The Fish Wife

Farewell Fishies

2007-09-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

I had hoped that after a GREAT year in the Bay, strong halibut prices and a near-shore run of albacore, my attitude might improve. It has not. With things being so busy in both the fish world and my own, I just do not have the time nor the inclination to keep this blog up.

They are making ready to film season four of the Tuesday night Train Wreck. All of the usual suspects will be back with perhaps one notable exception. I am hearing that some things will depend on whether or not some boats will get the same "deal" as the NW (who reportedly has been paid an ENORMOUS sum of money). Then there are all of those promotional junkets that the guys are going on. Word is that some of them are paying for it all themselves - can't get enough of the fan love.

There are a couple of people posting on different sights that want an awful lot of attention. For any one suckered in by the whole F/V My Girl thing, well, the line about one being born every minute says it the best....The My Girl is a gill netter out of Bristol Bay. No female captains or crews in the big boat fleet. Sorry! And um, well, no Captain abbreviates that word as Cap - it is always Capt.

Then there is the loser who is posting pictures and wanting it to be all about him. Gets his kicks by trashing every boat he can. Pretends to be buds with some of the guys in the show, then trashes them. Dude, I actually KNOW you and you are SO flippin' lame! You don't have drinks with or visit with these guys. You are the weirdo who hangs out in the back of the bar and no one talks to.

In closing, watch Season 4 with the sound turned of. Don't believe any story line you see. And don't criticize a food producer with your mouth full.

<')))>{

PS Hey, lighten up on the lobstermen. Those guys and gals work their tails off. Different fishery, different ocean and different boats. True, its not the Bering or even the North Pacific, but its brutal work at sea all the same. They all deserve your respect.

Strong Harvest Predicted for Bristol Bay Salmon Fishery

2007-06-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

With the salmon seasons gearing up and many of the TV people either gillnetting or tendering, I thought you might like the following information.

BRISTOL BAY - Bristol Bay's sockeye salmon fishery is up and running, with an anticipated harvest of 26.3 million reds, out of some 34.4 million fish expected to return to the bay.

That forecast is 14 percent higher than the previous 10-year average of total runs of 30.2 million reds, with a run range of 17.8 million to 43.4 million fish. State biologists said all Bristol Bay systems are expected to exceed their minimum spawning escapement goals.

A run of 34.4 million sockeye can potentially produce a total harvest of 26.3 million fish, if escapement goals are met for all managed stocks and the commercial fishing industry is capable of taking the surplus fish, biologists said. A harvest of this size would be 40 percent higher than the previous 10-year mean harvest of 18.7 million reds.

The forecasted run to each district and river system is as follows: 11.54 million reds to Naknek-Kvichak District, including 3.88 million to Kvichak River; 2.03 million to Alagnak River; 5.64 million to Naknek River; 9.20 million to Egegik District; 4.18 million to Ugashik District; 8.9 million to Nushagak District, including 5.85 million to Wood River, 1.87 million to Nushagak River and 1.2 million to Igushik River; and 0.59 million to Togiak District.

The 2006 harvest of Bristol Bay sockeyesalmon was valued at about $91 million. Adding in a Chinook harvest of 106,200 fish valued at $1.3 million, a chum harvest of 2 million fish valued at $1.3 million, a pink harvest of 142,500 fish valued at $30,000, and a silver harvest of 53,150 fish valued at $165,000, the fishery as a whole was worth nearly $94 million, according to state fisheries reports.

The 2006 inshore Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run of slightly more than 43.1 million fish, was the ninth largest in-shore run since 1952, and 23 percent above the 20-year average. The harvest of nearly 29 million sockeye was the eighth largest since 1893.

The Egegik District was the only district that came in below forecast, dropping by 3 percent. The Naknek-Kvichak District sockeye salmon run was 18 percent above, Togiak District was 61 percent above, Nushagak District was more than double the forecast, coming in at 16 million sockeye, and Ugashik District was 5 percent above.

State fisheries statisticians also said the commercial harvest of approximately 106,000 Chinook salmon was the fifth largest in the last 20 years and 51 percent above the 20-year average of 70,000. The chum salmon harvest of approximately 2.1 million fish was the largest in the last 20 years. The coho salmon harvest of approximately 53,000 fish was well below the 20-year average of 103,000.

- Alaska Journal of Commerce

It does my heart good to see the fish returning in ever greater numbers and the prices paid to the fishermen rising as well. Its about time!

The main stampede north has eased off a bit and any of you thinking about going up to try your hand at processing, pulling/picking fish on a gillnetter or on a tender may have a better chance at finding a flight. Its been a mad house at the airports!

As far a locating a job, they can be had but it can be dicey. I know this has been run on other blogs and forums but I know many of my readers don’t bother with them anymore. This is Corey Arnold’s account with photographs of how his journey into fishing occurred. Remember this is his story and may be not at all like what you have or may experience. I have a few issues with it myself and I think that you will find them as well when you read it. Please don’t avoid reading this due to the title:

Fecal Face - How To Be An Alaskan Fisherman

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Doo dah, doo dah....

2007-06-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Someone is just too clever!

Discovery Channel had a show
Doo dah doo dah
And on that show they had some boats
All the doo dah day
Had to run all night
Had to run all day
Don’t bet your money some boats, kid
Discovery won’t let them play

Discovery Channel had a show
Doo dah doo dah
And on that show they had some men
All the doo dah day
Had to crab all night
Had to crab all day
Don’t bet your money on a green horn, kid
Discovery will make them pay

Discovery channel had a show
Doo dah doo dah
And for that show they had some boards
All the doo dah day
Tried to post all night
Tried to post all day
Your post won’t stay if you’re playing nice
The trolls get to have their say

Discovery channel had a show
Doo dah doo dah
And for those boards they had some trolls
All the doo dah day
Lived to bash all night
Lived to bash all day
Don’t bet your money on a moderator, kid
They let the trolls have their way

Discovery channel had a show
doo dah doo dah.....

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

thesmellslikefishwife

2007-06-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

It looks like I am going to have to delay my thoughts on the latest issue of DC and After the Catch for today. The reason for this is to mention a few things that I have seen going on over at the DC boards.

First, I have to tell you how funny I think some people are. The above entitled poster gets it almost right! Be aware though, that I am not registered over at DC under a name you would know and anything you see posted by someone purporting to be me is a poser.

Now unlike most people, I am actually flattered that I am being referred to in derogatory terms. That makes me in good company here lately. And knowing that most of the real fruitcakes love to hate me makes it even better. The fact that there are some that have registered additional names regarding me just plain frosts my cake. You see, they can’t let their other buddies know that they read me…..

Now, while some are being respectful towards Donna, some are certainly not, and shame on them. From having read her logs and what is posted on the DC forums, it is my belief that it is Donna and not an imposter.

I know that it sent many people over the edge when I told the true story about that deck load of dead crab, and that silly behavior still continues. Now comes further confirmation of my information from Donna and the nasty attitudes rise right back up in the form of attacks on her. I am uncertain as to where she got her information, but I will repeat something here - I got mine from some who was there.

The half formed sentences that were put up on the DC boards were not specific as to time, place and species, and could have been written by anyone:

we didnt have any dead crab,and we had to stop fishing
a whole day early because we ran out of room .thats
why we put on a deckload of crab ..2nd year in a row
we wouldnt have done any better anyway.

Looks like things are heatin’ up!

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Phoning it in

2007-06-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

I had wondered how it was that they handled the chats on the Discovery channel. Knowing these guys and their typing skill (or lack thereof) I just couldn’t see how they did it. Word has filtered down to me that they don’t go near the keyboard. They are on a land line and it is all handled verbally with someone from DC doing the typing. This explains some of the odd verbiage in some of the chats. There are words and phrases in them that just didn’t track, but now it’s clear.

If you have not read them, I urge you to go to the Discovery site and do so. To me there is a dramatic difference between the persons shown on the TV and those in the chats. I’d go with the chats!

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Focus groups

2007-06-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Here is something interesting. It seems that those high and mighty Hollywood people all know better than you regarding what you see. They have these little focus groups that they show things to and get their reactions. Apparently, the people were not impressed if they could see land in the background, they just wanted big waves. Don't you wonder who these people are?

What this has done is to deprive you of time spent in other fisheries that these boats, captains and crews participate in. They had the opportunity to go tendering for herring and salmon – which would have been great for you to see. Those fisheries can be one heck of a rodeo! Sounds like they passed on the idea of going with some of the guys during dungeness season as well which is too bad as that can be a wild and woolly fishery! Any fishery that deals with fish that are bled and/or butchered on deck, such as halibut and tuna, are deemed far too bloody for you to see. While the last thing we would want is to give PETA something to whine about, surely there is a way for you to see those giant fish being caught.

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

One for all or one for one?

2007-06-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Try as I might, I just couldn’t find a real theme for this latest episode of After the Catch. Well, other than getting Sig, Phil, Jon and Larry on camera. Guess the devotion to them on DC isn’t enough? Running joke is the quickest way to get hurt is to get between them and a camera….So they trotted out Keith, Rick and Corky and for what? All Corky had hoped for with the show was to get a little positive air time for the Aleutian Ballad. Now all he is remembered for is the rogue wave and near disaster. Wonder how those who are planning on taking the tour on the AB feel about that? I sure hope it doesn’t hurt the AB!

Fishies, these guys just do not hang out together in Ballard or anyplace else for that matter. Fact is, some of them detest each other and make no secret of that fact. Sure, they may run into one another in a two-bar town in Alaska, but that’s about it. Watching I can’t help but wonder something. You see, there was this wrap party for Deadliest Catch and some of the guys were there. Seems there is this picture of Sig kissing another guy at that party. (Don’t forget that article in Men’s Journal). Somehow or another, those pictures got plastered all over Dutch and other towns. Rumor has it that it was Johnathan…

Looking at these guys sitting around that table, I for one couldn’t miss the expressions on some of their faces. Some sure didn’t seem happy to be there. For some, it was the way they or their boat was treated, and for others, it was the company. This show has certainly taken its toll on the people involved. Early on they signed an agreement promising “one for all and all for one.” Well, someone seems to have forgotten about that as its one for one for some. Lawyers are now involved and I am hearing of lawsuits being filed.

It’s a sad day.

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Missing the boat(s)

2007-06-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

I, like many of you am perplexed and concerned by those boats and people that are missing in action. We know that the Aleutian Ballad did not fish opies and after the king crab season headed south to Oregon to begin her tourism retro fit, so there is no chance of seeing her. The Early Dawn, like the AB was jettisoned almost from the very beginning. This is really a shame as you have been gypped of the chance to see some fine boats and crews. I can’t help but think that the reason the Maverick was dumped for opie season is because of Donna’s logs. She had the truth of their good season out there, and if the editors were going to continue along the trashing theme, it would show them (editors) for what they are.

Now I do admit to letting my attention wander during the show, but where is Ragnihld? Did she jump ship? Its looking like the FarWest Leader isn’t feeling the love here. Too bad again as it is a beautiful boat.

It was good to see and hear from some of the deck crews regarding vessel and fishing operations, even though it was few and far between. In the past it seemed that we got to know most of the guys, but this year that has not been the case. Instead we watch things such as the humiliation of Nathan on the TB. I suppose there was plenty of time for them to find the charges as the TB was in port for the better part of two months. Its just that usually they get you in the Anchorage airport. The state police are there with a list and warrants in hand. Passenger manifests and purchasing their commercial fishing licenses is usually what tips them off.

The footage of some of the boats breakdowns and their problem solving was pretty good. Now I wonder how would these guys all be feeling about the IQ system if it were not in place? If it were still the days of the derby style fishery, they would be belly up. The seasons would have passed them by without a second thought. Those boats would have been stuck in port waiting for parts, repairmen etc, and not fishing. Remember, they don’t hold the season just because a boat or two can’t make it.

The TB is most fortunate to have a diver in Andy. Nothing sucks more than either trying to find a diver or waiting until one sobers up! I wondered a few things aloud while watching him. How many knives did he take down with him and how many did it take to get through that line? How many did he drop? Were they our favorite Victorinox? There are some boats that actually have spurs on their wheels to avoid what happened to the TB. Those spurs cut the line before it can wrap around the shaft and foul the works.

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

It ain’t easy being green

2007-06-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Last night’s episode illustrated several points, some of which you may not have even been aware of. The first of these was the stark contrast between the greenhorns on the NW and the CM which was three fold – family, prior experience and youth. (Ok maybe four because we all know about the love fest with some boats and in editing they will do no wrong). The boys on the NW and CM have actually had sea time and knew via family what the deal would be. Putting a man twice their age with no experience out there and expecting him to perform as well as they do is unfair. Adding the poor treatment by crew mates and probable seasickness, Guy doesn’t stand much of a chance. Since we can’t believe much of anything regarding the storyline Mr. Rowe reads, I am suspect about the true background and hiring of the green horns. (Eventually Thom Beers admitted that he hired Bradford Davis to go on the NW because no one would talk.)

There is a valuable lesson to those of you who believe that you can just show up in Dutch, get a job on the deck and be able to handle it. The reality of it is that most green horns do not make it. This also holds true for not just crabbing on the Bering, but in many other fisheries as well.

Unfortunately, between the popularity of Deadliest Catch and the downsizing of the fleet, there are a tremendous amount of men and women looking to land a berth aboard a boat. As you were told earlier in the series, most of the jobs are given to family, friends or those who have a proven track record and good reputation. Yes, it is true that once in a while there are guys hired right there on the spot. The opening may be a result of a poorly run/maintained vessel, a difficult skipper or some one just plain not showing up for the job.

Just getting there can be a tiresome trip. There are no direct flights and air service can be spotty at times. It seems that everyone is trying to get into Dutch (and then back out after the season is over) all at the same time. Round trip air fare runs about $1,500.00, and you can usually plan on being delayed in Anchorage due to the weather on the way in. On the way out its every man for himself and if you blink or don’t hear the boarding call then another fisherman is going to grab your seat. That’s if the weather is cooperating and they are flying out that day.

Almost anyplace in Alaska is far more expensive than what you are used to seeing and Dutch is even more so. (Unalaska is the name of the town; Dutch Harbor is just that – a harbor at the town.) What rooms that are available are pricey and you may very well find yourself on the street when the night comes. Sometimes the churches and even boats will allow you to take shelter but that is only in exigent circumstances. Often you will see bags under the dumpster, those belong to the guys who have no where to stay.

There can be 500 guys that want a job just as badly as you do. They will walk the docks, hang out in the watering holes and put their names up on the bulletin boards. Green horns will be lucky to actually make a “half share” which, depending on the pay scale, could be 3% AFTER expenses. These days it does not amount to all that much as the bulk of what is fished is leased quota and the boat receives about $1.00 per pound for the crab. So after expenses it’s 3%....There are some boats that will only pay you $100 per day and some guys that advertise they are willing to work for free. Remember – Phil Harris worked for a year and a half for free at first!

You have seen a brief few minutes of what conditions can be like. One of the men described it to me like this:

In a walk-in freezer, put a board over a log, like a teeter totter. Grab something that weighs about a hundred pounds and hang on to it. Now have someone turn a fire hose on you. Now, try to turn around on that board. You need to do this for hours and you can not stop because if you do, hypothermia will set in.

Eventually, when you get to grab a cup of coffee, it will freeze before you get from the galley down deck to the forepeak. You will develop cramps from your fingertips to your toes. Everything will swell. You lie in your bunk and try to sleep but you almost can’t because of the pain. Your eyes may leak…..and you get up anyway and go back and do it all over again.

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Ice

2007-06-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Here is a great story by Captain Jerry Tilley Sr., the father of Captain Jerry “Corky” Tilley of the F/V Aleutian Ballad and F/v Watchman.

From Pacific Fishing Magazines series: The Life

Men and women describe the life of commercial fishing

We are pleased to present an opportunity for those involved in commercial fishing in the Pacific to describe the way they work, the way they live.

Ice

By Jerry Tilley

Mix it with the Gulf of Alaska, and it just may save your life

Jerry Tilley was born in the fishing village of Tokeland, Wash., in 1931, and has lived the life of the sea and fishing. One of the most memorable — and frightening — interludes came aboard the F/V Hekla off Alaska in 1962.

November in and around Kodiak Island, Alaska, is windy, wet, and, at times, very cold — snow falls sideways. And that’s under normal conditions. Wind velocity was clocked at 128 m.p.h. at the U.S. Naval Air Station in November 1962. Chill factors were off the scale. But those who have to go fishing to pay the bills are not worrying about a chill factor.

Continues here:

IceLife0521.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Fish Tales of the Bering Sea

2007-06-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

This is a great site with quite a few interesting stories. Check it out!

Commercial fishing in Alaska can be many things-- a way of life, an adventure, therapy for the clinically insane . . .

Fish Tales of the Bering Sea

When you are done there go to the main page:

Here you can find tales of every day life in Alaska as well as sea tales of fishing the Bering Sea. It's not "Northern Exposure," but you may feel like you have been over exposed to the north. So pull up a stool and get yourself comfortable by the fire, the session begins with a click of your mouse…

The Sourdough Story Hour

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Working on the Edge

2007-05-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

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!

