Working on the Edge

Hello Fishies!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, Spike Walker is the author of several books relating to commercial fishing in Alaska. He appeared on the first episode of After the Catch (where I thought he seemed uncomfortable) in order to facilitate the introduction of some of the men who were involved in the vignettes aired in prior seasons. The book, Working on the Edge: Surviving In the World's Most Dangerous Profession: King Crab Fishing on Alaska's High Seas, was written in 1991.

From page one:

As I pounded the waterfront of Kodiak’s Cannery row in search of work, I stretched my black wool cap over my numb ears and withdrew farther into the warm protective folds of my Navy pea jacket. Broke and unemployed, with virtually no experience at sea, my stomach felt empty with apprehension. Huddling against the cold, indifferent winds of January, waiting, literally, for my ship to come in, I tried to imagine what Donny Channel and John Magoteaux, as well as the two men who died, Tom Miller and Tom Davidson, had endured.

Several days earlier, a hard-drinking fisherman in the B & B Bar had told me the Master Carl story. For a bar-stool rendition, it was surprisingly accurate, except that he had the grizzlies chasing Magoteaux and Channel for two whole days. “And the bears would of got ‘em too,” he put in finally, “if the Coast Guard wouldn’t have come along and chased them off!”

Here is the presser on it and on Spike:

No profession pits man against nature more brutally than king crab fishing in the frigid, unpredictable waters of the Bering Sea. The yearly death toll is staggering (forty-two men in 1988 alone); the conditions are beyond most imaginations (90-mph Arctic winds, 25-foot seas, and super-human stretches of on-deck labor); but the payback, if one survives can be tens of thousands of dollars for a month-long season. In a breathtaking, action-packed account that combines his personal story with the stories of survivors of the industry's most harrowing disasters, Spike Walker re-creates the boom years of Alaskan crab fishing--a modern-day gold rush that drew hundreds of fortune-and adventure-hunters to Alaska's dangerous waters--and the crash that followed.

About the Author

Spike Walker spent nine seasons as a crewman aboard some of the most successful crab boats in the Alaskan fleet. While "working on the edge," the crewman's term for laboring in the brutal outer reaches of the Bering Sea, Spike encountered 110-mph winds, road out one of the worst storms in Alaska's history, worked nonstop for seventy-four hours without sleep, participated in record catches of king crab, saw ships sink, helped rescue their crews, and had close friends die at sea. He currently lives in Clatskanie, Oregon, and returns each year to fish for halibut in Alaska.

This and others of Waker's books are readily available.

Stay tuned!

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Batter Up!

Greetings Fishies!

Last night we were treated to more fantastic camera work. As in last week’s episode there were a few tense moments regarding the maneuvering of the vessels. Those situations are quite real and very nerve wracking, as was depicted.

So what were we left with? Complaining crew, worn out pranks and green horns. The circumstances regarding the green horn are quite curious. It will be interesting to see how they play it out – how badly they are trashed and if they really deserve it. After the way the producers have treated others, I am not optimistic. We’ll just have to watch and see who gets it and who doesn’t.

The grumbling and fighting on the deck of a couple of the boats is reminiscent of what went on aboard the Western Viking in season one. There are some deckhands that are a double edged sword. Stellar performers in their work and beyond negative every time they open their mouths. There is a line that many fishermen use: “You know that guy everyone likes to work with until he opens his mouth?” And they stare straight at the person they are talking to, because it’s that guy.

It was interesting to see some of the survivors from seasons past on After the Catch, and note what they are doing these days. I almost felt sorry for Jonathan and Russ when they slipped up regarding the order the TB rescue happened in. Sure, they caught themselves, but it was there.

And finally they showed you something almost useful. Survival suits and rafts, what goes into them and kinda sorta how they are deployed. I have never understood why they have not explored this area more for you; there is a lot to learn!

Stay tuned!

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After the Catch

Hello Fishies!

As most of you know Discovery Channel is going to run a four part series called After the Catch. It is to air immediately after the newest episode of Deadliest Catch on Tuesday nights. The format appears to be Mike Rowe and Larry Hendriks, along with a few of the captains and crews sitting around a table at the Lockspot Café in Ballard, Washington. They will discuss clips that have aired and previously unseen footage, as well as tell stories.

Fans of the NW, TB and CM, rest assured that the love fest is reported to continue, for a few of the other boats, well maybe not so much. They may give you the impression that all were together for the entire filming, but they most definitely were not. Some of them were shoved off to the side for almost all of the filming and only used a time or two. The commentary from these people may not have anything to do with what they were actually shown on the clips. There may be torpedoes in the water and it’s possible that they are not finished trashing some boats. It will be interesting to see who makes the final cut and who does not.

Most of the boats were tendering the herring fishery when this was filmed May 17/18. Consequently, some of the people appearing went to great expense in order to be there. Word has it that one captain hired a relief skipper at a great cost only to be almost totally ignored. Because of the herring fishery, most of the crews stayed in Alaska, but DC doesn’t seem to care about them this year anyway.

The tension in the café was quite palpable at times. A certain captain’s daughter, that we would have all loved to have seen on the series, voiced her opinions of the entire proceeding in such a way as to gain an escort off the premises! One source tells me that while some were there, we won’t get to hear from any of the women except in film clips.

Rescuees from seasons past and present were there and you are supposed to see and hear from them. For the wing nuts that still say the TB rescue was staged, well, let’s just hope that this will shut them up. But then again, perhaps they will foment a new and improved line of bs regarding Kevin Davis’ rescue on the Saga from Season One.

