Hello Fishies!
Discovery Channel and Original Productions win my personal Hall of Shame award for the second year in a row. I can only imagine the heartache felt by the families of those aboard the F/V Ocean Challenger watching the rescue and recovery of their loved ones when they had not been told about it. Cowboy Hasselquist’s daughter-in-law posted this on the DC Forums:
It came as a shock to my husband Rooney and I as we were watching the opening season of the Deadliest Catch last night when we heard a mayday distress call from the Ocean Challenger, fishing vessel.
My father in law David "Cowboy" Hasselquist (captain) was the voice we heard. We broke into tears and spent the remainder of the show in shock as we watced them rescue the only survivor of the capsized vessel.
The person they pulled out of the water was 28 year old Kevin aka Slim, he was the only surviovor of four. One body was sadly never recovered.
My father in law was a wonderful man loved by many. My mother in law told us that he just bought me, my husband and my son Tyler all Deadliest Catch T-Shirts before his last trip out, because he knew we watched the show, we never received those shirts as they went down w/the boat.
The accident happend on Alaska Day, October 18, 2006.
And in another post:
Slim is what they call him. He was a mate of my father in laws who did not survive this horrific accident. It came as a shock to my husband and I as we were not aware that the mayday call was going to be a part of the opening season of the Deadliest Catch. The next episode will be very hard for us to watch as they recover the body of my husbands father David "Cowboy" Hasselquist. All other crew members did not survive and one body was sadly never recovered.
I find this lack of respect for the families absolutely appalling. Someone should have met with them and told them exactly what to expect in both this and the next episode. You see Fishies; you will be shown more of the rescue and the recovery of the men on Tuesday night. This may include the retrieval of those who did not survive.
Immediately upon being hoisted into the helicopter survivors are interviewed by the Coast Guard. The reason for this is because of a phenomenon called “after drop”. After drop occurs when a victim of hypothermia’s internal temperature continues to plummet even though he/she has been removed from the cold and wrapped in warming blankets. This sends them into shock, and can lead to a heart attack from the cold temperature of their blood.
DC has this interview on film and I understand they will be showing some of it to you. Part of me is glad that the general public will have a better understanding of the who-what-when-where-how of these situations. The other is genuinely bent about capitalizing on a heartbreaking occurrence. The sinking of the F/V Ocean Challenger during the filming of the king crab was of course purely coincidental. I have been told that the camera crews were station with the Coast Guard at Cold Bay “just in case something happened,” and sadly it did.
I want to remind you that the Challenger was operating south of the Aleutian Island chain while the crabbers were working north of it. The crabbers aiding in the rescue/recovery was not even an option, it would something akin to a State Trooper from Iowa driving to Florida to help at the scene of a traffic accident.
It is apparent to those of us with knowledge of how commercial fishing in the lower 48 and Alaska works, this show is living down to its expectations within the industry. As one fisherman said to me “It’s not about crabbing, it’s about ratings.”
Stay tuned.
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2 comments:
It seems to be that you are both prasing and trashing the series at the same time, despite the fact that the series is helpping the rest of the world isn't invloved with this lifestyle start to understand what these men and woman go through to earn a living.
You also assume that a good deal of fans take what they see at face value, let me set you straight I knew about the F/V Ocean Challenger sinking before it aired on TV. I also knew that that she wasn't crabbing, and the fact that she was returning back from a trip when she sunk. You also don't point out that it showed the Coast Guard doing what they do good, save people from sinking ships.
Also you attack Larry and Sig for their roles on the series. First at both Larry and Sig are consultives, so they only offer their options on what they think should be aired and shouldn't be aired. But they don't have the final say on what airs, that is totally up to the producers and editors of the show. If they don't follow Larry or Sig's option, it not their fault.
With the other boats, I know that not everybody boat in the fleet are highliners. And with them letting the cameras maybe do you stop to think maybe they wanted to have the cameras on board.
I am not going to trash you as you stated in your new blog and I am flattered that your first topic is The Fish Wife, even though you are a might hostile.
You may want to go back and re-read what I have written and give it some serious thought.
The most important thing you should remember is that I am active in the commercial fishing industry and write from that perspective.
As far as the Coast Guard goes, I have written about them and will do again in the future.
I congratulate you on trying to educate yourself and being aware of the fate of the Challenger. However, most of the public is woefully unaware that what is shown on DC is not necessarily accurate.
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