<')))>{

Batter Up!

2007-05-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

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!

<’)))>{

After the Catch

2007-05-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

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!

<’)))>{

Steller Sea Lions as fishermen see them

2007-05-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

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 !

2007-05-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-05-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-05-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

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!

<’)))>{

Yawn

2007-05-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

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!

<’)))>{

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

2007-05-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

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!

<’)))>{

Red Tide

2007-05-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

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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Alaska Dude Fishing

2007-04-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

As you know the F/V Aleutian Ballad is being converted into a passenger vessel in order to give you the experience of commercial fishing.

Now you can:

Experience Bristol Bay!
The world's last great wild salmon fishery.
Commercial fishing adventure on the coast of Alaska's Bering Sea!

For more information:
Alaska Dude Fishing on Nushagak Bay with AlaskanWild

Stay tuned!
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AIR STATION SITKA RESCUES THREE

2007-04-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

Here is a press release from the Coast Guard Air Station Sitka:

JUNEAU, Alaska - A Coast Guard helicopter from Sitka rescued three people from the trawling vessel Sea Bear at 11:44 a.m. Thursday.

After running aground in the vicinity of Klag Bay, the crew of the Sea Bear launched their skiff and made it to a nearby shore.

After arriving on scene the Coast Guard HH60 helicopter transported the captain and crew of Sea Bear safely to Sitka.

This is actually a troller, not a trawler. Many will mistake the two terms as they can sound the same when spoken.

Stay tuned!

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Congress looks at fishing deaths

2007-04-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

The following is a portion of Wesley Loy’s blog The Highliner, with additional links. Loy writes for the Anchorage Daily News and is usually the first to get fishing industry information and get it right:

Fishing for a living can get you killed.

Congress, the industry, the U.S. Coast Guard and many others have worked for decades to improve safety, and they’ve made a lot of progress. But the work continues.

The House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation is holding a hearing on commercial fishing vessel safety beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Here’s an agenda.

The industry has seen a string of tragedies in recent months, including the capsizing of the sablefish longliner Ocean Challenger off Sand Point last October, killing three of four crewmen. read more »

Note the comments in that section.

Stay tuned!

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As real as it gets

2007-04-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Last night’s episode of Deadliest Catch finally managed to capture just how dangerous commercial fishing can be.

Equipment failure and operator error can occur on the best kept boats with the most experienced of crews. As you have seen over the years, almost no boat escapes some sort of breakdown. A broken propeller fluke such as that on the Cornelia Marie happens with more frequency than you might expect. Usually it is because the boat runs over something, such as a log, floating just below the water’s surface.

The rescue of the crewman from the Trail Blazer was as real as it gets. The raw terror amongst the men of the Time Bandit as they desperately sought to retrieve Josh from the water was not an act. I do not know if there is footage of the actual rescue itself, if there is I hope that it is shown. It appeared that Russ got into a Mustang immersion suit (Ocean Commander Immersion Suit with Harness :: Mustang Survival) and harness; this would enable him to be sent over the side and help the drowning man. If that is what happened, that is a brave and heroic deed, one that not many would even consider let alone try.

While this in no way demeans the valiant actions of the Time Bandit crew, this rescue did not happen in the middle of the crab season as the producers of the show would lead you to believe. These boats were in fact finished fishing and heading for home.

The name of the boat that the crewman fell from is the F/V Trail Blazer. It is a good boat, and its owners have a long and successful history with many stories to tell. Did you notice that the name of the boat was blurred out? I wonder why that was....but then again, maybe not!

Stay tuned!

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FISHING BOAT CAPSIZES NEAR LA PUSH, WASH.

2007-04-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Coast Guard press release:

SEATTLE - A 63-foot fishing vessel with three people aboard capsized Saturday near La Push, Wash.

At 2:14 p.m., the crew of the fishing vessel Lady Cecilia contacted the Coast Guard to report that the Miss Mary capsized 24 miles west of Cape Johnson.

Minutes later, an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Port Angeles, Wash., and a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Quillayute River were launched to assist.

After the master of the Lady Cecilia reported that his crew had rescued the crew of the Miss Mary, the Coast Guard helicopter and motor lifeboat were diverted to respond to a separate case involving a vessel taking on water.

The Lady Cecilia reported that the three crewmen were uninjured and later transported them safely to shore.

The capsized vessel is believed to have sunk sometime Saturday night approximately 22 miles off the coast, leaving a sheen 50 yards wide and two miles long in a location inside the boundary of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

The Miss Mary has the potential to hold 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel.

The Coast Guard and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration are continuing to monitor the site.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

Stay tuned!

<')))>(

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIAL REALLY STINKS

2007-04-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

That is the banner across the cover of this month’s Pacific Fishing Magazine. The page six article in their Department of Televised Abominations is titled: Television’s Bristol Bay special stinks (Or, you can take the cow out of the cowboy, but never the boy).

Quotes from a fisherman by the name of Fritz Johnson make up the bulk of the article. In it he states: “A better title of the show should have been Ass***** of the Sea. If the producers’ intent was to highlight the worst aspects of the 19^th century commercial fishery, they succeeded.”

The editors of the magazine go on to agree with Johnson and describe it so: A few dozen boats play bump-and-grind while crowding the Naknek river line. Instead of skill, these skippers rely on intimidation and blunt instruments (their boats) to set as close to the line as possible, without drifting over it.

All you need, according to National Geographic, is a big boat and a loud voice.

The writer is upset that you were not shown things such as setting at the right time in the right place, carefully calculating wind, tide and time. Johnson says “They ignored the universe of issues surrounding sustainability, the environment, and Alaskan fishing cultures in favor of a myopic, egomaniacal, and greed-driven view of the industry.”

I both agree and respectfully disagree. What NG showed you was, in fact, what goes on not only out on the line, but all the way up and down the river. NG focused on the most dramatic portions that they could as we all know that is what sells.

Been there, seen that.

Stay tuned!

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Crabber Blames Rationalization for Near-Tragedy

2007-04-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

From this month's Pacific Fishing Magazine:

KODIAK -- Longtime Kodiak fisherman Bill Prout blames individual processor quotas (IPQ) for a recent near-disaster when his boat, the Nordic Viking, along with four other boats, became stuck in tightly packed ice March 28 for 14 hours near St. Paul in the Pribilofs. [more...]

Stay tuned!

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Whoa!

2007-04-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

I finally got a response from Blake's family and permission to post this from the family website:

Season Two - King crab filmed October 2006, aired April 2006

I don't necessarily blame Discovery Channel for the editing that was done on this series. That finger I point at Original Productions. Why they chose to present the story line they did is beyond me, perhaps they felt they needed a human piñata in order to help with the ratings. As you will see, they knew the truth. Maybe they need to preface the show with something like "dramatized for effect".

First let me ask you one question. How did you react when you had the biggest disappointment in your life handed to you?

Contrary to public opinion thanks to some very creative editing, Blake did not leave. He was upset, he swallowed it and he went on back to work. Despite being denied what he had been promised, he remained on the Maverick and completed the season. Justin threatened to leave the boat if Blake was made captain. What many do not know is that would have left the boat short handed with no way to replace the crewman. Blake could have done that, I think that there are some who would have. He could have got off in St Paul and left the Maverick high and dry, but what would that have accomplished? Instead he acted like a man and he stayed and finished the season.

Justin was the only one on board that did not want Blake in the captains seat. Blake has been running boats since he was 18, he is now 27. As far as we know, no one has ever refused to go to sea with him.

Now about that Opilio season and the real reason Blake was not there.

Blake's father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2005. He endured a 6 hour surgery and a very long and difficult recovery. Blake was running the Maverick for herring tendering at that time, but he flew down to run the Evening Star for black cod and halibut for us.

It was during the king crab season that Jeff had to have a second surgery. That left him totally unable to run our dungeness crab operation and Blake committed to handling it for us. Dungie season traditionally begins Dec. 1, and runs for several months. The states did not allow it to open as the crab had not filled out their shells from the earlier molt. In fact, the season did not open until mid-January, six weeks late.

The opilio season was in full swing at that time and with the new ratz rules, the Maverick had to catch and deliver by a certain date. The intention was to have Blake up to Alaska by that time, but due to the delay in the dungeness season, that was not possible and Rick fished the boat.

**********

My God, just how callous are these pukes?

They said they will have an update to their site soon and you can find that at:

F/V Evening Star

Stay tuned

<')))>{

Can you say LAWSUIT?

2007-04-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

What a fiasco! And reading the message boards makes it clear that many were sucked into the drama and completely fooled.

The license that is being taken with this show seems to know no bounds. One shot shows some weather with Rowe’s voice over declaring it ever so dangerous, while the next shows crews working the deck in tee-shirts. Huh?

Some of the boats are pulling nothing but blanks and yet they are moving up the crab count board. Huh?

And that whole edited radio crab/revenge piece. What a load of hooey. I was amazed that they showed the CM removing about a thousand bucks worth of crab from another fisherman’s pot. Uh fishies, that is a crime.

People sure turned into a pack of jackals over the whole thing. Is it believing what they want to believe or what they think they saw? Even when Captain Blake posted this to the forums people still chose not to believe him:

this is blake painter. i think everyone should know

how much B.S. there is on this show. you all should

pay close attention to the edditing done in order for

original productions to achieve the desired drama

(even at the cost of peoples career's)the so desire

for ratings!the drama with phil and i tonight was a

collection of 20days worth of footage,strategically

spliced together to get what they wanted!if you pay

attention you can see one side of the conversation is

in the dark and on a telephone,where as i am on a

radio and in the daylight.not to mention the radio on

channel 9 is a hailing channel!im fed up with the b.s.

of the whole show, i dont understand why straight

forward footage of us fishing isnt enuf . the last 2

seasons have become a soap opera!you wont be seeing

the maverick on season 4 if there is one!but thank you

to all of you who have possitive feed back. Blake

To me the editing was so poorly done; I can not believe anyone actually fell for it. Phil is talking to some one on a phone, hangs up the handset, and next shot he is talking on it again. Blake is talking on a radio and yes Channel 9 is a hailing channel. You have daylight and nighttime going on in the same conversation and the usual clothing issues we all have noticed in the past.

No one should have to defend themselves when they have been wronged. The damage that was done last year when his dad had cancer was bad enough, but this adds insult to injury. I hope he sues the ever lovin’ crap out of ‘em.

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

DOJ Advice

2007-04-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

I have brought you information regarding processor quotas and the arbitration system. These items are in place and functioning poorly. Below you will find that NOAA asked for and recieved an analysis from the Department of Justice about these items.

The DOJ advised against it and they did it anyway!

STATEMENT OF J. BRUCE MCDONALD
DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
ANTITRUST DIVISION

Before the

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

UNITED STATES SENATE

CONCERNING

THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF SEAFOOD PROCESSOR QUOTAS

PRESENTED ON FEBRUARY 25, 2004

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here on behalf of the Antitrust Division to discuss our comments on the Alaska crab rationalization plan developed by North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asked the Antitrust Division last year to comment on the crab rationalization program that had been proposed by the Council. In particular, NOAA asked us to comment on the likely effects on competition of the rationalization plan and to identify antitrust issues associated with the plan's price arbitration system.

To prepare a response to NOAA, we reviewed the rationalization plan, interviewed industry participants, and examined economic research on rationalization programs. In a letter of August 27, 2003, we discussed the conclusions we were able to draw on the competitive effects of the proposed plan, which I will summarize here.

Individual Fishing Quotas

Annual limits or quotas are an important part of sound fishery management and conservation. Given the need for an annual quota, in our letter we recommended that NOAA support replacing the current fishery-wide quota system, which generates a dangerous and wasteful "race to fish" as soon as the season opens, with Individual Fishing Quotas, or IFQ. IFQ would be more efficient than the current industry-wide quota, and would be an effective way to eliminate the race to fish.

Under the IFQ system, crab harvesters with IFQ could catch their quota at any time during the legal season, replacing the rush beginning on opening day as each harvester hurries to bring in as many crabs as possible before the window closes, which is the primary problem of the current system. Under the IFQ system, harvesters would not need the excessive investment in equipment, boats, and crew needed in a race to fish; more importantly, IFQ would allow harvesters to proceed without the dangerous rush that today's system encourages.

We stated that while auctioning the initial IFQ might further improve economic efficiency, the Council's proposal to give the IFQ to established harvesters as compensation for overcapacity was also an acceptable approach, as long as the IFQ were easily transferable. We emphasized that making the IFQ easily transferable was important for maximizing healthy competitive incentives for harvesters.

Individual Processor Quotas

We recommended that NOAA oppose the individual processor quotas, or IPQ, element of the Council's proposed program. Processor quotas would impose new regulatory requirements that produce anticompetitive results in the processing market.

Proponents of IPQ expressed two arguments in favor of IPQ. First, they say that processors and harvesters should be treated equally; if the new program is to compensate harvesters for past overcapitalization, it should compensate processors, too. Moreover, they were concerned that processors with excess capacity would, in an attempt to fill that capacity, bid more for crabs; this would shift the historic division of rents toward harvesters to the detriment of processors. Second, they were concerned that without IPQ, processors that are less competitive would fare poorly in the market; this, in turn, could harm local economies that depend on crab processing.

We appreciate the concerns that motivated the Council to propose IPQ. We acknowledged in our letter that eliminating the race to fish should eliminate processors' need for the excess investment in equipment that has been necessary to hurriedly process a crab harvest that harvesters delivered over a very short season. We proposed that, if the Council concluded it was desirable that processors be compensated for their past overinvestment, this could be addressed more directly and efficiently, rather than constructing an artificial marketplace in which competition is inhibited. We predicted that the effect on price that processors were concerned about would be temporary, that once excess capacity was curtailed for both harvesting and processing, prices would move back to more competitive levels.

We explained that IPQ would eliminate beneficial competition between processors and inhibit product innovation and efficient use of resources. If a processor were entitled to a fixed share of the harvest, then the processor would have less incentive to invest in new equipment or otherwise work to cut costs or improve quality, as those efforts would not be rewarded with greater market share. Moreover, we noted, IPQ were not needed to address the overcapitalization and safety concerns that would be addressed by replacing the fishery-wide quota with IFQ. Finally, we were concerned that the Council's plan limited transferability of IPQ out of any community, which would only prolong the inefficiencies resulting from IPQ.

In short, any quota system distorts the operation of a free market. Although a harvest quota of some sort is necessary for stock management, IFQ is better than the current system because it directly improves safety as well as eliminating incentives to overinvest in harvesting and processing capacity. Adding IPQ further distorts the market's operation, and introduces competitive harm, without offering similar kinds of competitive benefits.

Binding Arbitration

The third element of the Council's proposed program, binding arbitration, was evidently designed to prevent a new quota system from shifting the historic division of rents between harvesters and processors that has developed under the current quota system. The Council proposed a binding arbitration system for harvesters and processors who could not agree on price in independent negotiations. This process would begin before the fishing season with the announcement by a jointly-selected arbitrator of a non-binding benchmark price, based on information provided by all participants to the arbitrator, to be used for guidance in negotiations and later arbitrations. Then, any harvester who has been unable to negotiate a contract with a processor could initiate a binding arbitration with any processor to which the harvester was willing to sell and who had remaining capacity under its quota.

The Antitrust Division recommended that NOAA oppose the arbitration proposal as a poor substitute for competitive pricing. In addition, as NOAA requested, we described the possible antitrust violations that could result — but would not necessarily result — from conduct by arbitration participants and from the information sharing that was contemplated by the arbitration program.

First, we cautioned that any agreement among processors with respect to price could be viewed as a per se violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act. We read the Council's proposal as envisioning that each processor would make its own independent decisions about its use of arbitration: whether to use the benchmark price as a starting point for negotiations, whether to put harvesters to arbitration before forming a contract. Each binding arbitration would involve only one processor and would determine only that processor's prices. We stated that it would be critical for processors to act independently, and not coordinate with other processors, to avoid potential antitrust liability for collusion.

We noted that because of the Fishermen's Collective Marketing Act, these restrictions would not apply to harvesters as long as they were acting through a cooperative. Harvesters in cooperatives may bargain jointly and may agree on the basis for negotiations without risking antitrust liability. We cautioned, however, that an FCMA cooperative could not act jointly with non-FCMA cooperative harvesters, and that the courts had never addressed whether an integrated harvester/processor could be eligible for FCMA immunity.

Second, we cautioned that sharing information in conjunction with arbitration, including information from other arbitrations, could violate the antitrust laws. An agreement among competitors to share information regarding price and output, even through the conduit of an arbitrator, can have the effect of dampening competition, and if so can be illegal under the Sherman Act even in the absence of a direct agreement on price. Although harvesters participating in an FCMA cooperative could share such information within their cooperative, they too would risk antitrust liability if they shared such information outside the cooperative.