Someone forgot to keep an eye on the amount of liquid truth serum a few of the guys were imbibing. The resultant conversation confirmed just about everything that I have told you about the show in previous blogs. Most notable of these was that deck load of dead opilio crab from one and the order of the crab catch/rescue from another.

So why After the Catch? Rumors are a flyin’ on that one. Some speculate that this is the end of Deadliest Catch as you know it. Perhaps it will re-incarnate as a TV drama series with actors instead of fishermen playing actors. The word on the docks is that no other boats want anything to do with the show due to the nonsensical editing and poor treatment of some. (If you recall, there was a tremendous amount of blurring out of people and vessels this year as they refused to participate by signing a release). Some say that there is so much animosity between some boats and camera crews they won’t let them back aboard. Some say they are going to follow just a few boats for their entire seasons. Yet others say they are looking to exploit other fisheries.

Guess we will just have to

Stay tuned!

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Steller Sea Lions as fishermen see them

Greetings Fishies

While the news media shows you pictures of the liquid eyed darlings, and people’s heart melt, I would like to tell you how the commercial fishing industry views them. They hate them. Several blogs ago I gave you the text of Congressman Don Young’s statement regarding the listing of the Steller on the Endangered Species list. Please keep that in mind as you read through the rest of this and know that its only the tip of the iceberg.

The harsh reality of the situation with the Steller is that their population has exploded. This has led to a tremendous amount of property damage and loss if income to fishermen and boaters along the entire west coast and Alaska. Boaters of every stripe know the horror stories of Stellers who claim a boat as their own and woe to anyone who begs to differ with them. Once ensconced on the deck they refuse to leave and will fight it out with the boat owner. They completely destroy anything they come into contact with. They have been filmed leaving the basins and clambering atop cars to sun themselves resulting in the vehicle being “totaled”. The Stellers leave their calling cards in huge masses and the smell is eye watering from quite a distance.

Most ports and harbors now have a year round sea lion community which grows by leaps and bounds. They stake out entire sections of docks, often causing the docks to sink with their weight. It is beyond irritating to arrive at the top of the ramp to go to your boat only to discover a dozen of the creatures encamped at the bottom, refusing to give way.

I have watched in horror as well intentioned but clueless tourists, with small children in tow, attempt to pet or feed these creatures. A bull Steller can weigh over a ton, has large teeth and often a nasty disposition. There is a tale of a tourist calling 911 and demanding that law enforcement come care for a big bull Steller that had a cough….

As you saw on DC, they play with floats and buoys, eventually destroying them. The buoys are not cheap, but even more expensive is the crab pot that was attached to it, often lost forever. Not only is there the cost of replacing the gear, but there is also the cost of the lost fishing time and income. Even the fish farms are having a time with them. The sea lions get into the net pens and eat a fortune in fish and with their destruction of the net, release the farmed fish into the wild. Sometimes they are unable to get back out of the pens and die there. Salmon fishermen will tell you what it’s like to begin to pull in their gillnets or hooks only to discover that the sea lions have taken a huge bite out of the belly of the fish, leaving an unmarketable carcass.

In his blog Wes Loy has the following:

Is fishing the Steller sea lion’s main problem?

The National Marine Fisheries Service has rolled out the latest draft of its Steller Sea Lion Recovery Plan, an important document that will guide regulators on how to protect the endangered western stock of the big, braying creatures.

The plan is naturally of keen interest to the fishing industry, having already lived for some years now with lots of restrictions. A leading theory is commercial nets scoop up fish the Stellers need for food.

Some in the industry pine for the day when the sea lion population ticks back up – federal scientists see faint signs it’s already happening – and waters closed to fishing might reopen. read more »

While this story is from Southern California, trust me that it holds true along the entire coast.

abc7.com: Sea Lion Population Causing Problems for Fishermen

Here is a good physical descriptor but please read anything else with an open mind:

Steller Sea Lion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is the official NMFS government site about the recovery:

Steller Sea Lions

Stay tuned!

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Have a fish feed this week end !

Hello Fishies!

What could be better for your Memorial Day week end bbq than seafood? Most fisheries are in full swing and there is a good variety of fresh, wild caught fish available for you.

Your more reliable stores, such as Costco have a good selection of Copper River salmon and fresh halibut fillets. The salmon is skin on, the halibut is skinless. Both were at $12.99 per lb. at my last check. There are of course many more markets out there. If you live anywhere near Seattle visiting the fish mongers at Pike Place is a lot of fun. If you have never been there you need to go even if only for the entertainment.

Caught this bit in last weeks Pacific Fishing Magazine’s Daily Fish Wrap:

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer went shopping for Copper River salmon at Pike Place Market. They found a nice Chinook, weighing 45 pounds at only $26.67 a pound, or only $1,200!

Fortunately that price was for the first fish off the plane and not what you will find in all markets.

There is other wild caught salmon on the market that in my opinion is every bit as good as Copper River. There are salmon fisheries open on the Pacific Ocean and runs coming into almost every bay and tributary along the west coast and Alaska. You may see it as troll caught which means it was caught on the ocean with a hook and line. Some of the names you might see are Chinook, silver, Coho, sockeye and king.

