A couple of folks have sent in questions or posted comments asking if and when Season Four of Deadliest Catch will be airing on the Discovery Channel.  At first I heard rumors about an October 2007 return with new episodes, but now it sounds like it may be March of April 2008, according to the Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2007/06/18/2007-06-18_inner_tube.html

Either way, it sounds like Discovery’s made the right choice and has ordered another action-packed season from Original Productions.  If this last season is anything to go by, these guys still have lots of new tricks up their sleeve.  The deep-sea submersible camera, which apparently didn’t work out very well in season 3 because of inclement weather, may make another appearance, providing some dramatic shots of the ocean floor and crab in their natural habitat.  Or the producers and camera crew may figure out some great new way to film a shot… they already use chaser boats, gimbled-cameras on helicopters… heck, they even strap themselves onto hydraulic cranes and lay suspended 30 feet out from the boat just to get a good shot of the deck.  (My personal favorite was the CrabberCam - where they attached a small camera to a skateboard helmet and had one of the deckhands wear it while he worked… you really got a feel for the fisherman’s-eye-view of things.)

Anyway, the important thing is YES, Virginia… there will be a Season Four!  The big questions now are, which boats and captains will be featured?  Phil and Sig are shoo-ins, and it looks like the Time Bandit Brothers will probably stick around.  The Maverick will probably stay in, just so we can see Blake in his transition from deckhand to greenhorn-captain to full-fledged captain.  But what about the others?   I’m not crazy about the Farwest Leader, though I do have a soft-spot in my heart for Ragnhild… the boat I really miss though is the Rollo.  Eric was always good for a snarky comment or a subtle witticism, and his crew was constantly pulling pranks for the camera.  Maybe the production guys thought they were trying too hard to make “good television”?  Who knows.  But of all the captains I always liked Eric, just as much as Sig or Phil, if only because he seemed like he was cut from a different cloth… a little cleaner and more refined, younger and with a more laid back management style.  He provided a nice contrast with the other salty-dog captains. 

Rogue waves, also known as freak waves, are relatively large and spontaneous ocean surface waves which are a threat even to large ships and ocean liners. In oceanography, they are more precisely defined as waves that are more than double the significant wave height (SWH), which is itself defined as the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave record.

Once thought to be only legendary, they are now known to be a natural ocean phenomenon, not rare, but rarely encountered. Anecdotal evidence from mariners’ testimonies and damages inflicted on ships suggested they occurred; however, their scientific measurement was only positively confirmed following measurements of a rogue wave at the Draupner oil platform in the North Sea on January 1, 1995. During this event, minor damage was inflicted on the platform, confirming that the reading was valid.

In the course of the Project MaxWave, researchers from the GKSS Research Centre, using data collected by ESA satellites, identified a large number of radar signatures that may be evidence for rogue waves. Further research is underway to verify the method that translates the radar echoes into sea surface elevation.

Freak waves have been cited in the media as a likely source of the sudden, inexplicable disappearance of many ocean-going vessels. However, although this is a credible explanation for unexplained losses, there is to date little clear evidence supporting this hypothesis nor any cases where the cause has been confirmed, and the claim is contradicted by information held by Lloyd’s Register. One of the very few cases in which evidence exists that may indicate a freak wave incident is the 1978 loss of the freighter MS München, detailed below. In February 2000, a British oceanographic research vessel sailing in the Rockall Trough west of Scotland encountered the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean.

Read the rest on Rogue Waves at Wikipedia?

While watching the show, you are probably wondering how many different types Alaskan King Crab there are; well, we’ve found that information for you.

The Red King Crab

Caught in the waters of Bristol Bay and Norton Sound, the true red king crab is the most prized species of crab in the world. There was just one major harvest of red king crab in Alaska this winter. The season lasted only 4 days. Over 250 boats participated in the fishery (in the waters of Bristol Bay) and harvested a total of more than 14 million pounds. Alive, red king crab are actually a dark burgundy in color. When they are cooked they turn bright red- with firey-red highlights on the top part of the shell, and especially around the toes. Taste-wise, true red king crab is the best in the world. The meat is snow-white, with highlights of bright red.? Succulent, and served steaming-hot, there is no other meal I would rather have.

The Blue King Crab

Caught in Alaska near St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands, this species is known for its proportionally giant claws. Pribilof Island blue king crab are among the largest crab in the world.? In Dutch Harbor in 1998 I saw blue king crab being unloaded at the dock weighing more than 18 lbs! When they are alive, blue king crab are brown with royal blue highlights. However, when they are cooked they turn a bright orange-red. This is why blue king crab is generally marketed as “red king crab”. Taste-wise, blue king crab is a close second to true red king crab.? When it is available in-season, I like serving blue king crab when I am entertaining guests. They are always amazed at the size of the legs- and especially the claws.