Other Issues

In our analysis, we did not evaluate factors outside our legal authority and expertise in antitrust and competition policy, such as the goals of protecting jobs in historic fishing villages or balancing the regulatory effects evenly among harvesters and processors. We certainly recognize that these are legitimate issues for policymakers, but they are beyond the purview of the Antitrust Division.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Arbitration System

2007-04-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

As I have mentioned in the past and DC did not tell you, the king crabbers were "on strike" at the beginning of the season. Here is some information from the government website about how this is supposed to be resolved....

What is the Arbitration System?

The Arbitration System (System) is a series of steps that harvesters and processors can use to negotiate delivery and price contracts. Most of the System is regulated through private contracts among QS/IFQ holders and PQS/IPQ holders. The System is designed to minimize antitrust risks for crab harvesters and processors.

The System has two main parts:

Each year three groups of experts are hired: one to produce an annual Market Report, one to determine a Non-Binding Price Formula for negotiations, and one or more experts to assist in mediation and contract negotiations.
Once these experts are selected, some IFQ and IPQ holders can use a series of negotiation approaches established in the System to resolve delivery and price conflicts. The negotiation approaches are limited to IFQ holders who don't also hold PQS/IPQ, and who aren't affiliated with PQS/IPQ holders. These are Arbitration IFQ holders. They can negotiate with a single IPQ holder. The contracts with the experts must limit the sharing of information.

Do I have to participate in the Arbitration System?

YES. All CVO QS/IFQ and PQS/IPQ holders must participate by joining an Arbitration Organization by May 1 of each year. This Organization will establish contracts with the three groups of experts, give copies of the reports to its members, and collect fees for the Arbitration System. CVC IFQ holders are not required to join an Arbitration Organization until the 2008/2009 fishing year.

What happens if the fleet does not participate?

Under the final rule (see §680.20), NMFS will not issue IFQ or IPQ in a crab QS fishery until Arbitration Organizations representing enough QS and PQS holders to account for at least 50 percent of the QS and 50 percent of the PQS issued for a fishery select the Market Analyst, Formula Arbitrator, and Contract Arbitrators, and notify NMFS of their selection. Once these experts are selected, that fishery's fleet will be issued IFQ and IPQ. This requirement is intended to ensure that the Arbitration System is in place prior to the start of the fishery.

What is the Arbitration System timeline during the 2006/2007 season?

May 1, 2006 is the deadline for QS and PQS holders to join an Arbitration Organization.
May 1, 2006 is the deadline for Arbitration Organizations with members who are QS or PQS holders to submit a complete Annual Arbitration Organization Report.
June 1, 2006 is the deadline for Arbitration Organizations to select the Market Analyst, Formula Arbitrator, and Contract Arbitrators and notify NMFS.
50 days prior to the start of the crab fishing season established by ADF&G is the deadline for the completion of the Market Report produced by the Market Analyst and Non-Binding Price Formula produced by the Formula Arbitrator

- June 25, 2006 for the Aleutian Island Eastern and Western Golden crab fisheries.
- July 25, 2006 for all other fisheries (e.g., Bristol Bay red king crab, Tanner, and Snow crab)

What are the Stages in the Arbitration System?

Join an Arbitration Organization
Commitment of shares by an IFQ holder to an IPQ holder.
Select Experts to provide necessary information for the fleet through mutual agreement among Arbitration IFQ holders and IPQ holders.
Select an approach for negotiations: IFQ and IPQ can reach agreements on price through open negotiations, a lengthy season approach, or share matching.
Negotiate, mediate, or enter a binding arbitration if price negotiations are not successful.

What is an Arbitration Organization?

An Arbitration Organization is an association designed to assist harvesters and processors in establishing contracts with experts and facilitating compliance with the contracts. There are three types of Arbitration Organizations: one for PQS and IPQ holders; one for QS and IFQ holders that are affiliated with PQS and IPQ holders; and one for QS and IFQ holders who are not affiliated with a PQS or IPQ holder. Arbitration Organizations have formed for all of the crab fisheries and contact information is available on our website.

What is commitment of IFQ or IPQ?

A harvester commits Class A IFQ to an IPQ holder by notifying the IPQ holder. This commitment provides an assurance that a Class A IFQ holder has a processor with matching IFQ to deliver their crab. When IFQ is committed to an IPQ holder, that IPQ holder cannot use the IPQ that has been committed for processing another IFQ holder’s crab. A commitment lasts unless both parties choose to terminate it.

Who are the experts?

There are three experts who provide information or assist in the arbitration process. These experts are selected by the unaffiliated QS/IFQ Arbitration Organization and the PQS/IPQ Arbitration Organization.

What is the Market Report?

It is an analysis of market conditions and historic price agreements among harvesters and processors.

What is the Non-Binding Price Formula?

It is an estimate of prices in a crab fishery. It can be used in the negotiation approaches.

What are the negotiation approaches?

There are three basic approaches. At any point prior to the season, any IFQ holder (including affiliated IFQ holders) and any IPQ holder can engage in Open Negotiations. Other approaches that may be used by Arbitration IFQ holders and IPQ holders include a Lengthy Season approach, in which some delivery terms are decided pre-season others are negotiated mid-season. Share Matching is another preseason approach in which Arbitration IFQ holders "match up" shares pre-season with IPQ holders that have available IPQ. There are some limits on when these approaches can be used.

Once the season begins, if there is not resolution on specific issues, IFQ and IPQ holders can enter into Binding Arbitration in which an arbitrator uses the Market Report, Non-Binding Price Formula and other information to establish binding contract terms. This system uses the last-best offer approach.

During the season, the System allows for Post Arbitration Opt-in. Arbitration IFQ holders who aren't committed can opt-in to a contract with an IPQ holder with available IPQ under the same conditions as an existing contract. The system also allows for quality and performance disputes to be addressed with the assistance of an arbitrator.

Can we bargain collectively in cooperatives?

Only QS/IFQ holders who are in an FCMA cooperative can bargain collectively. PQS/IPQ holders cannot. An FCMA cooperative can form among harvesters that are not affiliated with a PQS or IPQ holder. Collective bargaining for price can only be done by an FCMA cooperative that is bargaining on behalf of its members.

The Arbitration System regulations establish contracts among the Arbitration Organizations and the Contract Arbitrators. The regulations outlining the requirements of these contracts do not specifically prohibit two or more FCMA crab harvesting cooperatives from participating collectively in a binding arbitration (See the regulations at 680.20(h)(3)(ii)(A)). However, the ability of FCMA cooperatives to collectively engage in a binding arbitration depends on the interpretation and application of the specific terms of the contracts among the Arbitration Organizations and the Contract Arbitrators. In any case collective arbitration should only be undertaken after a careful review of existing antitrust laws. Information on pertinent antitrust laws and precedent is available through the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/. A helpful and comprehensive guide on cooperatives and antitrust law is available at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/cir59.pdf.

It is important to note that the contracts are intended to include terms that prohibit collective activity among the members of two or more cooperatives. To minimize potential conflicts with this regulatory requirement, collective binding arbitration activity should be undertaken among cooperatives' authorized representatives, and not among the individual members of a cooperative.

How has the Share Matching System Changed?

NMFS has modified the timing for "matching shares" between unaffiliated IFQ holders and IPQ holders. NMFS has also modified when an IFQ holder must initiate a binding arbitration proceeding. This regulatory change is effective August 14, 2006. NMFS modified the arbitration system to allow harvesters and processors 5 days (120 hours) after NMFS issues IFQ and IPQ (NMFS will post those amounts on our website) to voluntarily "match up" their IFQ and IPQ shares. This allows harvesters and processors time to finalize any voluntary matches once their IFQ and IPQ amounts are issued. From 5 (120 hours) to 15 days (360 hours) after the issuance of IFQ and IPQ for a specific crab fishery, harvesters unaffiliated with a processor can unilaterally match IFQ shares with a processor with available IPQ. If the harvesters and processor cannot agree on price and other delivery terms, and the unaffiliated IFQ holder wishes to initiate a binding arbitration proceeding, the harvester must do so by the end of that 15 day (360 hour) period. This change will allow unaffiliated IFQ holders to use the arbitration system as originally intended by the Council--as a means to provide a pre-season or early season resolution to price and other delivery terms.

The previous share match approach to resolve price disputes had not met the needs of IFQ holders because they were not able to initiate arbitration 15 days prior to the start of the season, as required by previous regulation. IFQ holders have noted a desire to use the share match approach as originally intended. Under the current schedule for stock assessments and TAC setting, NMFS typically does not issue IFQ and IPQ 15 days prior to a season opening. NMFS issued quota 5 days prior to the season during the 2005/2006 fishing year for most fisheries. This schedule effectively limits the ability of IFQ holders to rely on the share match approach to achieve a price resolution. The change in the timing for share matching and initiating binding arbitrations should correct this problem.

Stay tuned

<')))>{

Survivor: American Idol on the Bering Sea?

2007-04-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

Today I share my thoughts on some of the various internet sites with forums and the complete lack of decent behavior exhibited by some members there. Looking carefully at the numbers, it is clear that while there really are only a handful of posters engaging in the nastiness, they are sucking some of the life out of the place.

I read the various postings and many things go through my mind. First and foremost, did your mama raise you to behave like that? If you were all in a room together with the people that you are drooling over or attempting to destroy, and everyone knew your face and name, would you have the nerve to say the things you do? How about if we got to watch a few minutes of heavily edited tv and give our opinions about you? Maybe share a bunch of personal information about you and your family?

The “Just Plain Ugly” award goes to the people who are sitting in judgment of and posting the private information about Hiram. While he may have his personal demons, that really is none of your business. It has no bearing on the show and I am sure he didn’t sign on for that.

"Nootka" claims to be married to a crabber and living somewhere near Hiram. I can imagine a conversation in that household:

Nootka “I just got so sick and tired of all that stuff on tv and so I put up on the internet all about how he got arrested. People need to know this stuff!”

Crabber: “You did WHAT??? What the F*** is the matter with you? What name did you use? Can anybody figure out its you? I gotta work around these guys! We go down out there and it may be them that saves my ass.”

And then there is the fringe lunatic whose screen name starts with tnt. This gal is a real winner and just thinking about her makes my gag reflex kick in. Her postings are BOLD AND IN COLOR! NOTICE ME! ITS ALL ABOUT ME AND MY OPINIONS! I WILL COPY EVERYTHING SO MY POST IS BIG BIG BIG! IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME I WILL SCREAM AND YELL AT YOU EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.

Tnt, honey, they make medication for someone like you. I can almost see the wildly spinning eyes and spittle flying from her mouth when she makes her posts. One thing she did get almost right was the one about opinions. We have all heard this one: Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and some are bigger and uglier than others. (To my detractors: yeah, I know mine included.)

When the show first started, almost everyone who made forum postings was at least respectful. They asked questions, captains and crew along with their families would drop in from time to time and answer questions. All the “I love ____,” “or _____ is sooooo hot” got pretty close to X-rated, but eventually that slowed down. Today, I see almost no one from any season, past or present, going anywhere near some of these places. Reading the hate-filled vitriol from people who have never met a fisherman, let alone the people from the Deadliest Catch, I can understand why they don’t. The Hansen’s have started a website with forums, which was a smart move. (Although there are some pretty juvenile things going on over there that need to be moderated. Here is a clue – if some one has had their account suspended on the DC forums, there is a reason. They are behaving the same on your site.) I see where other boats are following suit and I can’t say I blame them at all. Who wants to deal with the cess pool that some of the forums have devolved into?

Frankly I have been stumped by it all, couldn’t quite figure it out. Then I heard a couple of different news analysts talking about the behavior of people in general. They were referring to the politics of personal destruction and talked about the influence of the internet, that you can post up almost anything and there are no consequences for it. Then they cited shows such as American Idol, how both the judges and the viewers feel free to spew forth nothing but degrading comments and shattering criticisms.

So with the ability to vote continually for or against the boats, almost Survivor style, and make internet postings with no thought as to who they may harm, I am going to try to understand.

No, on second thought, I won’t.

My momma raised me better than that.

Stay tuned.

<')))>{

Here we go again

2007-04-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Two episodes in and I am even more irritated with this show. The editing is so flagrantly bad that it makes my head spin.

Yes, I know that the show has sky high ratings. I know that we are seeing and hearing these guys on the radio and in the am morning shows on local affiliates. I am well aware of all the media hype and the articles in the press. But are you aware that aside from just a few little columns in the past, this show gets absolutely NO coverage in any of the fishing industry trade publications? Almost every fisherman I have talked to says they don’t even watch it (but I think they do) because it’s all scripted.

Last week we watched a staged safety drill with the Coast Guard aboard the Time Bandit. Fishies, the vessel safety inspections do not include this. They deal primarily with equipment and paperwork.

We saw a radio conversation between the Time Bandit and the Maverick about finding crab and last night we saw that Jonathan Hillstrand had not even set his gear. I am more than ever suspect of all the “conversations” we see the boats have. Looking out the wheel house windows you can see a difference in day and night, land in the background, weather etc. These guys don’t necessarily fish around one another as a rule, and I would not make a bet that the locations of each on the Lexus graphic are to be believed.

During the east coast airing Discovery Channel was touting the live chat with greenhorn captain Greg Moncrief…Greg is an accomplished skipper and not new to Bering Sea crabbing. While it’s pretty apparent that Raghnild is aboard because the cameras are, she is no stranger to the sea. Comparing and contrasting the shopping/buying style between the boys of the TB and Raghnild was funny, but to insinuate she would not know what to buy to feed her men was foolish. Any of you happen to catch the different clothing she had on in one supposed day? Flipped back and forth in one conversation, but we have seen that one before.

I get a kick out of Dirty Jobs and enjoy Mike Rowe. He has a great voice and does a decent job of narrating the series. But man, the script that they have him reading. It’s pretty obvious that was lined out in Hollywood without any reliable input whatsoever.

As many are aware, sponsorship and logos are plastered all over the screen. To some it is distracting and furthers the theory that this show has gone totally Hollywood, others don’t notice it or seem to care. To me, the most telling part of how these hacks feel about the people involved, was the very end of last nights episode. Instead of Alltell being splatted in the middle of your screen, it should have read:

In Memory of the Fishermen and families of the F/V Ocean Challenger.

Stay tuned

<’)))>{

Crossing the Bar

2007-04-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

The Things You Need (For Someone Considering Crab Fishing In the Bering Sea)

2007-04-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

I had forgotten about this great piece that was in the Anchorage Press several years ago, written by well known Fisher Poet Toby Sullivan. Look for his work.

This Alaskan Life
The Things You Need
by Toby Sullivan

March 28 - April 3, 2002 / Vol. 11, Ed. 13

The Things You Need

(For Someone Considering Crab Fishing In the Bering Sea)

Toby Sullivan

You need Xtra Tuffs boots – two pairs for when the ankles get holes from being folded down to dry. Two sets of orange Grunden’s raingear, jacket and pants. Dutch Harbor brand gear is OK too, they even have pockets now. But the hoods on the Helly Hansen jackets are too small for some guys, and the dark green color is invisible at night in the water if you go over. If anything happens.

The rest of this wonderful prose is something you should not miss and is available here:

Press: This Alaskan Life

Grunden’s: Grundens - Quality Foulweather Gear

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

PS to Toby: I didn't get down to the gathering and have been trying to find you!

Shame on you DC

2007-04-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

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.

<’)))>{

High Seas Soap Opera

2007-04-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

I had to watch the premier of Deadliest Catch Season Three a couple of times just to be sure of what I was seeing. The editing of this episode fascinates me and if Sig Hansen and Larry Hendricks are consulting on this they should be ashamed.

There is something that needs to be re-stated here and that is this: you are seeing eight boats out of 81 total that fished in the 2006 king crab season. That’s a touch under 10% of the boats. If any of you believe that these boats are the real high-liners of the fleet you would be very sadly mistaken. The numbers head north dramatically when opilio season rolls around with some boats delivering in excess of a million pounds.

Right now I am wondering what on earth possessed any of these men to allow those cameras on the boats. I know, for you who are not familiar with the industry and those involved you are getting a look at what they do; it’s an education of sorts I guess. And it gives me a whole host of topics for blogs along with the idiotic stuff on forums and message boards.

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

EPIRB Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon

2007-04-06T07:18:00.001-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

Prior to the development of the EPIRB when a vessel sank the skipper would give his LORAN or latitude and longitude coordinates, if he could. Very often during the hellish events of a vessel in distress it is subjected to flooding which can short out the electrical systems and/or kill the engines and generators and prevent a mayday call being issued.

Recalling the tragedy of the F/V Big Valley you may remember that no distress call was made. Had it not been for the EPIRB activation, no one would have known her location.

While some of the following is a bit dated, Wikipedia has some information about them:

Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs), Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are tracking transmitters that operate as part of the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system. When activated, the beacons send out a distress signal that allows the beacon to be located by the satellite system and search and rescue aircraft to locate the people, boats and aircraft needing rescue.

EPIRBs are used for maritime emergencies, where ELTs are used in aircraft applications and PLBs are used for personal use.

The basic purpose of the emergency beacons is to get people rescued within the "golden day" when the majority of survivors can still be saved.