It is very easy to tell the difference between the wild caught fish and that which is farm raised. The “good” stuff is much darker in color and usually thicker. Some is almost blood red while the farmed fish is a pale, washed out peach color. There is a white meated salmon that is wild caught also and while you don’t see a lot of it on the market it is a very good fish.

Yes, there is a dramatic price difference between the farmed and wild varieties of salmon. But the superior quality of the wild caught fish is so extreme that once you have tried it you will never go back to the other.

I do need to remind you that there have been quite a few places that put the wild caught label on farmed fish. If you inspect it closely, you will be able to see the difference.

At times fishermen will sell directly to the public and will put up signs directing you to them. The sign will have the name of the vessel and is usually located near the port docks. Please, only contact those boats that are actively advertising. Keep a firm grip on your child's hand and leave Fluffy at home.

Stay tuned!

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Russians Worry Over King Crab Parasite

Hello Fishies!

VLADIVOSTOK – Scientists from the Institute of Marine Biology of Far Eastern branch of Russian Academy of Sciences are really worried about health of commercial crabs, dwelling in the Sea of Okhotsk. Crabs are infested with rhizocephalan crustaceans (Sacculina sp. and others), and human beings do nothing but make the situation worse.

A rhizocephalan parasite is very hard to notice and even harder to recognize as a crustacean with a non-professional eye. Part of a parasite’s body, which is hidden inside a host crab, consists of numerous dendritic shoots, known as “roots."

Roots grow between a crab’s muscle fibers, causing their atrophy, and go further into the crab’s internal organs, including sexual glands – rendering the infested crab unable to propagate.

One parasite produces about 300-400 thousand larvae – naupliuses. When the time to propagate comes, a parasite grows so-called “externa” on the host’s abdominal side – in its' node, connected to the parasite’s inner part with a thin stem. Externa stores female reproductive products and is located where healthy crabs usually carry their own spawn.

When parasite’s naupliuses mature, they leave the externa, spend some time in water and then infest other crabs (a notable fact is that only female naupliuses enter crabs, while male ones exist only for delivering male germinal cells to externa).

Infested crabs remain alive for several years, remaining a host to the original parasite. The crab is ultimately weakened and unable to propagate.

When fishermen perform commercial fishing of crabs, they pick up only the best invertebrates, throwing sick ones back to the sea.

By throwing infested crab back to waters, fishermen perform a kind of reverse natural selection – they withdraw healthy animals, leaving sick ones, which continue spreading parasite larvae and infesting healthy crabs.

The more intensive commercial fishing is, the more sick crabs appear in the sea.

Scientists of Russian Far East have been following data on infested crabs: in the Sea of Okhotsk only golden king crabs (Lithodes aeguispina) are infested, red king crabs (Paralithodes camtschatica) showed nearly no signs of infection, and snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) appear to be absolutely healthy.

The situation on the Pacific coast of North America is not that optimistic – rhizocephalan parasites are found in golden king crabs, red king crabs, blue king crabs (Paralithodes platypus) and other commercial crab species.

In order to keep crab infestation on the existing level, scientists recommend destroying infested animals, not throwing them back to the sea.

– Russia InfoCentre

Stay tuned!

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Good camera work

Hello Fishies!

Last night’s episode of DC wasn’t really worth commenting on with two exceptions:

The first was the rather ugly behavior of one of the captains towards his son. That made many of us very uncomfortable and the continuing comments I received from fishermen were primarily “That’s not very professional.” Or, “Dude, that your kid, stfu!”

The second was the camera work. It was, as usual, outstanding.

Like I have said before, turn off the sound and just look at the pictures. The time and story line are having a tough time competing with reality.

I do have one question. You think Andy will get Jonathan out of the wheel house and onto the deck?

Stay tuned!

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Sea Lion Bites Fisherman in the Butt

Greeting Fishies!

I thought you might find the following of interest:

PETERSBURG -- KFSK radio reports that crewman Troy Curtis was sitting on the rail of the vessel Cora J while offloading a catch of halibut the other day. That’s when a sea lion lunged out of the water and bit him on the rear end.

“The sea lion came up and grabbed ahold of me and tried to pull me over,” Curtis said. “Thank God I was holding onto the rail. Thank God it wasn’t one of my kids.”

He staggered into the galley and then was taken to the hospital, where he required a bunch of stitches, the story reports. “They got teeth three or four inches long – a good little puncture tear action there.”

The story notes someone was pulled into the water by a sea lion in Kodiak in 2004, and people have been complaining about aggressive sea lions in Petersburg for a while.

Stay tuned!

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Endangered Species Act (Steller Sea Lions)

Greetings Fishies!

The House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on “Endangered Species Act Implementation: Science or Politics?” Alaska’s congressman, Don Young, had plenty to say on the subject.

Rep. Don Young's Prepared Statement

Mr. Chairman, the hearing today is called "ESA Implementation: Science or Politics." The title of the hearing somehow tries to make the point that ESA decisions have been influenced by politics and are not based purely on science.

While that may make a great headline, I afraid it is a little more complicated than that. First of all, anyone who tells you that "science" provides just one correct answer is seriously mistaken. Get 10 scientists in the same room and ask them a question about the decline of a species and they will probably come up with several different theories. Let me repeat that – you'll get theories. Science is not infallible nor are the answers to scientific questions clear cut.

The title of the hearing also implies that scientists do not and cannot have biases or pre-conceived notions about their area of expertise. Again, this is flat out wrong. Scientists, just like everybody else, have biases which can affect their work.

