice collected on them would doom the Wizard. Which brings me to the point about the pots again. Why have such heavy equipment when it is so potentially dangerous to crew and your ship? Wouldn’t a lighter weight pot allow much safer crabbing in the Winter? Yes, absolutely. Just one of many reasons to look into some innovation.

By: chrisprew

chrisprew — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:02:15 +0000

Sure the methods make sense and have a certain tried and true way about them. But this thread raises a very good point. I am unconvinced that the crabbing method I see on DC is the most efficient and I believe it can be made to be safer.

I am pretty sure that on an earlier season I saw one boat using a stern delivery system to launch the pots. So we can know for a fact that other methods are considered. And in my estimation the stern method looks far more safe and far less physically draining. I would add that it seems the most dangerous moment is the casting of the pots over the side where crew members are constantly in danger of getting tangled in the line.

Seems to me that many if not all the captains already bank on losing gear each season. I keep hearing upwards to 30k or even 100k of gear when they let the water freeze on top of them.

Alternative, lighter materials for the pots is not exotic at all. I keep hearing these pots are steel. Is Aluminum exotic? As for being their own anchor, I don’t think this has been objectively proven. That sounds like a pre-determined conclusion rather than some objective fact. It would be interesting to see if someone has actually tried a lighter type pot to prove this point.

We get our answer on this topic almost every week on the show. Almost every captain makes some reference to “it’s how we do it, it’s our way, and we are proud of it”. I even believe Edgar said once, “there’s a right way and a wrong way and then theirs the Norwegian way.” Which is of course quoting a famous unofficial statement used commonly in the Navy. It’s the way Sea-fairing types are. Resistent to change. I believe Edgar made that comment after the newbie Jake started questioning the methods used.

It has nothing to do with smarts or lack of desire to make the system safer and easier It’s just the culture of the SEa is how I see it. But the day will come when crabbing will become so expensive, the profit margin so thin that innovation wil be necessary or go out of business.

By: s

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:02:03 +0000

what happened to the maverick

By: BigGuy

BigGuy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:33:39 +0000

Phil doesn’t need a camera because he tracks them by their flatulence.
Seriously, I’d wondered about that myself. Also wondered about better ways to get the pots aboard. Thanks to the old salts for explaining it. You guys make it seem obvious.
No apologies or shame for asking though. Yeah, these guys seem plenty smart, but if nothing ever changed they’d still be going to sea under canvas and using oil for light. It was a fair question. I appreciate the well informed answers.

By: Dan The Man

Dan The Man — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:19:35 +0000

Hey, you all, watched the show three times and are wondering why cameras won’t be practical. These men have been crabing these seas for three generations . Do you think it might have crossed any of their minds to use cameras in their combined 100’s of years out at sea fishing for these critters?
THE ANSWER IS - IT WOULD COST TOO MUCH AND WOULD NOT WORK OR BE HELPFUL. So let’s all talk about something else like a good recipe for stuffed crab.