Between 1982 and 2002, these systems enabled the rescue of 14,700 people. As of 2002, there are roughly 82,000 registered beacons, and over 500,000 of the older unregistered type.

Most beacons are brightly-colored, waterproof, fit in a cube about 30 cm on a side, and weigh 2-5 kg. They can be purchased from marine suppliers, aircraft refitters, and (in Australia and the United States) hiking supply stores. The units have a useful life of 10 years, operate across a range of conditions (-40°C to 40°C), and transmit for 24 to 48 hours. As of 2003 the cost varies from US$139 to US$3000, with varying performances (see below). Although modern systems are significantly superior to older ones, even the oldest systems provide an immense improvement in safety, compared to not having a beacon.

Types

There are two types: manually activated, and automatically activated.

In the U.S., offshore beacons are investigated and victims rescued by the Coast Guard. On-shore beacons are investigated by local search and rescue services in Alaska. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center is charged with land-based emergency signals, usually dispatching volunteer members from The United States Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol. In the U.S. there are no published notification systems for other locations.

In the U.S. no special license is required, but serial-number registration is required. In some jurisdictions, larger boats and ships are required to carry an ELT.

Current types

Current EPIRBs are generally divided into three classes; Category I, Category II, and Class B (or Category B).

Category I EPIRBs are considered the best but are also the most costly. Category I EPIRBs can be either deployed manually or set to deploy automatically in the event of a disaster at sea. These EPIRBs are generally housed in a specially designed bracket on deck and the buoyant beacon is designed to rise to the surface and emit two signals, an emergency homing signal on 121.5 MHz and a digital identification code on 406 MHz that can be used to identify the stricken vessel. Category I EPIRBs used in American waters must be registered with NOAA.

Category II EPIRBs are similar to Category I EPIRBs but are generally manual deployment only. Also like Category I EPIRBs, Category II units must be registered. Category II EPIRBs are also generally less costly averaging less than US$1,000.

Class B EPIRBs, also called Category B or "Mini B", operate a 121.5 MHz homing signal only and are usually manual deployment only units. They are the cheapest units but also the least capable. Since the signal has no identification component, Class B EPIRBs are not registered. Due to their limitations, Class B EPIRBs are slowly being phased out. The International Cospas-Sarsat program will no longer monitor Category B EPIRB signals as of February 1, 2009. Although the U.S. Coast Guard no longer recommends them, they remain in wide use.

What is meant by Manual and Automatic Deployment and Activation?: For an EPIRB to begin transmitting a signal (or "activate") it first needs to come out of its bracket (or "deploy"). EPIRBs can be activated manually - when a button on the unit is pushed, or automatically - when water comes into contact with the unit's "sea-switch". Deployment can happen either manually - where someone has to physically take it out of its bracket - or automatically - where water pressure will cause a Hydrostatic Release Unit to release the EPIRB from its bracket. If it does not come out of the bracket it will not activate. There is a magnet in the bracket which operates a reed safety switch in the EPIRB. This is to prevent accidental activation when the unit gets wet from rain or shipped seas. The Category I - type is recommended by IMO because a float-free bracket will deploy automatically once the vessel sinks and the EPIRB will then be activated automatically by immersion in water. All modern EPIRBS provide both methods of activation. Depending on the circumstances, they are capable of being activated either manually (crewman flicks a switch) or automatically (the "sea-switch" is activated when the unit is immersed in water).

Registration

Modern emergency beacons transmit a serial number. When the beacon is purchased this number should be registered with the relevant national authority. Registration provides the national authority with phone numbers to call, and a description of the signaling vessel, including its home port. The registration can give much of the information needed for starting the rescue. Also, they provide an easy way for the notification services to check and eliminate false alarms quickly.

How they work

All the systems work something like this: A beacon is activated by a crash, a sinking, or manually by survivors. The beacon's transmission is picked up by one or more satellites. The satellite transmits the beacon's signal to its ground control station. The satellite's ground station processes the signals and forwards the data, including approximate location, to a national authority. The national authority forwards the data to a rescuing authority. The rescuing authority uses its own receiving equipment to locate the beacon and makes the rescue or recovery. Once the satellite data is in, it takes less than a minute to forward the data to any signatory nation.

GPS-based, registered

The most modern 406 MHz beacons with GPS (US$ 1200-$3000 in 2002) locate a beacon with a precision of 100 meters, anywhere in the world, and send a serial number so the government authority can look up phone numbers to notify next-of-kin in four minutes, with rescue commencing shortly afterward. The GPS system permits stationary, wide-view geosynchronous communications satellites to enhance the doppler position received by low Earth orbit satellites. EPIRB beacons with built-in GPS are usually called GPIRBs, for GPS Position-Indicating Radio Beacon or Global Position-Indicating Radio Beacon.

High-precision registered

An intermediate technology 406 MHz beacon (US$ 500-900) has world-wide coverage, locates within 2 km. (12.5 km² search area), notifies kin and rescuers in 2 hours maximum (46 min avg.), and has a serial number to look up phone numbers, etc. This can take up to two hours because it has to use moving weather satellites to locate the beacon. To help locate the beacon, the beacon's frequency is controlled to 2 parts per billion, and its power is a hefty five watts.

Both of the above types of beacons usually include an auxiliary 25 milliwatt beacon at 121.5 MHz to guide rescue aircraft.

There have been instances where the EPIRB was accidently acitvated leading the Coast Guard on a frustrated chase. This usually happens when the EPIRB is knocked off of its bracket. However, some people forget to deactive the EPIRB when it is retired. The satellites have tracked them in the back of garbage trucks, floating in fish ponds, in the mooring basin etc.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Survival Suits

2007-04-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

During last nights premier of Deadliest Catch you were able to see a small part of the safety drills and equipment that are aboard vessels. With the footage of the search, rescue and recovery of the F/V Ocean Challenger you saw how that equipment is deployed.

As is obvious from the show, the bright “safety” orange color has better contrast than any other, it draws the eye. All of the equipment is that color – life rings, rafts, survival suits and smoke flares.

Prior to the development of the first immersion suit by the Bayley Company, if you went into cold water and were not rescued immediately, that was the end for you. One of the starkest examples of the success of the suit happened back in the early 1980’s when a fisherman, (whose name escapes me now) survived 36 hours after the sinking of his boat off the coast of Washington State.

Bayley has a good piece about the history of their suit at its company website:

BayleySuit - Custom Tailored Drysuits

There are several different types of suit available today. On commercial fishing vessels you will find either the Bayley or Stearns survival suits. These are the industry standard and referred to as the “Gumby suit” due to the shape the wearer takes. (I haven’t heard of any plans for a Pokey suit for boat pets.)

Safety drills are absolutely necessary; they familiarize you with the equipment and try to get you to ready to react appropriately in an emergency situation. The harsh reality of it all is that you rarely have a calm deck to roll out the suit and put it on at your leisure. More often than not the crew is awakened to a nightmare that has already progressed to the breaking point. Many a man has gone into the water clutching his suit in a desperate attempt to put it on.

Wikipedia has some good information about the suits:

Survival suit, or more specifically an immersion survival suit, is a special type of waterproof dry suit that protects the wearer from hypothermia from immersion in cold water, after abandoning a sinking or capsized vessel, especially in the open ocean. A survival suit's flotation and thermal protection is usually better than an immersion protection work suit, and typically extends a person's survival by several hours while waiting for rescue.

Usage

Unlike work suits, survival suits are not normally worn, and are stowed in an accessible location onboard the craft. The operator may be required* to have one survival suit of the appropriate size onboard for each crew member, and other passengers. If a survival suit is not accessible from a crew member's work station and berth, then two accessible suits must be provided.

An adult survival suit is often a large bulky one-size-fits-all design meant to fit a wide range of sizes. It typically has large oversize booties and gloves built into the suit, which let the user quickly don it on while fully clothed, and without having to remove shoes. It typically has a waterproof zipper up the front, and a face flap to seal water out around the neck and protect the wearer from ocean spray.

The integral gloves may be a thin waterproof non-insulated type to give the user greater dexterity during donning and evacuation, with a second insulating outer glove tethered to the sleeves to be worn while immersed.

A ship's captain (or master) may be required hold drills periodically to ensure that everyone can get to the survival suit storage quickly, and don the suit in the allotted amount of time. In the event of an emergency, it should be possible to put on a survival suit and abandon ship in about one minute.

Suit construction

Survival suits are normally constructed out of red or bright fluorescent orange or yellow fire-retardant neoprene, for high visibility on the open sea. The Neoprene material used is a synthetic rubber closed-cell foam, containing a multitude of tiny air bubbles making the suit sufficiently buoyant to also be a personal flotation device.

The seams of the neoprene suit are sewn and taped to seal out the cold ocean water, and the suit also has strips of SOLAS specified retroreflective tape on the arms, legs, and head to permit the wearer to be located at night from a rescue aircraft or ship.

Safety features

Survival suits can also be equipped with extra safety options such as:

A whistle on a lanyard to permit the wearer to signal for help

An emergency strobe light beacon with a water-activated battery

An inflatable air bladder to lift the wearer's head up out of the water

Tethered mittens to better insulate the hands

An emergency radio locator beacon

A "Buddy line" to attach to others' suits to keep the group together for rescue

Inflatable Survival Suits

The inflatable survival suit is a special type of survival suit, recently developed, which is similar in construction to an inflatable boat, but shaped to wrap around the arms and legs of the wearer. This type of suit is much more compact than a neoprene survival suit, and very easy to put on when deflated since it is just welded from plastic sheeting to form an air bladder.

Once the inflatable survival suit has been put on and zipped shut, the wearer activates firing handles on compressed carbon dioxide cartridges, which punctures the cartridges and rapidly inflates the suit. This results in a highly buoyant, rigid shape that also offers very high thermal retention properties.

However, like an inflatable boat, the inflatable survival suit loses all protection properties if it is punctured and the gas leaks out. For this reason, the suit may consist of two or more bladders, so that if one fails, a backup air bladder is available.

* they ARE required. Some fishing vessels provide them and others will require you to purchase and maintain your own.

Stay Tuned!

Sea Fever

2007-04-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sea Fever

by John Masefield

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
All I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trip's over.

Stay tuned.

<')))>{

Deadliest Catch Fish Wrap

2007-04-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Here is an interesting marketing tidbit – perhaps you have even seen one.

….in December, the California Milk Processor Board ran afoul of scent-sensitive commuters when it asked that adhesive strips smelling like chocolate chip cookies be affixed to five bus shelters in San Francisco.

Gripes about the aroma from the ads, part of the “Got milk?” campaign, led the local Municipal Transportation Authority to order CBS Outdoor, which maintains the bus shelters, to remove the scent strips.

Such troubles may lead some consumers to conclude that ads in general are good only for wrapping fish. For them, help has arrived.

To promote the series “Deadliest Catch,” which will begin its third season tomorrow night, the Discovery Channel cable network is providing branded wrappers to 12 fish markets in Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.

The estimated 185,000 feet of wrapping paper, enough for more than 100,000 seafood orders, tells shoppers they can now watch “fresh episodes” of the series, which follows crab fisherman in the Bering Sea.

The promotion, which began last week, is to continue through April “or until we run out of paper,” said Julie Gordon Willis, senior vice president for marketing at Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Md., part of Discovery Communications.

The promotion was developed by PHD, a media agency owned by the Omnicom Group, and produced by Metropolis Media, part of Ubiquitous Media in New York.

Hmm. Perhaps the two promotions can be paired, encouraging those who read newspapers online to buy the printed versions because fish cannot be wrapped in computers.

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Sea Sick!

2007-03-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Here is a very important topic that you don’t often find discussed. Almost everyone suffers from seasickness at one time or another, and believe me it is unlike anything you have ever experienced. Most of those who experience it pray for death, it's that bad!

Almost all of those involved in Deadliest Catch have it when they first put to sea. The former engineer on the Cornelia Marie was legendary for two things: he was a world class chef and never had one moments respite from seasickness.

Seasickness is one area that will never be shown to you on this series. Why? Because we humans have a tendency to sympathize with the sufferer to the point that we will join them in their misery. Can't have you puking while you are watching TV!

From Wikipedia:

Seasickness is a form of motion sickness characterized by a feeling of nausea and, in extreme cases, vertigo experienced after spending time on a craft on water. It is typically brought on by the rocking motion of the craft, but people who are particularly vulnerable to the condition can feel seasick simply by setting foot on a boat, even if the vessel is in dry dock.

Seasickness can be a debilitating condition and can be dangerous if the sufferer has an important role to carry out, such as steering a yacht through stormy seas while avoiding rocks and other hazards.

Cause

Human beings instinctively seek to remain upright by keeping their centre of gravity over their feet. The most important way this is achieved is by visual reference to surrounding objects, such as the horizon. Seasickness often results from the visual confusion on a moving craft, when nearby objects move with the motion of the craft. Because the lines of the masts, windows, and furniture on a ship are constantly shifting with respect to fixed references, humans can suffer a number of afflictions, especially those unaccustomed to being at sea.

Sea-sickness has such a remarkable effect because both the sense of sight and touch are disturbed by the motion of a craft on water. The severity of seasickness is also influenced by the irregular pressure of the bowels against the diaphragm as they shift with the rising and falling of the ship.

Many experience similar effects while not at sea:

in railway carriages
in automobiles
on swings
while looking from a lofty precipice where known objects, being distant, are viewed under a new aspect and not so readily recognized
while walking on a wall or roof
while looking directly up to a roof
while observing the stars in the zenith
on walking into a round room, where there are no perpendicular lines of light and shade and the walls and ceiling are covered with an irregularly-spotted design
on twirling round, as in waltzing
while watching video captured by an unsteady camera
carnival rides (my addition)

Prevention and remedy

Over-the-counter and prescription medications such as dramamine and scopolamine (as transdermal patches and tablets) are readily available. Ginger capsules are also considered effective in preventing motion sickness. Some sufferers find that wearing special wristbands helps stave off the condition.

Those suffering from seasickness who are unaccustomed to the motion of a ship often find relief by:

keeping their eyes directed to the fixed shore or horizon, where possible
lying down on their backs and closing their eyes
drinking any substance that is likely to temporarily diminish their senses of sight and touch
move into a position where fresh air is blowing on their face
sucking on crystallised ginger, sipping ginger tea or taking a capsule of ginger.
keeping near the centre of the boat where any rocking motion is least pronounced
taking the helm of a yacht can reduce sickness as the sufferer has something to concentrate on, and can also anticiptate the movement of the vessel

Unlike with a hangover, succumbing to nausea normally does not relieve the symptoms of seasickness, and, once started, is often difficult to stop.

A "Coast Guard cocktail" is a prescribed combination of drugs used to combat seasickness. Traditionally the cocktail base is promethazine, an antihistamine that is used specifically to prevent motion sickness. Because of the drowsiness associated with this drug, a stimulant is added to complete the cocktail. Traditionally the stimulant is either ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. There are other combinations of drugs used to prevent seasickness but they are not generally referred to as the "Coast Guard cocktail".

Motion Sickness or kinetosis is a condition in which the fluid in the semicircular canals of the inner ear becomes agitated. This causes disagreement between the apparent visually perceived lack of movement and the inner ear's sense of actual movement. Depending on the cause it can also be referred to as seasickness, carsickness, simulation sickness, airsickness, or space sickness.

Dizziness, fatigue, and nausea are the most common symptoms of motion sickness. In fact, nausea in Greek means seasickness (naus means ship). If the motion causing nausea is not resolved, the sufferer will frequently vomit within twenty minutes. Unlike ordinary sickness, vomiting in motion sickness tends not to relieve the nausea.

About one third of people are susceptible to motion sickness in mild circumstances such as being on a boat in calm water, although nearly two thirds of people are susceptible in more severe conditions. Approximately half of the astronauts in the U.S. space program have suffered from space sickness.

Motion sickness on the sea can result from being in the berth of a rolling boat without being able to see the horizon. Sudden jerky movements tend to be worse for provoking motion sickness than slower smooth ones, because they disrupt the fluid balance more. A "corkscrewing" boat will upset more people than one that is gliding smoothly across the oncoming waves. Cars driving rapidly around winding roads or up and down a series of hills will upset more people than cars that are moving over smooth, straight roads. Looking down into one's lap to consult a map or attempting to read a book while a passenger in a car may also bring on motion sickness.

The most common theory for the cause of motion sickness is that it evolved as a defence mechanism against neurotoxins. The area postrema in the brain is responsible for inducing vomiting when poisons are detected, and for resolving conflicts between vision and balance. When feeling motion but not seeing it (for example, in a ship with no windows), the inner ear transmits to the brain that it senses motion, but the eyes tell the brain that everything is still. The area postrema will always believe the inner ear signal over the eyes, as the eyes are more susceptible to trickery. As a result, the brain will come to the conclusion that one is hallucinating and further conclude that the hallucination is due to poison ingestion. The brain responds by inducing vomiting, to clear the supposed toxin.