Steller Sea Lion Listing Is An Example Of Questionable Listings

Let's look back at the Steller sea lion debate as an example. Under the Clinton Administration, and because of court action, the Steller sea lion was listed as endangered. Despite 39 determinations by the expert agency and based on the advice of scientists that commercial fishing did not cause jeopardy to Steller sea lion populations, it was decided that we should limit the commercial harvest because now one scientist thought it was the cause of the decline.

Of course, the scientist who wrote the biological opinion was a marine mammal biologist. But his expertise was not Steller sea lions. His expertise was another type of pinniped – Hawaiian Monk seals. But I guess if you know about seals in warm water areas like Hawaii, you must also be an expert in cold water sea lions, right? And if you understand nutritional needs of Hawaiian Monk seals, you must be an expert in Steller sea lion's needs.

Well, this scientist apparently had a few personal views on what he wanted to do in this case. Such strongly held views, as it turns out, that he refused to share the draft Biological Opinion with his supervisor, also a scientist, and ran back to Washington to give his draft to the political people at NOAA.

The Biological Opinion raised a whole slew of possible causes of the decline – predation by killer whales, disease, toxic substances, entanglement in marine debris, commercial harvest of Stellers (yes, Japan had a culling program), subsistence harvest, natural environmental change, quality of available prey, etc.

It also listed a number of "Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives" (RPAs) to minimize the harm to Steller sea lions. Impressively enough, the same "scientist" who wrote the Biological Opinion wrote the RPAs. Interestingly, he wrote the RPAs – restrictions only on the fishing industry – before he finished the Biological Opinion. Did he have an unbiased, "scientific" viewpoint? And all of the RPAs were based on the hypothesis that fishing was the cause of the decline.

One of the RPAs was to increase the size of the no-trawl zones around rookeries and haulouts (even haulouts that hadn't been in used in years according to the scientists) from three miles to 10 miles. And this was done without the scientists ever coming to the conclusion that the no-trawl zones had any affect on the recovery of the Steller sea lion. They just didn't know. There was no scientific evidence that the no-trawl zones worked, because they had never tried to figure out whether they worked. But I'm sure there was no politics or bias involved in those decisions. It probably just sounded good, so why not.

The rest of the RPAs, again written by a Hawaiian Monk seal biologist who had little if any history in Alaska or with Alaskan fisheries, would have undone more than 10 years worth of fishery and habitat conservation measures. The RPAs could have pushed vessels into areas that had been avoided because of habitat concerns. It could have pushed vessels into areas that had been avoided because of bycatch concerns. These RPAs did not take into account any of the existing fishery management provisions. Why not? Because the marine mammal scientists didn't feel the need to talk to the fisheries biologists within the same agency. One scientist didn't want to talk to another scientist in another field who might have added some very valuable information to the equation.

At what point do policy makers need to step in and referee the scientists? At what point do the policy makers need to make decisions on how human activities need to be modified to help animals recover? At what point do policy makers need to assess the uncertainty of the science on an animals' biology or life cycle needs and make decisions that affect people's lives and livelihoods?

Now I am not naive. There is always going to be a political aspect to the management of endangered and threatened species. When you are requiring industries to change their operations to minimize the impact on species and you don't really know what is causing the decline of the species, there is going to have to be someone who makes decisions. In the case of the Steller sea lion, a single biologist drove the decisions and they made the wrong ones. The National Academy of Sciences did a review a few years later and one of their conclusions as to the cause of the decline was that other theories deserved equal consideration.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, if we really want scientists to be the last and best decision makers on endangered species questions, then why do groups continue to run to the courts to get the court to substitute its judgment over the scientists and the policy makers. Courts should not manage fisheries, they should not manage endangered species and they should not be put in the position to make scientific decisions. And let's not pretend that this Administration is the first one to make policy decisions on endangered species when the science does not give them only one alternative.

Stay tuned!

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The Salmon are coming!

Greetings Fishies!

Copper River salmon is beginning to show up in the market and on restaurant menus. At right is one of the logos you should become familiar with and even ask to see.

Here are some articles for you:

From The Highliner, Wes Loy’s blog:

Bad weather, big prices in Copper River salmon opener

Posted: May 15, 2007 - 6:50 pm

Here’s the box score from opening day on the Copper River.

• 1,384 kings
• 21,274 reds

Crappy weather crimped the catch, along with regulatory closures in some inside waters where the kings lurk. The Department of Fish and Game had expected an opening day catch of 4,121 kings and 21,497 reds.

The day saw 318 deliveries, which suggests some of the 500-boat gillnet fleet either sat out the opener or fared poorly in the foul weather.

My colleague T.C. Mitchell tapped a few trusted sources for information on prices.

One major Cordova processor, NorQuest Seafoods, paid $6.75 a pound at the dock for kings and $4.50 for reds. That’s 20 cents better than last year for kings and 10 cents better for reds. read more »

News Brief: Copper River Opening a Tough Day

CORDOVA, Alaska -- The first day of the Copper River (Alaska) salmon season was a mess. Winds blew up to 40 knots. Visibility was horrible. Celebrity chefs and not-so-famous chefs gathered to eyeball what has become a culinary milestone of each passing year: the first big salmon run.

Strong winds and high waves kept most of the fishermen out of open water, where sockeye are most often caught. In Chinook waters, the wind blew gillnets tight, allowing many fish to escape before entangling themselves.

Many skippers simply gave up. Others stuck it out but landed only minimal catches.