The Golden King Crab

Caught in the waters surrounding the Aleutian chain, brown king crab are the smaller of the three main species. Brown (golden) king crab is similar in taste to blue king crab. These crabs are the smaller cousins to red and blue king crab. They are a good value.

The Scarlet King Crab

Though not commercially marketed, the Bering Sea also holds a fourth type of king crab known as the Scarlet king crab. Though I have never tried this type of king crab, I have heard a tale or two that they have extremely sweet meat. Scarlet king crab have neither the size nor population to sustain a commercial harvest.

A Map of Where the King Crab Hang Out:?

Information from King Crab 101 - Alaskan King Crab Facts?

Want to know the facts about Crab Fishing? The folks at the Discovery Channel have put together a pretty good list of helpful facts when you are watching the series to better understand Crab Fishing and the toughness the guys must have to do it.

Facts about The Fishing:

• The most lucrative Alaskan crab fisheries occur in the fall and winter; the seasons are often short, lasting less than four weeks. In the Bering Sea specifically, the two most active months are October and January.
• Each season, approximately 250 crab fishing boats converge on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in search of Alaskan king crab.
• Crab vessels cost several million dollars to build, and tens of thousands of dollars to operate annually.
• The boats range in size from 40 to 200 feet; each crew typically consists of one captain and three to nine deckhands.
• Because the sonar used on most fishing boats is downward-pointing, it doesn’t detect crabs that are right against or buried in the ocean floor. Furthermore, since it is impossible to predict where adult male crabs will be (unless it’s spring, which is mating season), captains must rely on intuition to find the best crabbing location.
• To catch the crabs, fishermen use 700-pound steel traps (”pots”) baited with ground herring, squid, sardines and cod, which are dropped 400 feet below the ocean’s surface.
• On average, the pots measure 7 feet by 7 feet by 3 feet, and soak anywhere from five to 24 hours before being hauled back on deck.

Facts about The Crabs:

• Only male king crabs measuring 6.5 inches and snow crabs measuring 4 inches from spine to spine are kept; females and juveniles are tossed back into the sea.
• In some fisheries, as many as six crabs are discarded for each legal male kept. Such handling of the discarded crabs can result in distress, injury and possibly death to the crabs.
• As they try to get to the bait, crabs often injure each other. A seriously injured crab serves as bait to the others, who will eat it. In fact, “ghost pots” — pots that are lost at sea — will continue to attract and kill crabs through this “self-baiting” process.
• Ghost pots pose a serious problem; in some places they are as dense as 50 per square kilometer, and may catch and kill as many crabs in a year as the fishery does.
• Sometimes crabs die during the fishing process, something fishermen try to avoid since they spoil before they can be sold. However, if the crabs are kept in a tank of circulating seawater, as most are, a few dead crabs won’t harm the others.
• Boats must, as a matter of course, unload hundreds of pounds of “deadloss” after a trip to the fishing grounds.

Facts about The Crews:

• More than 80 percent of the fatalities Alaskan fishermen suffer on the job are due to drowning — either from falling overboard or as a result of a boat accident.
• A crewman’s wages are often based on a share or percentage of harvest earnings. A greenhorn may earn anywhere from 1.5 to 5 percent of the net value of the harvest, after operating expenses and the owner’s and skipper’s shares (often totaling 50 percent or more) have been subtracted.
• When based on percentage of net profit, an Alaskan fisherman may earn somewhere between zero and tens of thousands of dollars, depending on location and type of fishery and the worker’s skills. Other boats offer a daily rate (typically $50 to $100 per day) instead.
• According to the Alaska Department of Labor, crew members are typically expected to purchase their own gear, which can add up to several hundred dollars. This includes wet-weather gear ($100 per set), rubber boots ($40 to $70 per pair), gloves ($2 to $12 per pair), wrist covers or sleeves ($5 per set) and a sleeping bag ($70 to $200).
• In addition, some crew members are charged a share of their boat’s operating expenses — food, fuel, bait and ice.
• In Alaska, crew members are responsible for obtaining their own commercial fishing licenses, the cost of which can range between $60 and $125, depending on whether the individual is a state resident or not.

Facts about The Harvest:

• According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the red king crab fishery is Alaska’s top shellfish fishery.
• Since 1959, when Alaska became a state, nearly 2 billion pounds of red king crab worth $1.6 billion have been harvested from Alaska’s waters, making red king crabs the second most valuable species to fishers during this period (red salmon being the most valuable).
• Crab quotas vary each year, depending on population size. In 2004, the harvest was 15.4 million pounds of red king crab, 5.7 million pounds of golden king crab and 20.4 million pounds of snow crab.
• At $4.70 per pound, the 2004 catch of red king crab was worth $65.8 million at the dock.

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