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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