Pricing was similar to last year: $3.75 for sockeye and $6 for Chinook, with retail prices to be more than $20 a pound.

The Fish Wrap– Pacific Fishing

Alaska Airlines Delivers Coveted Copper River Salmon To Seattle And Beyond

(WebWire) 5/16/2007 10:35:51 PM

First freighter packed to the gills with fish touches down at dawn; Airline will fly up to 160,000 pounds by day’s end

SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737-400 freighter arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport just after sunrise, packed to the gills with more than 32,000 pounds of Copper River salmon. The arrival of Copper River salmon is anticipated by seafood lovers in a growing number of cities nationwide.

Alaska will deliver up to 160,000 pounds of the coveted fish today on eight dedicated flights from Cordova, Alaska, to Seattle. After arriving in Seattle, much of the fish will depart on flights to cities across the country — from Los Angeles to Boston.

WebWire | Alaska Airlines Delivers Coveted Copper River Salmon To Seattle And Beyond

Stay tuned!

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Ho Hum

Hello Fishies!

After the seafaring soap opera that was the king crab portion of Deadliest Catch I didn’t hold out much hope that things would change. So far they haven’t. Once again we had conversations that were fabricated (some of these guys don’t speak to each other in real life). The at sea rescues and recoveries were revisited, even going back several years.

The opilio crab season was a long one for some boats due to the disabling fire aboard the processor Stellar Sea. In my earlier blogs I have told you about processor shares and the requirement that deliveries be made to those processors. Some of you may know that this caused many boats to tie up and some of the men went home. I will be curious to see how they cobble the soap opera together on Deadliest Catch as the season was strung out through April.

Despite what was said in last night’s show, bairdi crab has been targeted by some of the boats for the last couple of years. Some of the captains had planned to fish them in conjunction with opilio or separately and knew precisely where to catch them.

The situation with the destructive sea lions as shown on the Northwestern is a very real problem. It’s a topic I plan to discuss in the near future as fishermen have a very different outlook on them than does most of the public.

Stay tuned!

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Fishing Vessels aid in resuce of Empress of the North

Hello Fishies!

Now here is some interesting news which some of you may have already heard. Its been all over CNN and FOX news channels as well as the AP and other wire sources. I did happen to catch one of the live interviews with Blake Painter who said his boat had taken 33 passengers, mostly senior citizens, aboard and transported them to safety. If I heard correctly, the F/V Evening Star was the first to respond to the mayday call.

Any bets on if he’ll let DC or Original Productions horn in?

The Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska — A Seattle-based cruise ship ran aground 49 miles west of Juneau near Hanus Reef in Lynn Canal at about 2 a.m. today, the Coast Guard reported, and all passengers were safely taken aboard other vessels.

John Miller, spokesman for Majestic America Line, said all passengers had been evacuated from the Empress of the North and that the ship was on its way back to Juneau under its own power for a damage assessment.

The Coast Guard said sea conditions were calm at the time of the accident.

The vessel sent a distress signal and began listing about 6 degrees after hitting the rocks, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Christopher D. McLaughlin.

Numerous vessels came to the aid of the cruise ship and took passengers aboard.

Passengers were transferred to numerous private vessels, including other cruise ships, and by daybreak those remaining aboard were being taken aboard the Spirit of Columbia, a smaller vessel operated by Cruise West of Seattle, McLaughlin said.

An Alaska state ferry, the Columbia, also has arrived at the scene to pick up stranded cruise ship passengers, according to an official at the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal on the northern outskirts of Juneau.

The Columbia, which can carry 499 passengers and 134 vehicles, is a commuter ferry that travels from several ports including Bellingham, Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg.

"Many Good Samaritan boats on scene are taking off passengers," he said. "The fishing vessels Evening Star and Willow were able to moor up to cruise ship and 33 passengers transferred from the Empress of the North to the Evening Star and 12 passengers to the Willow."

A Coast Guard fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter were dispatched after an emergency radio message was received at 12:35 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time from the ship, operated by Majestic America Line of Seattle, McLaughlin said.

The ship had left Alaska on Saturday and was headed for Juneau at the time of the accident.

There were no reports of injury, nor was there any immediate word on damage, and McLaughlin said the reason for the grounding was unclear.

According to the company's Web site, the Empress of the North is a "newly built" sternwheeler with a 24-hour bar and grill, a crew of 84, 112 staterooms for 223 passengers and "a robust modern diesel propulsion system."

The American-built ship is billed by the company as the only overnight paddlewheel vessel in use on Alaskan cruises and also is used on cruises on the Columbia River between Washington state and Oregon.

The Empress of the North also ran aground in Oregon in 2003 and 2006.

McLaughlin said the Coast Guard's initial report listed the ship as 299 feet long, while the Web site gave the length as 360 feet.

The vessel is styled like a stern-wheel riverboat.

Stay tuned!

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Seafood Aspic

Hello Fishies!

Some of you may already love aspic, some of you may have seen it and passed it by. If you have not tried this fabulous treat, I urge you to do so as soon as you can!

Here are two recipes:

Aspic Salad

• 1 large can tomato/vegetable juice
• 2 packets Knox gelatin
• 3 hard cooked eggs, chopped
• Green onions to taste, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 small can shrimp or crab, drained

Dissolve gelatin in 1/2 cup juice. Heat rest of juice and add softened gelatin, stirring to dissolve. If you prefer, add tabasco sauce and parsley to taste. Add remaining ingredients after cooling juice mixture. Mix well and pour into an oiled mold. Serve with a dollop of mayonnaise on lettuce.