Here is a great site for more information:

http://seasickness.co.uk/

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Discovery's 'Deadliest Catch' heads for the ice ... and danger

2007-03-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

From the Jamaica Gleaner:

The next time you pay the check for a plate of tasty crab in a seafood restaurant, you may want to take a moment to think about the true price of that meal.

Out on the icy, unforgiving Behring Sea off Alaska, that price is often paid in sweat and pain ... and in lives.

On Tuesday, April 3, Discovery Channel premieres the third season of its Emmy-nominated series Deadliest Catch, which follows the captains and crews of fishing boats as they head into Arctic waters in the late autumn and winter in search of king and opilio crab.

Says Capt. Johnathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit, "A lot of people say to me, 'Sorry, I didn't know you guys risked your lives to get this crab on my plate.' "

In the show's very first season, which launched in the spring of 2005, the Big Valley went to the bottom of the ocean, claiming the lives of six fishermen.

For executive producer Thom Beers, it was a very personal loss.

"Those guys were friends of mine," he recalls. "I did another special for Discovery, three years before that, called The Mystery of the Alaskan Mummies. I leased the Big Valley, with all those guys.

"Gary Edwards, the skipper of that boat, was an amazing guy. He was a jazz musician, one of those people who was very cultured and bright.

"At the last minute, he went out because it was the last year of the quotas, and if he fished it, he could hold onto a slice of the annual quota. So he went out to sea.

Crab grounds

"If I'd known he was going, you bet your life I'd have put a crew on that boat. They didn't even get out to the crab grounds, and that boat got hit by a big wave and went down."

In the opening episode of this season, the Coast Guard searches for the crew of the 49-foot Ocean Challenger, which capsized in October 2006. Two of the crew died, one was injured and one was lost.

"The Behring Sea makes a promise," Beers says, "that it will never disappoint you. Better yet, it will always disappoint you, because it's extraordinarily violent and volatile that time of year."

Stay tuned!

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KILLER CRABS WHY 'DEADLIEST CATCH' IS TV'S MOST DANGEROUS SHOW

2007-03-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

This article appeared in the New York Post:

By DON KAPLAN

March 30, 2007 -- 'DEADLIEST Catch" is the only reality show where someone is almost guaranteed to die each season.

The show follows the hardships and occasionally tragic ends of fishermen working hundreds of miles off the coast of Alaska in some of the world's most violent waters. It has been a staple on the Discovery Channel for three years.

"It's got to be the dumbest place to work in January," says executive producer Thom Beers.

"It's all about the working class guy," says Beers of both the fishermen and the camera crews he sends out to sea with them. "These are guys who go out and earn a living. What they're doing is modern-day prospecting and nature, in all its violence, is the great leveler. It's about how a working-class guy makes it rich."

The latest season starts on Tuesday.

Depending on the catch, fishermen can make nearly $10,000 in a week - or almost nothing. Little has been said, however, about the production crews who make the harrowing journey each year to film the dangers on a fleet of crab boats.

Each ship frequently battles 60-foot waves, while the crews work outside during the wild storms that toss around 1,000-lb. steel crab traps like toys and leave tons of ice clinging to the already unbalanced fishing boats.

Occasionally sleep-deprived fishermen slide off of the slick, rolling decks or worse. If someone gets their legs tangled in the ropes attached to the traps, they're instantly dragged down to the sea bottom, never to be seen again.

Statistically, each year at least one crewman who sails with the Alaska crab fleet will not be coming back. By the second episode of this season, three men are dead, killed when their boat sinks into the icy waters.

The men who film the show assume the same risks. "Normally it's guys between the ages of 25 and 30 who are looking for this great adventure and come from this pool of adventure cameramen who have been doing this sort of thing for years on shows like 'Survivor' ," says Beers. After the show was nominated for a cinematography Emmy last year, more seasoned cameramen have applied for the job.

So far, none of the cameramen have been seriously hurt, but the job is not for the fainthearted. Each season, about $250,000 to $300,000 worth of high-definition TV production equipment is destroyed by seawater and the extreme weather. Sometimes the cameras are sacrificed so that the operator can survive.

"Two years ago one of the boats caught fire [it was put out] but a few days later another one, The Big Valley, went down. Between the fire and then the loss of a ship, the guy we had on the boat that caught fire was so freaked out he locked himself in his cabin and didn't come out for eight days," says Beers.

Stay tuned!

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Working in Alaska

2007-03-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

With Deadliest Catch Season 3 beginning to air, I thought this might be a good time to talk seriously about getting a job in the seafood industry. Every year the viewership has grown and I am sure that this year will be no different. That being said, the number of people wanting a spot on one of the Bering Sea boats will increase exponentially.

The possibility of someone who has no sea time or experience actually landing a job on one of the Alaska highliners is very slim. I would urge you instead to see what is available in an area nearer to you. Most fishermen work their way up from processing to gill net or other salmon fisheries, to tuna boats and so on.

Today I will concentrate more on processing jobs.

This person has put together a nice little website about his summer working for Pederson Point Seafoods, a processor in Bristol Bay. There is a ton of information and photos relating to the work and the area.

PPT-2003

Here are some other processors:

Yardarm Knot Inc. | Home

Trident Seafoods :: Home

Deep Sea Fisheries, Inc. owns and provides management services to fishing and processing vessels. Offers quality seafood products and commercial fishing employment.

While the following sites are full of good information, they make some promises that they probably won’t be able to keep. Be aware that some charge a fee for their services!

Alaska Jobs, Alaska Fishing & Deckhand Jobs - Alaska Job Finder

Alaska Fishing Jobs Clearinghouse

Alaska fishing jobs Home

Deep Sea Fishermen's Union

State employment sites:

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Alaska Job Center Network

Stay tuned!

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Attack of the Crab Monsters

2007-03-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

Just because I know that some of you will enjoy this:

Any of you see this gem while you were growing up?

Stay tuned!

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Hired Masters

2007-03-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

In prior blogs I let you know that some of the vessels involved in Deadliest Catch are not owner operated. The skipper of those vessels is called a hired master. Here is some information about that:

What is a Hired Master?

A “Hired Master” is an individual who, at the request of an IFQ Permit holder, and on approval by NMFS, has been authorized to fish another person’s specific IFQ permit. Some IFQ permit holders must use Hired Masters to fish their IFQ; some may use Hired Masters, and some types of IFQ may never be fished by Hired Masters, (i.e. the IFQ permit holder must personally be on board).

Who must use a Hired Master to fish their crab IFQ permit(s)?

All non-individual entities (corporations, partnerships, crab harvesting cooperatives, etc.) that hold crab IFQ permits must use NMFS-authorized Hired Masters to fish their IFQ permits. Even if you are a shareholder, partner, or member of the IFQ permit holder, the IFQ permit holder must formally obtain authorization from NMFS to use that shareholder, partner, or member as its Hired Master.
Any IFQ assigned to a crab harvesting cooperatives must be fished by a Hired Master authorized for the cooperative’s IFQ permits and vessels.

Who may use a Hired Master to fish their crab IFQ permit(s)?

Individuals holding CVO or CPO IFQ permits are not required to use a Hired Master and may choose to be on board the vessel and harvest their own IFQ crab. However, any individual who holds a CVO or CPO IFQ permit may hire a master to fish his/her IFQ as long as he or she owns at least 10% of the vessel on which the IFQ crab is to be harvested.

What types of crab IFQ may NOT be fished by a Hired Master?

“Crew” or “Captain” IFQ (CVC and CPC types), if held by an individual—not assigned to a cooperative, may only be fished by the IFQ permit holder and may not be fished by a Hired Master. CVC and CPC IFQ assigned to a cooperative must be fished by that cooperative’s hired master.

How do I obtain authorization for a Hired Master to fish my crab IFQ permit(s)?

If you are an IFQ permit holder eligible to use a Hired Master (see above), you must apply to NMFS for approval by submitting the form “Application for Crab IFQ Hired Master Permit” (Application). The application is available from the Restricted Access Management (RAM) Program at 1-800-304-4846 (option #2), or online at: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/crab/rat/ram/hiredskipperapp.pdf. You must submit an Application for each combination of individual Master, IFQ permit fished, and each vessel used. Therefore, you will have to submit another Application when you wish to add, delete, or change individuals, IFQ permits, and/or vessels.

As a Hired Master for a crab harvesting cooperative, do I need to be present on the vessel during fishing operations?

Yes, the Hired Master must be present on the vessel during fishing operations

As a Hired Master for a crab harvesting cooperative, do I need to be present, on the vessel or at the processing plant, during the entire off-load?

Yes, the Hired Master must remain at the facility until the relevant crab IFQ account is debited.

Does a Hired Master fishing for a cooperative, or a non-cooperative IFQ permit holder need to be present when delivering Class B IFQ?

Yes.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak

2007-03-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

One job that certainly does not get the attention it deserves is that of the US Coast Guard. It appears that they are in the process of re-vamping their website, check it out!

From the Coast Guard website:

Air Station History... in a nut shell

Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is a Seventeenth Coast Guard District (D17) unit on beautiful Kodiak Island approximately 250 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The Air Station was commissioned as an Air Detachment April 17, 1947 with one PBY Catalina aircraft, seven pilots, and thirty crewmen. It represented the first permanent Coast Guard aviation resource in Alaska. The Air Station is the major tenant of Integrated Support Command (ISC) Kodiak, and the largest Coast Guard command in D17 and the entire Pacific Area (PACAREA). The present complement of HC-130H's, HH-60J's, HH-65A's aids in completing our mission and saving lives.

Our Mission

The primary mission of Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is to provide aircraft and crews in support of the Coast Guard's core missions which include: Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, covering 4 million square miles including the Gulf of Alaska, Bristol Bay, Bering Sea, and the Pacific Ocean above 40N latitude; Enforcement of Laws and Treaties (ELT), primarily focused on the nation's most active fisheries; logistical support of isolated D17 units; Marine Environmental Protection (MEP); Aids to Navigation (ATON); Military Defense; disaster control services and relief; and assistance to numerous local, state, and federal agencies. The HC-130H and HH-60J aircraft serve as the primary SAR response assets.

HH-65B Dolphin Helicopters

HH-65B helicopters augment Alaska Patrols (ALPAT) by deploying aboard 378’ High Endurance Cutters to make our presence known to the outer edges of the largest operational area of responsibility in the Coast Guard (over 3.9 million square miles). Supported by extremely motivated and professional ALPAT maintenance personnel, HH-65A Helicopters achieve a remarkable 98% availability during deployments. Without that type of support, operational effectiveness on the high seas would be substantially diminished.

HH-60J Jayhawk Helicopters

Protection of living marine natural resources doesn’t end with the close monitoring of U.S. and International fishing fleets far from Kodiak. Air Station HH-60J crews remain intensely involved with state and local officials to equally ensure nearby sea-lion rookeries remain unmolested, halibut fishery openings and closings are closely monitored for violators, and local herring fisheries are properly conducted.

HC-130H Hercules Fixed-Wing

In addition to Search and Rescue operations and Fisheries Law Enforcement patrols, the Air Station flies missions involving logistic support of outlying Coast Guard units as far as Barrow to the north and Attu to the west, deployed helicopter SAR support out of Cordova from April through September, and support of federal agencies throughout the state.

Maintenance

Air Station Kodiak's maintenance professionals "keep'em flying". Keeping aircraft mission capable in some of the most demanding weather conditions found anywhere in the world requires a special sense of dedication and commitment. With aircraft availability rates that routinely surpass Commandant requirements, the men and women of Air Station Kodiak continue to meet this challenge. Aviation enlisted personnel can expect to be assigned to one of the three airframe types (C-130, H-60, H-65) at Kodiak. Assignment to ALPAT (H-65) is normally a second tour of duty for qualified aircrew members.

Air Station Awards

Air Station continues to be recognized nationally for the accomplishments of the crew. Recent awards include; the 2002 Naval Helicopter Award for Aircrew of the Year, the Seventeenth CoastGuard District Operational Excellence Award for a Large Unit, 2001 Association of Naval Aviators Award for Helicopter Aviation, the 2001 National Defense Transportation Association Unit Award, and a Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Award in 2000. Individual recognition includes presentation of the prestigious Admiral Bender, Admiral Hayes, and Admiral Gracey awards.

The officers and enlisted men and women of Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak have consistently demonstrated heroism and professionalism, remaining SEMPER PARATUS to serve their country, and more closely to home, the people of the great state of Alaska.

USCG Air Station Kodiak - U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Stay tuned!

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Lights! Camera! Action! But where are the groupies?

2007-03-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

Here is a short piece that ran in the March issue of Pacific Fishing Magazine:

While fishermen featured on Deadliest Catchy may enjoy being inundated with fan mail and marketed on a variety of merchandise, their fellow fishermen have mixed feelings about the series.

Many find it ironic that the series is filming now, after the crab rationalization program and federal buyout of boats has so dramatically changed the nature of the industry. They joke about crabbing “back when it was safe,” and say it would be interesting to see a re-creation of some of the stories from the “Wild West” days of the 1960s and ‘70s. At that time, huge quotas and the “race to fish” led to months of grueling non-stop fishing.

Few fishermen are willing to go on record as critical of the show, however, not wanting to seem envious of others’ “15 minutes of fame.”

One fisherman from a contingent of Norwegian-American crab pioneers summed up the doubts of many: “They are looking for tragedy. That’s what sells,” said Lloyd Johannessen.

“They also glamorize it so much,” Johannessen added, “I get all kinds of calls from guys wanting to go crabbing.”

“You get young guys in Missouri, out dry-walling, and they come home and watch Deadliest Catch and think, ‘Oh, yeah.”

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Psychological Effects

2007-03-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

Here is the final part of the series:

So, what happens when the dust settles? What are the long-term emotional and psychological effects on those with extreme jobs? Why is it that those who regularly put their lives in danger tend to stop at a relatively early age? Take Formula One drivers for instance; by their early thirties they are retiring, often complaining of an enhanced sense of their own mortality, and the responsibilities of life becoming too important to them to continue risking their lives every week. Psychologist Sally Baker has an answer:

“Those under excessive stress or trauma tend to deal with it in different ways. Common reactions include denial or repression of those uncomfortable thoughts or memories or indeed, ‘acting out’, whereby the individual behaves in a way they know is wrong or inappropriate, something which may be construed as not actually coping at all.”

That’s one thing we haven’t covered in our examination of these extreme people. Sometimes, they don’t cope at all. Stress reactions to traumatic events can occur straight away, or they can be delayed for hours, weeks or even years. And when it happens, it’s not always pretty.

Psychologists distinguish between thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and physical symptoms. For example, a feeling of disorientation after an accident can lead to feelings of anger and frustration, which can lead to restless behaviour, and the physical symptom of a rapid heart rate. This could happen at any point after the event, and it’s important to remember that these symptoms usually come from the body and mind coming to terms with what’s happened, rather than being unable to cope. In any doubt, the overall advice is to seek professional help. Gareth English says,

“For some, if their support system becomes insufficient or changes, then the pressure may become too much. Long-term pressure that is not outweighed by support is thought to be linked to a number of health problems.”

You can’t deny that one good way of coming to terms with the death or injury of a fellow worker is humour. Psychologist Stephanie Longridge has worked extensively with the fire service and has an interesting insight,

“In my experience when [firefighters] talk about a colleague who has died, they joke about it, taking the mickey and seeing the lighter side. It’s not disrespectful – it’s just the way they have found to cope.”

Finally - for the kinds of thrill-seeking risk takers we’ve been talking about, one of the long term impacts could well be that they simply run out challenges, run out of adrenalin fuelled activities, and start to take unnecessary risks to get their fix of danger. Gareth English of OPP has a final word here:

“The long term effects vary. For those who were attracted by the thrill of the job, they may find it becomes mundane. They then seek out something more exciting, and can find themselves taking increasingly unnecessary risks.”

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Coping Strategies

2007-03-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

When you think of the excitement of an extreme job where the profits may be huge, and you’re living on a knife-edge, it’s easy to forget that these people have to cope with enormous pressure and stress. So how do they cope? Are there any mechanisms we normal mortals can learn to help us deal with the stresses and strains of everyday life?

The first and perhaps most important point to mention is that these people will be well equipped to deal with stress to start off with. Only people with a tendency towards these kinds of activity will be involved with them, and that’s a special type of person, says Edna Agbarha – Head of Talent Management for Right Coutts, the Management Consultancy,

“These people are most likely to be extrovert characters who need to be stimulated by external forces all the time. Often they will be less of a team player, more of an individual, and very ambitious – you could say they are not the kinds of people who like routine.”

So these people seem to need excitement just to stay ticking over – you could say that the only way they can feel alive is to risk death.

Psychology as a discipline has identified numerous ways people could cope with trauma or stress. They range from denial – where a person may deny that an event has even occurred, to compartmentalisation – where a person may simply separate different parts of their life into ‘compartments’ to enable them to cope. It’s hard, for example, to imagine a crab fisherman coming home after being at sea in a force eight wind, and having the same attitude to his wife and children as he had out to sea – he will put that aside and try and forget.