Shrimp Aspic

1 tablespoon plain gelatin

4 tablespoons cold water

1 lemon, juice of

3/4 cup mayonnaise (use a good quality)

1 1/2 cups cooked shrimp, shelled

12 stuffed olives, sliced

3/4 cup celery, finely diced

salt, to taste

1 canned pimiento, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons green onions, finely minced

2 eggs, hard cooked, peeled and chopped

Soften gelatin in cold water for five minutes, then heat to melt completely.

Add lemon juice and cool.

Before it congeals, add mayonnaise, salt to taste and mix well.

Add remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly but lightly to preserve the shape of the shrimps.

Lightly spray mold with cooking spray (or lightly oil with vegetable oil) and transfer mixture to mold.

Chill until firm.

Unmold onto salad greens.

Serve with additional mayonnaise.

*****

My favorite is a variation of the second recipe as I was taught by a dear Norwegian friend of mine. Not only is it heavenly to eat, it is beautiful to look at as well. In the second recipe mayonnaise is not added to the mixture, instead ¾ cup of white wine, clarified fish, shrimp or chicken stock is substituted. The eggs are sliced and arranged around the mold along with the shrimp and added crab legs so that they show when it is removed from the mold.

Happy Mother's Day!

Stay tuned!

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A good showing of poor character

Hello Fishies!

Awhile back I wrote about the deplorable behavior on some of the forums and message boards and at that time I thought that would be the end of the subject. However, the trolls have been trying to bring their game here to this little blog. As my long time readers know, I allow dissenting opinions but I don’t allow anonymous postings and moderate all replies. One of the reasons for that is simple: I do not want my blog used by the drive by idiots and twisted freaks to further what ever sick little agendas they have.

One of my favorite readers called the forums a “good showing of poor character” and I can not agree more. I go over to the various sites looking for serious questions regarding the commercial fishing industry and come away feeling filthy and in need of a shower. There are decent people who attempt to keep the trolls in line (and some of those posts are hilarious) but they can’t and shouldn’t have to do the job of the moderators. I can’t help but wonder if there are lawsuits looming on the horizon for some of those posters that write things made up out of whole cloth.

My blog is about the various aspects of commercial fishing in Alaska and on the west coast. I know many of the participants on the TV show and have been aboard some of their boats, dealt with their fish, had meals with them, etc. Anything I write about regarding Deadliest Catch is from that perspective. There are some on the show that I like a lot and some that make my skin crawl when I am forced to be in the same room as them.

Well thought out opinions and reasonable questions based on the facts of the show and commercial fishing are very welcome. Any and all postings to this blog that are in the form of character assassination will be rejected and no one will see them. So you trolls might as well save your time and efforts for each other and like minded fruitcakes as it’s not going to play here.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming….

Stay tuned!

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Crabbers Lure Tourists

Hello Fishies!

'Deadliest Catch' crabbers aiming to harvest tourists’ was the title of the piece by Margaret Bauman in her Alaska Journal of Commerce article. I knew there would be an article the May issue of Fishermen’s News and here it is:

Crabbers Lure Tourists

Four commercial harvesters who moved from the crab fishery to fame on “The Deadliest Catch” television series are gearing up for a new and lucrative harvest: tourism in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Veteran crab fisherman Larry Hendricks, Phil Harris, Sig Hansen and Rick Quashnick, are hoping their new venture will attract many of the thousands of cruise ship visitors to Southeast Alaska to Hendricks' retired crab vessel, Sea Star, to learn all about fishing for crab on the high seas. Their business manager, also a crab boat captain, is Gary Stewart, Hendricks said.

Hendricks said he, his business partners and some other crab vessel captains will be glad to be greeting visitors aboard the Sea Star, rather than harvesting crab in the icy Bering Sea during the winter months.

Hendricks said the Sea Star has been revamped, complete with a retail store selling everything from notebooks to calculators and pens, many with the Sea Star logo merchandising. With tourism statistics showing some 850,000 to 950,000 cruise ship visitors annually, from May to September, they expect to educate a lot of tourists, and sell a lot of merchandise.

Once the cruise ship season folds in September, the partners are considering taking their vessel south to the Seattle waterfront or even to San Diego for the winter months, he said.

Hendricks began crab fishing as an 8-year-old in 1962. He currently serves as a technical advisor and consultant to Original Productions of Burbank, Calif., producers of “The Deadliest Catch” series.

The 104-foot Sea Star, built in 1969 specifically for the Bering Sea crab fisheries, was retired in 2005, and in the spring of 2007, remodeling began. The vessel was scheduled to be ready for business in early May.

Hendricks said that along with a large retail store in the stern, the vessel will be equipped with about a dozen interactive television screens describing how things work on the boat during the fishery, such as the first season of filming “The Deadliest Catch.”

Sea Star Tours LLC, which plans to charge about $20 for a tour, will have tours led by real crab boat captains, telling the real story about crab fishing, and few tall tales too, he said.

The tour, which will take about 40 minutes, will include photo opportunities for visitors who want to get their photos taken with the captains in the wheelhouse or elsewhere on the vessel.

There will also be time to shop for souvenirs, ranging from videotapes and DVDs of the history of Southeast Alaska to “The Deadliest Catch,” plus stadium cushions, bookmarks, cheese cutters with a laser design and more.

Hendricks also sees the tourism business as an opportunity to promote Alaska crab fisheries as being environmentally responsible and sustainable fisheries, and to promote sales of wild Alaska opilio, bairdi and king crab. Promoting Alaska's crab will help coastal communities dependent on a fisheries economy, and will help raise the price of crab, he said.

Hendricks, Harris, Hansen, Quashnick and Stewart also plan to be at the Global Food Alaska Conference and Trade Show June 13-14 in Soldotna “to promote Alaska's crab fisheries as being environmentally responsible and sustainable fisheries.”

It’s my understanding that this is only a marketing agreement between these captains. The Sea Star will be carrying merchandise with the logos of these other vessels.

Stay tuned!

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Yawn

Hello Fishies!

Each episode has become more tedious than the last in this made for TV drama, and that is really too bad. There are so many good things they could have shown you!

As I have said before, the rescue of Josh off the Trailblazer by the Time Bandit crew was 100% true. However, he did not remain on board while the Hillstrands caught their crab as the rescue happened after they were done and heading for home. If Josh had been there you can bet your life he would have been out on the deck working alongside the Time Bandit crew. The Time Bandit’s pots had been left to soak for quite some time while they followed the other boats around getting those exterior camera shots. They ran their gear after everyone else was done.

It’s too bad that you were not shown where the extra $100 in the Captain’s wager came from. It was actually from Larry Hendricks who was to write down who he thought would win it and split it somehow or another. It’s also too bad that we don’t really know how they all came out in the standings. If the Maverick had been in the lead till the end, does that mean they finished second, ahead of the “big dogs”? Or what about the Wizard? Captain Keith was writing a check to the Fishermen's Memorial too.

While the prison stripes on his rain gear were a funny touch, I do want to applaud Matt Bradley of the Northwestern. In season two he talked a bit about his personal issues and the steps he was taking to deal with them. This season is no different with the exception of the added pressure of making a court date. We knew from his DC chat that he made that and all was well. The behavior of the trolls towards Matt was reprehensible. The depths that they sank to seem to know no limits, even going so far as to post links and information about his arrest record. Perhaps, with three or four episodes pounding on about his issues, it will help him to keep on the straight and narrow road.

Anyone happen to get a count on how many clothes changes there were in any one conversation? Or Sig looking like he never changed at all yet showing no beard growth? How about Andy and his hats? Cowboy-baseball-cowboy-baseball all in the same scene! I got dizzy just trying to keep up. Then there were the oddly placed snippets of conversation, inserted in ways that made no sense at all, usually done over and over and over again.

The $50 bet between the Moncrief’s was cute, but what about the discrepancy in their weights? For some reason it was a big deal for the Maverick but not for any other boat. I myself am curious as to who was assigned to watch the weigh scales on that one and where that crab actually went. This exemplifies why the captain of the Wizard was so angry with the processor crew on the last episode.

You can be under in your delivery and stay safe as some one else in your co-op will catch it or you will be allowed to make it up the following year. If you go over, you face the wrath of the government in a mighty way, including huge fines and the loss of the income of the overage. I would like to know just how many pounds exactly all of the boats were assigned and if they were over or under.

Now that the king crab portion is over, so is our chance of seeing Captain Corky and the F/V Aleutian Ballad, and that just plain stinks. The AB was not in Alaska for the Opilio season as it was, (and still is) being outfitted for tourist day trips. Remember I told you about that some months ago.

It’s really too bad that they chose to ignore this fine vessel and her crew; it would have been a great addition. We could have seen Corky’s daughter Nicole, a female deckhand, and her brother. I have heard that Corky was so upset with the show that he called both DC and Original Productions repeatedly but they never gave him the courtesy of a reply. How rude!

Please don’t forget that for most of the boats on the show, the crab quota was in fact leased and not owned. While the poundage and gross revenues may seem impressive, it is not indicative of who actually received the money. A good example of this would be the Time Bandit. I was told they sold most of their quota and what they fished was leased. For this they only received $1 per pound. Most crew shares are about 7%.....you do the math.

Stay tuned!

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I don’t think I’m going to make it ‘til morning

Hello Fishies!

Four souls in the Gulf of Alaska: They didn’t die….because they were prepared to live.

This article was the cover story in the March 2007 issue of Pacific Fishing Magazine. It is now available on their website in PDF format with sidebars and photographs.

life-should_have.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Stay tuned!

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Red Tide

Hello Fishies!

Watching NBC’s Nightly news report about the deaths of marine life off of the coast of California I was struck by a statement the reporter made about the cause. Over fishing was listed as one of the main causes of this phenomenon.

Huh?

The truth of the matter is that while there are deaths occurring, most probably from a domoic acid outbreak, this is not caused by fishing!

What follows is from Wikipedia, please read it very carefully:

Red tide is a common name for a phenomenon known as an algal bloom, an event in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column, or "bloom". These algae, more correctly termed phytoplankton, are microscopic, single-celled protists, plant-like organisms that can form dense, visible patches near the water's surface. Certain species of phytoplankton contain photosynthetic pigments that vary in color from green to brown to red, and when the algae are present in high concentrations, the water appears to be discolored or murky, varying in color from white to almost black, normally being red or brown. Not all algal blooms are dense enough to cause water discoloration, and not all discolored waters associated with algal blooms are red. Additionally, red tides are not typically associated with tidal movement of water, hence the preference among scientists to use the term algal bloom.