Another explanation for people coping with extreme jobs could be the attitude towards the job. Gareth English, Senior Consultant for OPP, the business psychology consultancy, has something to say here,

“Although to many, these dangerous jobs may appear too terrifying to even contemplate, those who do them often find the work exciting rather than stressful. Others manage the work pressure through the support they receive, from friends, family, colleagues or clients. For fire-fighters, for example, knowing that they are making a difference to people can outweigh the stress.”

There are two new reasons to separate out there, one is that those in extreme jobs may weigh up the danger to themselves against the good they are doing for society, like firefighters, or policemen may well do. The other is even more interesting, and takes up Edna Agbarha’s earlier point: it may well be that these people don’t find their job dangerous, but exciting, they don’t feel nervous, instead they get a rush. Surely we can all learn from this – being able to convert nervous energy into excitement must be a great life skill to have.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

High Octane Psychology

2007-03-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

The psychological effects of extreme jobs

2007-03-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

The next few blogs will cover a series that runs on Discovery Channel’s UK website. While some of it is a bit dated, I found the psychological matter interesting and thought you might too.

"Year after year, generation after generation, the young men of Alaska sail out to treacherous seas to do one of the ultimate extreme jobs – crab fishing.

The prize is big – crab meat is amongst the most prized in the world, but so are the risks. There is a 100% injury rate and deaths occur among the fishermen every week.

But what makes these people tick? Why do they endanger their lives daily when they have families at home? And what are the consequences for those who live on the edge so often?

Discovery investigates the psychological effects of extreme jobs and finds out that it’s not always about the money.

Risks and Rewards

Every October, 250 boats gathering in Alaska's Dutch Harbour, waiting for a radio announcement that can seal their fate. These are crab fishermen, and they're chasing one of the ocean's great prizes - the king crab, one of North America's most popular delicacies. The rewards for a successful season can be immense. In 2004, the Alaskan boats caught 15.4 million pounds (6.8 million kilograms) of crab worth US$65.8 million. On a really successful boat, one fisherman might earn as much as US$100,000 for only five days work.

But the risks are enormous too. Fishermen everywhere have the most dangerous jobs on the planet. In Europe, fishermen are fifty times more likely to die while working than any other profession - a statistic which is mirrored in every country where boats take to the high seas in search of food for their populations. Extreme weather at sea puts these men in almost constant peril from drowning, hypothermia and severe injuries from nets, ropes and heavy equipment. And as fish and shellfish populations decline, they are forced to travel further from home in the hope of filling their freezers, often exposing themselves to the planet's harshest weather for weeks at a time.

Alaska's crab fishermen are among the most endangered of their kind. Their fishing season is short - perhaps as short as four days, and rarely more than twelve days. But in those few frantic days, they may have to endure forty-foot (12 metre) waves, 80mph (128kph) winds and the constant risk of being slammed by a swinging 700lb (318kg) steel crab trap. 20-hour shifts are common, usually in sub-zero temperatures and on slippery decks that are constantly pitching at perilous angles. Nearly every Alaskan crab fisherman returns to shore with some kind of injury: crushed hands and fingers, broken ribs and limbs. And in the worst accidents, people die: over 80% of them from drowning as a result of being washed overboard by the impossibly fierce seas.

These stories are by no means unique to Alaska. Everywhere in the world's cold oceans, fishermen withstand these unimaginably difficult working conditions, or worse. And for the skippers of these boats, these risks live alongside a constant economic threat to their livelihoods. Boats capable of withstanding conditions in the wild, freezing open oceans cost millions of dollars to build and many thousands of dollars a year to maintain. Before any fishing boat makes a profit, it has to pay for repairs, spare parts, fuel, food, bait and ice to freeze the catch. Nets and traps, the basic tools of the fishing trade, can cost thousands of dollars alone, and are often lost at sea.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Deadliest Catch article in Men’s Journal Magazine Part 2

2007-03-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fishies!

Warning – graphic language!

Deadliest Catch article in Men’s Journal Magazine, Part 1

2007-03-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

The April 2007 edition of Men’s Journal is on the stands now. On page 82 begins an article written by Bill Donahue about some of the captains and crews of the boats involved in the television show Deadliest Catch.

The Most Dangerous Game

Beneath the headline it reads:

“The hard-drinking crab fishermen of Dutch Harbor, Alaska – proud owners of the most dangerous job this side of Fallujah – are the surprise stars of Deadliest Catch, America’s wildest reality show. But have the TV crews come to praise these rugged men, or to bury them?”

Donahue begins with the story of Cache Seel and the sinking of the Big Valley, segueing into the popularity of the TV show. He states that this year the show should reach about 4 million viewers in this it’s third year. As Discovery Channel’s top rated show he finds no surprise that kids dress up as DC crabbers for Halloween. There is a bit of the history of the rationalization program as background for this article.

Last fall Donohue decided to “take the measure of the newly spawned stars of the Deadliest Catch,” and “see how an ancient industry us weathering the media age.” He flew into Dutch Harbor in October for “what is arguably the tensest moment of the king crab season: the prelude. Hundreds of crab fishermen were gathered in town preparing for the season as the cameras rolled: drinking and kvetching, drinking and mending crab pots, and drinking some more. And when the booze flows among fishermen, I learned, things can get pretty weird.”

He goes on to describe Dutch as a harsh place, noting the lack of trees and the relentless wind. The scenery he describes is that of discarded anchors, spools of old rope, and muddy tangles of fishing line scattered everywhere by the roadside. The figures he cites are already well known: 83 men died, out of less than 2,000 participating, in the crab seasons during the 1990’s. He gives this as the reasoning behind the “arcane superstitions” of the crabbers.

If you are die hard fans of Sig Hansen and John Hillstrand, stop reading now. The rest of the article ain’t pretty….

Donahue on being “granted an audience” with Sig Hansen while filming a scene for photo-shoot purposes: “But up close he isn’t quite the scruffy, unshaven hunk we see on TV; Hansen’s hair is thinning a bit, his skin is somewhat pasty, and while he isn’t exactly fat, it’s clear that his exercise regime involves a lot of sitting around in the wheelhouse, smoking Camels. He wore a wrinkled Hawaiian shirt, the collar open to reveal a gold necklace, and he seemed keenly cognizant that the circling camera crews held the power to shape his celebrity future.”

“Hansen needed no encouragement to keep talking. “I have people stopping me on the street,” he said as his boat steered itself on autopilot. “They recognize me just seeing my back. We have a fan base, and yeah, there’s been some opportunities.”

Later in the article: “Hansen is not exactly popular among his fishing colleagues, perhaps because he won the $250,000 bonus for the top-producing boat on the Deadliest Catch. Keith Colburn, owner/captain of a boat called the Wizard, fumed that Hansen has become arrogant and selfish. “One year I set him on a hot spot and gave him the charts for the area. I helped him out. I basically dialed him in 100 per cent, but he has never reciprocated.”

Hansen also guards his celebrity status. According to Larry Hendricks “When he found out I was made a consultant for Deadliest Catch, he went apeshit. He didn’t want me shaping the show. He feared that I could bring his world crumbling down, and he wanted his name listed on the credits above mine.” Hansen is the only active boat captain whom Deadliest Catch recognizes as a consultant.

“In Dutch, Hansen seemed to trail a dark aura behind him wherever he went. Once I saw him step into a bar, his blond hair perfectly coiffed….'Mr. Movie Star', I heard one crabber snort in disdain. “I think the fame has gone to his head,” said Ragnhild Moncrief (F/V FarWest Leader). “I went to his Christmas part last year and now he doesn’t even say hi to me. I guess he doesn’t like Norwegian women anymore.”

Donahue describes his encounter with Hansen in the bar of the Grand Aleutian Hotel while brother Norman “hovered nearby”:

“Hansen had his drinking money, a few twenties, laid out on the bar before him, and he was already yelling “My head fucking hurts,” he complained to the bartender. “Give me drugs.” Soon Hansen had eight tablets of ibuprofen in his palm. He downed the pills, gulping a chaser of vodka, and then he turned to me. Snatching my notebook out of my hand, he began batting me on the nose with it, cooing a singsongy taunt. “You’re trying to be professional,” he said “but you’re not. You’re silly. You’re silly.” He leaned in toward me, alarmingly close, and clenched his arm around my shoulder. Then he breathed hotly into my ear and rained kisses onto my neck. When I pried him off me, protesting, his brother Norman just laughed. “You haven’t been around Sig when he’s drinking,” he said.

Later, another crabber gave me a photo of Sig Hansen kissing the lips of a man with a beard. The man, I’d learn, was a Deadliest Catch staffer who was also apparently assailed out of the blue.

“Sig does that to bully people,” the crabber told me. “He’s mean.”

Next: Jonathan Hillstrand and Larry Hendricks.

Stay tuned.

<’)))>{

How I found myself while homeless in Alaska

2007-03-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

What follows is a posting from the Michigan Daily. There is some strong language.

By Jasper Kigar Michigan Daily

It started with the Discovery Channel. I've always had a yen to travel, but the show "The Deadliest Catch," may have had a greater impression on me than on the average viewer. The summer after my freshman year in Ann Arbor, I packed my bags and left for Alaska to seek adventure and fortune as a crabber. I never made it to the Bering Sea, but that summer changed my life.

My name is Jasper Kigar, but it hasn't always been. My parents named me Taylor. That's what I went by before my trip to Alaska. When I left I was hoping to change my personality from the cloistered and meek church boy to something more fierce and attractive. It's debatable whether I'm more attractive now, but after spending the summer vacation as a vagabond and a fisherman, my personality changed, and along with it, so did my name.

When I landed in Anchorage, I was scared. I quickly learned that the crabbing season was winter, not summer, and I had to find some other way to make the $20,000 cut a crabber might take home after a run. My best friend Josiah encouraged me, and after asking around in local bars about where to find fishing jobs (the next best thing to crabbing), we hitchhiked the 210 miles from Anchorage to Homer in three days, thanks in part to a Cajun man named Steve who preferred to drive with a buzz. He sipped Jim Beam while barreling down the curvy Alaskan highway at speeds I think averaged at least 105 miles per hour.

When we got into Homer we had no housing and it was too cold to camp so we enrolled in a homeless shelter called the Refuge Room. Josiah shared a bunk with an old sex-offender named Dan, who smelled of piss and semen. I slept above a 4-fingered chef named Larry, who had a propensity for falling asleep while talking.

After Josiah and I parted ways, I took a job on a salmon seining boat. When it went bankrupt, I took a job on the docks working at a cannery and lived for a few weeks with a hippie named Caressa in the back of her camper on the beach. After Caressa left to help out on a real crabbing voyage, I was left high and dry and homeless, again. I saw her out to sea, and later that evening, walked down the docks, hungry.

I heard laughter coming from an old cargo boat called the Beaver, which I would later learn was a sort of Vietnam Veteran's commune and a place the weak of stomach were advised to avoid. I walked in to see five burly men sitting around a table in the galley drinking cheap beer and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes. They stopped talking and stared.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"He looks like a fisherman,"

"Smells like a slime liner,"

"What's your name, boy?"

"Jasper," I replied.

"You play crib, Jasper?"

It was the first time I'd used the name Jasper. Until then I'd gone by Taylor. At the time, I didn't think about it very hard. I was nervous, and I wanted an alias.

We did play crib that night. If you ask him now, he'll say he won, but our memories from that night differ slightly. To make a long story short, we hit it off. Ken let me stay in the captain's quarters for as long as I was in Alaska. He slept in the engine room because he said he preferred to be "close to (his) diesels."

I don't know why I pulled the name Jasper out of my head to talk to those rowdy guys, but I think it was because I was scared. I thought it was possible they might try to kill me, so I gave them a fake, rugged-sounding name, partially to protect myself in case I had to make a run for it. For whatever reason, it stuck. On the ship, I started to fit in and feel at home. We were a ship of rejects and ruffians, of which I was the youngest. I hid my sheltered background along with the Arabic and Spanish I learned at the University. I learned to speak their slang, and I learned to drink - a lot. Beer break on the Beaver started at 3 p.m., and we usually went strong past midnight.

Today my name is Jasper. When I came home from Alaska and stepped back into the college life at the University I held onto my scruffy face and the name. My friends didn't know what to make of me and most didn't accept it, but every new person who I introduced myself to met me as Jasper, and my mother and grandparents took to the name. Jasper had a more exotic story to tell than Taylor. Plus, he could work all day and hold his liquor.

I returned to Alaska last summer. I lost all my money again and quit the business for good. The name, though, will stick with me. In fact, I'm making it permanent. My hearing for a formal name change is April 3 at 3 p.m. at the Washtenaw County Courthouse. But before that happens, I'd like to extend my deepest thanks to Captain Ken, without whom I never would have been scared enough to recreate myself, and Taylor, who had the courage to try the next best thing.

- Jasper Kigar is an LSA junior.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Acronyms

2007-03-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

This listing of the most frequently used acronyms may be helpful to you:

BSAI – Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands

CDQ – Community Development Quota

CMP – Catch Monitoring Plan

CPC – Catcher Processor Crew

CPO – Catcher Processor Owner

CR – Crab Rationalization, Crab Rationalized

CVC – Catcher Vessel Crew

CVO – Catcher Vessel Owner

DCA – Data Collection Agent

DFL – Daily Fishing Logbook

EDR – Economic Data Report

ECC – Eligible Crab Community

ECCO – Eligible Crab Community Organization

FCVP – Federal Crab Vessel Permit

IFQ – Individual Fishing Quota

IPQ – Individual Processing Quota

LLP – License Limitation Program

OR – Official Crab Rationalization Record

PSMFC – Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission

PQS – Processor Quota Share

PTR – Product Transfer Report

QS – Quota Share

RCR – Registered Crab Receiver

ROFR – Right of First Refusal

SMAA – Seafood Marketing Association Assessment

SFCP – Stationary Floating Crab Processor

TAC – Total Allowable Catch

VAR – Vessel Activity Report

VMS – Vessel Monitoring System

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

FIVE FISHERMEN RESCUED NEAR KODIAK

2007-03-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Press release from the US Coast Guard:

KODIAK, Alaska - Five fishermen are safe after being rescued from their disabled vessel by the Coast Guard near Kodiak Island this afternoon in severe weather.

At 7:48 a.m., the 53-foot fishing vessel Risky Business notified Air Station Kodiak that their vessel was listing to port and they were heading to Kodiak. At about noon the Risky Business reported that they had a mechanical problem, were listing 30 degrees to port and were preparing to abandon ship.

A Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was launched to assist the crew 69 miles east of Kodiak. The helicopter arrived as the vessel was forced on its port side by 20-foot seas and 50 mph winds. The crew was instructed to put on survival suits and enter the water. A basket was lowered and each crewmember was safely hoisted into the helicopter.

The captain and four crewmembers were returned to Kodiak where they were evaluated by emergency medical personnel and released.

The Kodiak based longliner was still partially afloat when the Coast Guard helicopter departed the scene.

The cause of the vessel's mechanical trouble is under investigation by Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Kodiak.

The Coast Guard reminds mariners to ensure they have all the necessary safety equipment onboard and that it is in good working condition. Mariners interested in a free fishing vessel safety exam should contact their local marine safety detachment.

KODIAK. Alaska - The crew of the 53-foot fishing vessel Risky Business prepares to abandon ship 69 miles east of Kodiak today after mecahnical problems and severe weather caused the ship to list to port and take on water. Official U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Cmdr. Shawn Tripp.

KODIAK, Alaska - Crewmembers from the 53-foot fishing vessel Risky Business arrive at Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak after their vessel became disabled and began to sink in severe weather off Kodiak Island today. Official U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Kurt Fredrickson.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Crab Harvesting Cooperatives Part 2

2007-03-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

Hello Fishies!

Here is part 2 about crab cooperatives:

Upon receipt of a completed application for an annual crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit that is subsequently approved, NMFS will issue one-year crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permits to the crab harvesting cooperative. The crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permits will list the crab IFQ amounts that are generated by the aggregate QS holdings of all members of the crab harvesting cooperative for each fishery, region, sector, and Class A/B IFQ categories. Issuance by NMFS of a crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit is not a determination that the crab harvesting cooperative is formed or is operating in compliance with antitrust law.

The following restrictions govern fishing for IFQ crab under a crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit:

A copy of a crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit must be maintained on board any vessel that is being used to harvest crab under the permit.

The only person eligible to harvest crab under a crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit is the crab IFQ hired master who is operating a vessel in which at least a 10 percent ownership share is held by a member of the crab harvesting cooperative to whom the IFQ permit is issued.

Each member of a crab harvesting cooperative is responsible for ensuring that members of the crab harvesting cooperative and crab IFQ hired masters of the crab harvesting cooperative comply with all regulations applicable to fishing for CR crab.

************

As you can see from the above, the formation of the cooperatives is both time consuming and labor intensive.