The term "red tide" is most often used in the United States of America to describe a particular type of algal bloom common to the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and is also called "Florida red tide". This type of bloom is caused by a species of dinoflagellate known as Karenia brevis, and these blooms occur almost annually along Florida waters. The density of these organisms during a bloom can exceed tens of millions of cells per liter of seawater, and often discolor the water a deep reddish-brown hue.

The most conspicuous effects of red tides are the associated wildlife mortalities among marine and coastal species of fish, birds, marine mammals and other organisms. In the case of Florida red tides, these mortalities are caused by exposure to a potent neurotoxin produced naturally by Karenia brevis, called brevetoxin.

It is unclear what causes red tides, but the frequency and severity of algal blooms in many parts of the world have been linked to increased nutrient loading from human activities. The growth of marine phytoplankton is generally limited by the availability of nitrates and phosphates, which can be abundant in agricultural run-off. Coastal water pollution produced by humans and systematic increase in sea water temperature have also been implicated as contributing factors in red tides. Other factors such as iron-rich dust influx from large desert areas such as the Saharan desert are thought to play a major role in causing red tides. Some algal blooms on the Pacific coast have also been linked to occurrences of large-scale climatic oscillations such as El Niño events. While red tides in the Gulf of Mexico have been occurring since the time of early explorers such as Cabeza de Vaca it is unclear what initiates these blooms, and how large a role anthropogenic and natural factors play in their development. Algal blooms in many parts of the world cannot be reasonably linked to human influence, and are generally accepted as a natural occurrence. It is also debated whether the apparent increase in frequency and severity of algal blooms in various parts of the world is in fact a real increase or is due to increased effectiveness of monitoring programs and species identification ability.

Some red tide organisms produce large quantities of toxins, such as saxitoxin, ciguatoxin, and brevetoxin, which disrupt the proper function of ion channels in neurons. Domoic acid, a toxin produced by diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, has been linked to neurological damage in certain marine mammals, and is frequently found in algal blooms on the U.S. West Coast. Some red tide toxins can become highly concentrated in various marine organisms that have the ability to filter and consume large quantities of toxic plankton directly from seawater. These include shellfish, finfish, baleen whales, and benthic crustaceans. Frequently, shellfish collected in areas affected by algal blooms can be potentially dangerous for human consumption, leading to closures of shellfish beds for harvesting. Initial signs of shellfish poisoning from red tide toxins such as domoic acid is tingling in the lips followed by a reduction of motor abilities and difficulty breathing and can be fatal if consumed in sufficient amounts. If these symptoms occur after eating shellfish, seek immediate medical treatment. Standard medical treatment is to give victims oxygen, or to hook them up to a breather. There exists no antidote, and treatment consists of keeping the patient alive until the toxin has passed from the system. Note that in some cases, the brevetoxin in Florida red tides can become aerosolized, causing respiratory irritation to beachgoers.

Stay tuned!

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COAST GUARD TERMINATES VESSEL'S VOYAGE

Hello Fishies!

Here is a press release from the Coast Guard:

SEATTLE - The Coast Guard Cutter Alert terminated the voyage of the tribal fishing vessel Orbit Tuesday at 9:46 a.m., 20 miles west of Cape Alava, Wash.

Fishing vessel Orbit received 16 safety violations including: No documentation, Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon not properly mounted, all emergeny alarms were either inoperable or disconnected, bilge pumps in engine room were inoperable with insufficient number of bilge pumps on board, and the vessel had not conducted required drills for longer than one year.

The Alert escorted the Orbit to Neah Bay, Wash., where the vessel must remain until all safety violations have been remedied.

A free Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Exam can be obtained through any Fishing Vessel Safety Coordinator.

Stay tuned!

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Offloading

Hello Fishies!

On last nights episode of Deadliest Catch one of the vignettes was about offloading. The captain of the F/V Wizard gave explicit instructions to his deckhand to watch the weights of each and every brailer. For what ever reason, the youngster left his post and a shouting match between the captain and a processor employee ensued. As usual the show did not give you the reasoning behind the scales needing watched; instead they focused on the drama.

Each fishery has a different method of processing and even unloading. More often than not the product is unloaded by the brailer or bucket and the weight of that brailer is recorded by both the processor and someone from the boat to ensure an even tally.

Sorting and grading by size and condition can come next. For most species there is a better price paid for a larger animal as the rate of return after processing is higher. Smart boat owners and skippers assign someone to watch and record this process as well. This can be critical as the last thing they want is to be given a “smalls” price when in fact the product was a “large”.

Regarding the king crab fishery, some of the crab are sorted and sent directly in to be processed. The large and clean crab can be sent off immediately to live markets which are primarily in Japan. This can become very difficult to keep track of with totes and hysters running this way and that.

When a disagreement about the weights arises, life can get very, very interesting!

Most fishermen know what their tanks will hold and have a good idea of how many pounds that will translate to as it crosses the dock. I have stood on the loading dock and watched as each and every crab was removed from the transportation truck and re-weighed. Lo and behold, there were several thousand pounds of crab there that had not been properly credited to the boat!

There are some processors that bear watching with more intense scrutiny than others. At times it is a single person within the organization that is taking the seafood and selling it on the black market. Sometimes the order comes down from the top. Upon occasion, law enforcement becomes involved and the cannery is closed down, but this is a rarity.

Stay tuned!

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