Here are the 2006/07 Crab Harvesting Cooperatives:

AC Crab Harvesting Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Advanced Harvesters Cooperative, Kodiak, AK

Alaska Crab Producers Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Alaska Fishermen’s Crab Cooperative, Mill Creek, WA

Alaska King Crab Harvester’s Cooperative, Anchorage, AK

Aleutian Gold Crab Cooperative, Chinook, WA

Aleutian Islands Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Coastal Villages Cooperative, Everett, WA

Crab Producers and Harvesters LLC, Seattle, WA

Fishing Associates Cooperative, Seattle, WA

KBO Crab Cooperative, Edmonds, WA

Krabbe Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Mariner Crab Harvesting Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Professional Crab Harvesters Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Rainier Cooperative, Edmonds, WA

Sea Boat Cooperative, Seattle, WA

The Bering Sea Crab Cooperative, Cascade Locks, OR

The Crab Cooperative, Kirkland, WA

Trident Affiliated Crab Harvesting Corp., Seattle, WA

Here is a link to one of the co-ops:

Bering Sea Crab Co-op | About

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Crab Harvesting Cooperatives Part 1

2007-03-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fishies!

One of the ways that the crab fishermen are dealing with the processor stranglehold is by forming cooperatives. There are boats that began with a large amount of quota share, and some purchased, leased or sold shares. Having been restricted (unlawfully most feel) to where and when the crab can be sold, and time and vessel constraints, the industry needed some help to make this mess work. Thus the crab co-op was born.

In a co-op the members pool all of their crab quota poundage, and different boats harvest different levels and areas.

Here are some of the government regulations:

A Crab Harvesting Cooperative IFQ Permit is an annual permit that authorizes the cooperative to harvest a defined annual amount of crab during a crab fishing year (July 1 through June 30). The amount of crab authorized by the permit is derived from the aggregate IFQ amounts that would otherwise have been issued to the members of the cooperative. Each cooperative will be issued a separate IFQ permit for each type of QS held by its members.

Formation of crab harvesting cooperatives:

The following requirements apply to the formation of crab harvesting cooperatives:

A crab harvesting cooperative is limited to QS holders that hold any amount of CPO, CVO, CPC, or CVC QS, and that NMFS has determined are eligible to receive crab IFQ.

Each crab harvesting cooperative must include at least four unique QS holding entities. A unique QS holding entity is a QS holder or group of affiliated QS holders that are not affiliated with any other QS holders or QS holding entities in the crab harvesting cooperative.

Membership in a crab harvesting cooperative is voluntary. No person may be required to join a crab harvesting cooperative, and no crab harvesting cooperative may be required to accept a member who the crab harvesting cooperative chooses not to accept.

A QS holder may join one crab harvesting cooperative per CR fishery.

Upon joining a crab harvesting cooperative for a CR fishery, NMFS will convert all of a QS holder's QS holdings for that CR fishery to crab harvesting cooperative IFQ, except that after June 30, 2008, a CVC QS holder that joins a crab harvesting cooperative may retain his or her Class B IFQ from use by the crab harvesting cooperative.

A crab harvesting cooperative must meet the following legal and organizational requirements before it is eligible to apply for a crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit:

(i) Each crab harvesting cooperative must be formed as a partnership, corporation, or other legal business entity that is registered under the laws of one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia.

(ii) Each crab harvesting cooperative must appoint an individual as designated representative to act on the crab harvesting cooperative's behalf and serve as contact point for NMFS for questions regarding the operation of the crab harvesting cooperative. The designated representative may be a member of the crab harvesting cooperative or some other individual authorized by the crab harvesting cooperative to act on its behalf.

A crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit is an annual permit issued to a crab harvesting cooperative that establishes an annual catch limit of crab that is based on the collective QS holdings of the members of the crab harvesting cooperative that have been contributed by the members. A crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit will list the IFQ amount, by fishery, held by the crab harvesting cooperative and identify the members of the crab harvesting cooperative. Each crab harvesting cooperative will be issued a separate IFQ permit for each type of QS held by a member (or members) of the crab harvesting cooperative.

A completed application for an annual crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit must be submitted annually by each crab harvesting cooperative and received by NMFS no later than August 1, together with the signed annual application for crab IFQ/IPQ permit forms of all the members of the crab harvesting cooperative.

A completed application also must contain the following information:

Enter the crab harvesting cooperative's legal name; type of business entity under which the crab harvesting cooperative is organized; state in which the crab harvesting cooperative is legally registered as a business entity; printed name of the crab harvesting cooperative's designated representative; the permanent business address, telephone number, facsimile number, and e-mail address (if available) of the crab harvesting cooperative or its designated representative; and the signature of the crab harvesting cooperative's designated representative and date signed.

Full name and NMFS Person ID of each member of the crab harvesting cooperative.

For the application to be considered complete, the following documents must be attached to the application:

the completed and signed annual application for crab IFQ/IPQ permit for all members of the crab harvesting cooperative, a copy of the business license issued by the state in which the crab harvesting cooperative is registered as a business entity, a copy of the articles of incorporation or partnership agreement of the crab harvesting cooperative, and a copy of the crab harvesting cooperative agreement signed by the members of the crab harvesting cooperative (if different from the articles of incorporation or partnership agreement of the crab harvesting cooperative).

Stay tuned for part 2!

<’)))>{

Where do YOU fit in?

2007-03-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fishies!

With the sneak previews out, past season currently running and the new season set to debut April 3, this topic was suggested to me:

Fan (person)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A fan or supporter is someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking of a sporting club, person, group of persons, company, product, work of art, idea, or trend. Fans of a particular thing constitute its fanbase or fandom. They may start a fan club, hold fan conventions, create fanzines, write fan mail, or engage in similar activities.

In a few cases, individual fans may become so obsessed with the objects of their infatuation that they become fanboys/fangirls. These fans engage in behaviors that are considered extreme or abnormal. This includes idolatry or other forms of worship, such as creating a personal shrine dedicated to the idol at one's home, and can sometimes extend to the point of the fans become stalkers.

Characteristics of a fan

There are certain common characteristics to be found in fans interested in different topics and that these characteristics influence the behaviors of those involved in fan behavior (Thorne&Bruner 2006).

Those common characteristics include (Thorne&Bruner 2006):

internal involvement. Fans focus more of their time and resources intently on a specific area of interest than a non-fan would, and are not significantly concerned if non-fans (including family or friends) don't derive pleasure from the area of interest. Fans usually have a strong enough interest that small to major changes in their lifestyles are made to accommodate devotion to the focal object.
desire for external involvement - are motivated to demonstrate their involvement with the area of interest through certain behaviors (attending conventions, posting online, etc.)
wish to acquire - fans tend to express a strong desire to possess material objects related to the area of interest.
desire for social interaction with other fans. This again may take many forms, from casual conversation, e-mail, chat rooms, and electronic mailing lists to regular face-to-face meetings such as fan club meetings and organized conventions.

There are several groups of fans that can be differentiated by the intensity level of their level of involvement or interest in the hobby (level of fanaticism) (Thorne&Bruner 2006).

The likelihood for a subject of interest to be elevated to the level of fandom appears to be dictated by its complexity. Complexity allows further involvement of fans for a longer period of time because of the time needed to work the subject of interest 'out.' It also contributes to a greater sense of belonging because of the mental effort invested in the subject.

Fan vs. fanatic

The difference between a fan and a fanatic is that while both have an overwhelming liking or interest in a given subject, behavior of a fanatic will be viewed as violating prevailing social norms, while that of a fan will not violate those norms (although is usually considered unusual). (Thorne&Bruner 2006)

Fixation may refer to the following:

In human psychology, fixation refers to the state where an individual becomes obsessed with an attachment to another human, animal or inanimate object. A Freudian belief that, if during one of the psychosexual stages of development, a person did not receive appropriate gratification during a specific stage, or that a specific stage left a particularly strong impression, that person's personality would reflect that particular stage throughout their adult life.

Fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby.

According to philosopher George Santayana, "Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim"; according to Winston Churchill, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject".

The difference between a fan and a fanatic is that while both have an overwhelming liking or interest in a given subject, behaviour of a fanatic will be viewed as violating prevailing social norms, while that of a fan will not violate those norms (although is usually considered unusual).

A fanatic differs from a crank in that the latter term is typically associated with a position or opinion which is so far from the norm as to appear ludicrous and/or provably wrong, while the subject of the fanatic's obsession may well be "normal", with only the scale of involvement being abnormally disproportionate.

"Crank" is a pejorative term for a person who

holds some belief which the vast majority of his contemporaries would consider false,
clings to this belief in the face of all counterarguments or evidence presented to him.

The term implies that

a "cranky" belief is so wildly at variance with some commonly accepted truth as to be ludicrous,
arguing with the crank is useless, because he will invariably dismiss all evidence or arguments which contradict his cranky belief.

Common synonyms for "crank" include kook and crackpot. The crank differs from the fanatic in that the subject of the fanatic's obsession is not necessarily widely regarded as wrong, or a "fringe" belief.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

In Dutch, there’s no business like show business.

2007-03-06T07:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

In the latest issue of Pacific Fishing Magazine, there is an interesting article by Ann Touza. Ann is the former managing editor of the Dutch Harbor Fisherman. Here are some excerpts:

In Dutch, there’s no business like show business.

Deadliest Catch is one of the top shows in cable, says Doug Stanley, one of the producers and director of photography. “It’s a monster worldwide.”

The third season (or fourth if you count the three hour forerunner) begins this April and will kick off with highlights from the best episodes.

When asked how long the Discovery Channel plans on returning to film, Stanley says that is unknown. The number of viewers continues to increase, particularly the number of young male viewers.

“It is not about fishing, but about the people who fish,” Stanley said. “and they are very interesting and exceptional characters.”

The show has become so popular that “people are talking about them in small villages in the rainforests of Brazil,” Stanley said. He added that the show is also very popular with American soldiers in Iraq.

For viewers and fishermen alike the excitement continues, Stanley said. Every time a crab pot is pulled, “It’s kind of like pulling the handle on a slot machine; you never know what is going to come up.”

When asked how they decided which boats to film, Stanley says they are looking for “a variety and range of characters.”

“We want the viewers to care about the people,” adding that regulars like Sig Hansen get “horrendous amounts of fan mail.”

The Discovery Channel crew was expected to remain in the community for some months. “We are at the whim of the season and the vessels chosen.”

With the slow pace of this year’s opilio season, it may take some time to get what they need.

*********

The two hour highlight episode of Season 2 airs March 27.

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Finding Nemo at the Sushi Bar

2007-03-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

Forgive me for indulging my warped sense of humor.....

Stay tuned!

<')))<{

The Alaska Fishermen's Fund

2007-03-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

Here is information regarding a little known program:

Established in 1951, the Fishermen's Fund provides for the treatment and care of Alaska licensed commercial fishermen who have been injured while fishing on shore or off shore in Alaska.

Benefits from the Fund are financed from revenue received from each resident and nonresident commercial fisherman's license and permit fee.

The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development oversees administration of the program with the assistance of the Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council.

The council is composed of the Commissioner or his designee, who serves as chairman, and five members appointed by the Governor.

Crewmembers with injury or illness directly connected to operations as a commercial fisherman must hold valid commercial fishing licenses or limited entry permits before the time of injury or illness to qualify for benefits. Note: Eligibility of a limited entry permit holder is based on the embossed date of the permit, not the date on which it was paid or when payment was received.

Onset of injury or illness must be onshore in Alaska or on Alaska waters.

Initial treatment must be received within 60 days after onset of injury or illness.

An application must be submitted within one (1) year after initial treatment.

Each treatment must be documented by a medical chart note and submitted.

For more information visit this site:

What is the Fishermen's Fund?

Stay tuned!

<')))>{

Housekeeping Items

2007-03-03T12:54:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

Some “housekeeping” items needed attention.

Fishies – As in a school of fish. My aim is to help educate those of you who are not familiar with the intricacies of the commercial fishing industry. Additionally, the editors of the show have taken such insane license with the truth; some of you like to know what really is going on.

Stay tuned – Have a look at the Discovery Channel’s main page for the Deadliest Catch. The phrase is used repeatedly.

Contacting me – As some of you know, you may use the comments section of the blog to send me information. The private messages are “rejected” as that is the way that the Blogger site has it set up. Please don’t take that personally.

Anonymous – Some of the comments that I have allowed can give you a pretty good idea of just how hysterical some of the posters are. The threatening ones have been sent to the proper authorities, hence the need to register.

Now, about my identity. I have covered that in an earlier blog posting. My name would mean nothing to you, so stop with the rank speculation and finger pointing. Quit picking on people who have nothing to do with this and be aware that some of my contacts would refuse to speak to me if my identity were known. My business takes me from the Aleutian Chain to northern California. I have ongoing contact with fish buyers and processors, skippers and deck crews, vessel systems repairmen and machinery maintenance, the crews of fishing boats and canneries, boat unloaders, members of the media, lobbyists and barkeeps. Some just want more information to be out about the rest of the fishing world, others are tired of the bs. They are all a fount of information and I need to protect them.

Speaking of protection, I refuse to divulge any of the inside information that I have on the members of the television show. What I have posted about the show participants is based on their actions as it relates to the show and fishing. If you go back and read my earlier blog posts with a clear and unbiased eye you will see that.

The personal attacks and muckraking that goes on via forums and boards is reprehensible. Would you like some one else’s version of your life blatted out? Shame on those who attempt to demean the men and women of the show by airing possible dirty laundry, some are obviously jealous, others are unstable. But even more shame should be laid on the shoulders of those who own or moderate those boards for allowing it to happen.

Now back to our regular scheduled programming….

Stay tuned!

<’)))>{

Nautical Mile

2007-03-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

This may be more information than you ever wanted to know about a common term:

1 nautical mile = 1853 meters = 2000 yards = 6080 feet

Now for those of you with a math or science background:

From a Forum By Trevor Kenchington

Contrary to some earlier replies, a nautical mile is (or was) the length of a minute of latitude at the latitude in question, not at the equator. (Since the Earth isn't a perfect sphere, the length on the surface that is subtended by a degree or a minute of latitude decreases slightly towards the poles and the length of a nautical mile decreases with it.) The confusion may have arisen because a "geographic mile", a rarely used unit, is the length of a minute of _longitude_ on the equator. As someone has already noted, a nautical mile is approximately 6080 English feet and that is often useful as a working measurement. I noted above that the definition of "nautical mile" might no longer be the same because, around 25 years ago, it was admitted as a metric unit under the System Internationale (SI). Since the original designers of the metric system, back in about 1780, got their calculations wrong, distances in kilometres cannot readily be related to the spherical geometry used in navigation. [Maybe the idea was that one-kilometer should have been the distance subtended by one centigrade or 1/100 or 1/100 of a right angle, meaning that 10,000 km would have equaled 3,600 nautical miles, though that implies an unbelievably large error.] So, sometime in the 1970s, the committees, which control SI, were persuaded to accept the nautical mile as a valid unit. Unfortunately, they gave it the singularly silly abbreviation "M", which, in their unlimited wisdom, they knew nobody could confuse with "m" for metre. I have only seen that used once, by a Russian scientist, and it sure confused me!

While there are 3600 seconds in a degree, there are (of course!) 5400 minutes in a right angle. Thus, 10,000 km should be equal to 5400 nautical miles, if the former was defined correctly and the world was a perfect sphere. That makes 1.85185... (the three figures go on recurring into infinity), which suggests that the people who marked the metal bar to define the metre had their dimension very close indeed -- and did not make the substantial error that I suggested in my last.

The nautical mile was originally defined as one minute of angle of the Earth's meridian. Since the meter originally was defined as a 10.000.000 part of the distance from Equator to the pole, it follows that a nautical mile is 10000000/5400 = 1851,851851... meters.

Stay tuned!

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Nautical Terms

2007-03-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

There are many terms that you read and/or hear that you may not know the meaning of. I thought that the following might be of help to you:

Aft - Towards the stern or rear of the vessel.

Ahoy - A cry to draw attention.

Amidships or midships - In the middle portion of ship, along the line of the keel.

Anchor's aweigh - Said of an anchor when just clear of the bottom.

Astern - Toward the stern.

Bar - Large mass of sand or earth, formed by the wave action of the sea. They are primarily found at the entrances of rivers, and often make navigation extremely dangerous, but once inside the waters are usually calm.

Beam - The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point.

Booby - A type of bird that has little fear and therefore is particularly easy to catch, hence booby prize.

Buoy - A floating object of defined shape and color, which is anchored at a given position and serves as an aid to navigation. It also marks the location of certain gear used in commercial fishing.

Bow - The front of a ship.

Bridge - A structure above the weather deck, extending the full width of the vessel, which houses a command center.

Bulkhead - An upright wall within the hull of a ship.

Bunked - One's afflicted disposition after being talked to by a driveling idiot. (The way I feel after reading a lot of the internet postings about commercial fishing).

Cleat - A stationary device used to secure a rope aboard a vessel.

Coaming - The raised edge of a hatchway used to help keep out water.

Compass - Navigational instrument designed to show the direction of travel.

Decks - the structural part of the boat which forms the horizontal surfaces.

Draft - The depth of a ship's keel below the waterline.

Fathom - A unit of length equal to 6 feet. This roughly measures as the distance between a man's outstretched hands.

Fender - An air or foam filled bumper used in boating to keep boats from banging into docks or each other.

Flank - The maximum speed of a ship. Faster than "full speed".

Forecastle - A partial deck, above the upper deck and at the head of the vessel; traditionally the sailors' living quarters.

Founder - To fill with water and sink

Fore - Towards the bow or front of the vessel.

Freeboard - The height of a ship's hull (excluding superstructure) above the waterline. This usually varies from one part to another.

Gaff - A long hook with a sharp point to haul fish in.

Galley - the kitchen of the ship

Harbor - A harbor is a place where ships may shelter from the weather, anchor, or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural.

Head - The toilet or latrine of a vessel.

Heave - A vessel's up-and-down motion.

Hold - The lower part of the interior of a boat's hull, used as storage space, as for cargo.

Hull - The shell and framework of a vessel.

Icing - A serious hazard where cold temperatures combined with high wind speed result in spray blown off the sea freezing immediately on contact with the ship.

Keel - The central line of the hull, running from the bow to the stern. It is the foremost item in ship construction – as in “laying a keel”.

Keelhauling - Maritime punishment: to punish by dragging under the keel of a ship.

League - A unit of length, normally equal to three nautical miles.

Line - the correct nautical term for the majority of the cordage or "ropes" used on a vessel. A line will always have a more specific name, such as mizzen, topsail, or halyard, which describes its use.

List - The vessel's angle of lean or tilt to one side, in the direction called roll.

Radar - An electronic system designed to transmit radio signals and receive reflected images of those signals from a "target" in order to determine the bearing and distance to the "target".

Radar reflector - A special fixture fitted to a vessel or incorporated into the design of certain aids to navigation or fishing gear, to enhance their ability to reflect radar energy.

Reef - Rock or coral, often only revealed at low tide and shallow enough that a vessel will at least touch if not go aground.

Scuppers - An opening on the side rail that allows water to run off the deck.

Splice - To join lines (ropes, cables etc.) by unraveling their ends and then weaving them back together to form a continuous line.

Stern - The rear part of a ship.

Weigh anchor - To pull up the anchor preparatory to sailing.

Knot - a unit of speed, one knot = 6,076 feet per hour

Painter - a line tied to the bow of a small boat for the purpose of securing it to a dock or to the shore

Starboard - the right side of the boat

Port - the left side of the boat

Lazarette - spaces below the deck that are designed for storage

Stay tuned!

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Another Boat Dog!

2007-02-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fishies!

Word has come my way that the TimeBandit now has a boat dog. I don’t have any of the details as to breed, name etc. I hope that Discovery will show this dog as well as Taz of the Maverick.

I want to clear something up that I posted a while back about the TB. Seems there was some confusion. The Hillstrand brothers sold almost all of their king crab quota. There was a rumor that they informed their crew via text message, and yet another rumor that they allowed the boys to get all the way up to the boat before they were told. Either way, the crew you knew will not be on the back deck.

Its my understanding that the TimeBandit's boat website was created and managed by Mike Fourtner. Since he appears to no longer be employed by the TB, that may be the reason you can no longer access the site.

The TB was slated to be a secondary boat in the television series for king crab as they had almost no king crab to catch. At the last minute they leased some quota. I do not know if this will bring them from secondary to main or not. Editing will tell…..

Stay tuned!

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Yahoo Buckaroo!

2007-02-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

Ok that title really belongs to Hiram, but after last night’s viewing of the National Geographic Channel’s Cowboys of the Sea, I just had to use that!

It was great fun to sit here with my fishermen friends and family exclaiming “Hey! There is the Triumph!” Or, “Look! Look! That is so-and-so!” Of course, given the company I keep, there was also a running commentary about the men, the boats and the fish cops.

Yes, it was most definitely patterned after the Deadliest Catch, but I can forgive that. What’s that line about mimicry being the sincerest form of flattery? It was a treat to see the Bristol Bay gillnet fishery finally televised. I know that those who live and work there were thrilled to see Naknek “put on the map”.

Oddly enough, the gill netters are made up mainly of school teachers and college students. While there are a few full time professional fishermen in the mix, it is an exception rather than the rule. The deck crew, or pickers or pullers as they are known, can be the place that those of you aspiring to become fishermen on the big boats can start.

Stay tuned!

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Extreme Fishin’: Cowboys of the Sea

2007-02-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

Tomorrow night the National Geographic Channel will air what looks to be a great show about the Bristol Bay salmon season. Many of the boats from the Deadliest Catch tender for this fishery. Tune in!

From the National Geographic Channel Website:

Cowboys of the Sea [TV-14 L]

Monday, February 26, 2007, at 09P

Three captains must battle the elements, fiery competition, and the law during the 2006 sockeye salmon commercial fishing season in Bristol Bay, Alaska. For six weeks every summer, the tranquil Naknek River mouth becomes a bustling epicenter of commercial salmon fishing. Hundreds of fishermen come every year to stake their claims. The fishing district is small and the payoff can be huge. Captains have been known to make six figures in six weeks. One of the most competitive fishing seasons in existence.

A blog from the producer of the show:

Cowboys of the Sea (NGC Blog)

And finally, a nice page with good photos about the gillnet fishery:

Cowboys of the Sea

Stay tuned!

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Well My Goodness!

2007-02-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

I knew I would get under the skin of a few of the more reactionary and hysterical of you. Thank you so very much for your well researched and thought out replies, or maybe not. There are several of you that are just a wee bit on the nasty side, but that’s been obvious from the jump on your forum postings. You are all too eager to create drama and make disparaging remarks on all other vessels except one. To wit:

“And I thought a certain Captain thought Sig's loading crab on the deck(season 1) was an unsafe move? Very interesting.”

That’s just the most recent example. (I often wonder if we are watching the same television show.) More than a few of you should go back, waaaay back, and look at some of the asinine things you have posted. Glass houses, stones and all that.

So let me get this straight. I am fine when I give information that you want to hear, such as the listing of boats that would be on the third season. But if I give you facts you do not want to hear then I am full of BS? My goodness! Such a mature reaction! I have inside information on these guys and their personal lives that would make you scream and tear your hair out were I to post it.

First let’s examine my statements regarding season one and the crab count. Some of you are confusing king crab with opilio crab. It was the deck load of opilio crab that died – NOT the king crab. These are two dramatically different seasons.

Second, if you will watch the final episode you will see that when Sig Hansen comes into the wheelhouse he tells the crew that their finally tally is actually higher than they had thought. The reason for this is that the dead crab must also be weighed. The live crab that you saw was unloaded out of the tanks.

It has not escaped my notice that a few of the more prolific posters are now going to great lengths to avoid referring new people with questions to this blog. It must take you some goodly amount of time to go over the ground I have already covered, using the links that I have provided. At least some of us know that the original is mine.

Stay tuned!

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Crab Counts – Seasons 2 and 3

2007-02-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

After the competition during Season 1 it is understandable that the Discovery Channel would want to continue with the drama during Season 2. After all, considering the posts on their own Forums, the fans seemed to love it.

However, crab rationalization threw a bit of a kink into the works. This time there was no real race to see what boat would catch the most crab. Each boat had been allotted a fixed amount of crab, all based on an average of their catching history. The original crab poundage assigned to each vessel is not public information. There is no way of knowing exactly how many pounds each boat had to catch that originally belonged to the boat. We know that there was a dramatic decrease in the number of boats participating in the fishery. Where did that quota go? Easy answer – the majority of it was sold or leased. To who? To the boats that actually fished.

Now comes Discovery Channel with their effort to create even more drama on the Bering Sea. They do this by creating an artificial race with a crab count. We have no way of knowing what each boat was originally assigned, what the owner bought and what was leased. I seriously doubt that any captain or owner would share the paperwork with a film crew, so we have only their word on it. Remember that the season continued for an extended period of time, it went for months, not days. Film crews were not aboard for all the season. The final tallies would have been supplied after the filming had ended.

So what will happen with Season 3? Will there be a crab count? Yes Fishies, there will be! Only this time it’s a personal competition between the skippers. One they thought of all on their own, one that will test their skills. As I have said before, most fishermen have a bit of an ego. Get them going and bragging on themselves and their crews and pretty soon a wager is made and the dice are rolled. Behind the bar in a world famous watering hole is an envelope for the victor. Provided they don’t edit it out, and as long as Discovery is honest, this is going to be fun!

Stay tuned!

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Season 1 Crab Count

2007-02-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fishies!

Some interesting news has come my way regarding the crab counts in each of the seasons of the Deadliest Catch. This information may upset some of you, I know that it did me.

The first season as we know, the Derby style was in effect. That meant each boat caught as much crab as they possibly could in the allotted time. Discovery decided to up the ante by offering that $250,000 prize money for the boat that caught the most. This was NOT for ALL of the vessels that participated in the king crab fishery. It was only amongst the boats that were filmed for the series. There were many boats with tremendously higher scores that what we saw on the show.

The broo-ha-ha over this has been well covered in various newspapers and other media. There was much ado in Dutch Harbor/Unalaska regarding this. It has been reported to me that the Discovery people were very nearly run out of town, boats that had intended to commit to a film crew bailed, and the Coast Guard refused to participate in the filming:

TV's offer of $250,000 prize for crabbers is called risky

When the Opilio season opened the crab counts remained – but without the prize money, which was a good thing. I can understand having the crab count for the viewers. It had always been my assumption that the boats did not know this “count” was going on. I was wrong.

I recall reading one of Donna’s posts on the Discovery Boards regarding these counts. Since the Maverick stopped fishing in order to deliver, she spent less time catching crab than the other boats. There was a huge chunk of time there that the other vessels continued to add to their count while the Maverick sat in port. She claims the Maverick out fished them all. What she says makes a certain amount of sense to me.

At the end of the season the Discovery folks phoned around to get the final tally for each of the boats. The Maverick was told that they had indeed won the count. They continued to believe this until they viewed the last show of the series. Not nice Discovery.

What caused the confusion? Well if your blood pressure isn’t already up I guarantee its going to be….remember that deck load of crab? It was not counted in the first tally because they were ALL DEAD. That’s right fishies. I am sorry to have to tell you this. In the original figure of live crab caught, the Maverick did win. However, when the dead crab were factored in the Northwestern won. Hmmmmm.

I know that there are some of you that will castigate and berate me for telling this. So be it. I got my information from some one who was there.

Stay tuned for information on the crab counts for Seasons 2 and 3!

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Boat Builders

2007-02-20T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

Thought you might be interested in where some of the boats you “know” were built:

Giddings Boat Works, Inc. Charleston OR

Hull #4 - originally christened Maverick - Fishing Vessel - built 1982 - 173 tons - Active

Hull #5 – originally christened Tracy D - Fishing Vessel – built 1982 – 169 tons - Now "Watchman"

Pacific Boat Building Co. Toledo OR

Hull #8 – originally christened Shannon Marie - Fishing Vessel – built 1983 - 108 tons -Now "Aleutian Ballad"

Columbia Shipbuilders The Dalles OR

Marla Jo - Fishing Vessel – built 1981 – 175 tons - Now "Arctic Dawn"

Tri-Star Marine, Inc. Seattle WA

Hull #102 – christened Lady Kodiak – owner Suydam, KA - Fishing Vessel – built 1991 - Active

Hull #104 - christened Lady Alaska - owner Suydam, KA - Fishing Vessel - built 1992 Active

Stay tuned!

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Starrigavan Update

2007-02-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Fishies!

From various news sources:

The 23-year-old skipper of the fishing boat that wrecked on the Tillamook Bay jetty was arrested a month ago aboard the 58-foot vessel for allegedly boating under the influence of alcohol, authorities confirmed. Kirk Opheim of Burlington, Wash., also was cited at the time by the U.S. Coast Guard for numerous safety violations.

The boat crashed on the jetty's south arm after waves rolled it three times as it tried to return to the Port of Garibaldi with a 5,000-pound load of crab.

In December, Opheim was arrested after an anonymous call to police that he was drinking and piloting the Starrigavan, said Oregon State Police spokesman Gregg Hastings. An officer found the boat tied up Dec. 23 at a dock at the Port of Newport with no one on board. About 7 that night, Opheim approached the Starrigavan and identified himself, Hastings said.

The officer noticed the smell of alcohol on Opheim's breath and physical signs of intoxication and arrested him, Hastings said. His blood-alcohol content registered .13 percent, according to the state police citation. A level of .08 percent is considered intoxicated under Oregon law.

That same evening, the Coast Guard inspected the Starrigavan and found numerous safety violations, according to an agency news release. Coast Guard officials wouldn't comment further because the case is still under investigation.

Opheim has arrests in Washington stretching back to 2000, including allegations of burglary, theft and fourth-degree assault.

The Coast Guard and the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office are investigating the wreck and awaiting the results of toxicology tests given to Opheim that night.

"There were some misjudgments made," Johnson said from his hospital bed shortly after the wreck. He declined further comment, saying investigators asked him not to discuss the case.

The Starrigavan is owned by Fire Island Fishery Corp. in Kirkland, Wash., according to the Coast Guard. Calls to the office weren't returned. The company would be responsible for removing it, Coast Guard officials said, but that may not be possible if the boat continues sinking.

Stay tuned!

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Fishing Vessel Buyback Program Part 3

2007-02-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fishies!

So, you ask, what actually happens to a boat once it goes into the buyback program? As you have seen, ALL of the fishing licenses and permits are permanently retired and may never be fished again. This is not unique to the US, it is a program heralded and in place world wide.

Sadly, there are some boats that are in such bad condition that they can not safely carry lives or cargo. These boats are scrapped. They are taken apart piece by piece, with some fittings sold and the metal sent to be recycled.

Barging is one way that sound vessels continue to work the sea. They are used to carry cargo to many different ports. This cargo can consist of food and supplies for the off shore oil industry to any kind of freight that you can think of.

Probably the most interesting service that these vessels are entering into is in regards to extreme sports and eco-tourism vacations. The boats go into the shipyard where every interior part of her is refitted – much like what is being done to the Aleutian Ballad. The wiring and plumbing are updated as are all of the navigational aids. The staterooms and crew quarters are refitted to more closely resemble a small bed and breakfast. The galley is modernized as well.

What kinds of sports could these boats engage in? Actually they serve as the transportation and floating quarters to extreme surfers! There are many reefs out in the ocean that have breaking surf of enormous proportions. The eco-tourism trip carries the participants into some remote river and ocean areas for kayaking and nature observation.

Finally, many are simply converted to “live-a-boards” or houseboats. Those of you who watch the series “Men in Trees” should take a closer look at Sam the plow guy’s boat, the Nimpkish II. The original house has been elongated to cover most of the back deck, and the mast has been removed to accommodate that.

Stay tuned!

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Fishing Vessel Buyback Program Part 2

2007-02-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

Geetings Fishies! As promised here is part 2:

How did NMFS score the bids?

Bids were scored according to two factors: the asking bid price and the estimated value of the vessel's crab harvests. The bid score equaled the bid asking price divided by the vessel's total harvest value. To calculate the total harvest value, NMFS first determined the number of pounds the vessel harvested each year in each LLP crab fishery during the most recent five years the fishery was open. This harvest amount was then multiplied by the average ex-vessel prices per pound for each fishery in each year. The value of harvests in fisheries not covered by the buyback program were not part of the bid score calculation.

NMFS ranked the bid's score against all others and accepted bids in reverse auction, starting with the lowest scoring bids. Lower bid scores represented better buyback "value" because lower scoring bids resulted in removal of more effort for less money than did higher scoring bids.

Can a vessel still be used to fish if NMFS accepted a bid on that vessel?

No. The fishery endorsement of the vessel named on the license will be revoked. No one will be able to use the vessel to fish (including tendering and other activities considered fishing) in a commercial fishery, for any species, anywhere in the world. Current and future owners could use the vessel for any other legal purpose.

What happens to fishing history?
All fishing history (also called catch history) from the vessel whose history gave rise to the crab LLP license is surrendered. This includes crab fishing history and any other fishing history earned by that vessel. Once a history is surrendered, no person may use the history to qualify for any future fisheries permit program, including the Crab Rationalization Program.

What about the LLP groundfish license?
NMFS permanently revoked any LLP groundfish licenses, and other federal fisheries licenses bought back, that are based on the history of the vessel whose fishing history gave rise to the crab LLP license.

How is the loan payment fee determined for each fishery?
Participants remaining in each crab fishery under this program are responsible for repaying, with interest, a portion of the $97.4 million loan over the next 30 years. Participants in each fishery will pay for a portion of the loan equal to that fishery's proportion of the total value of the BSAI crab fisheries. The fee to be paid in each fishery is capped at 5%. This means that participants in any given crab fishery will not pay back more than 5% of delivery value of crab in that fishery.

Who collects and submits loan payment fees to NMFS?
"Fish Buyers" are responsible for collecting fees and submitting them to NMFS to repay the buyback loan. Fish buyers are: vessels that process crab, shore side processors that receive crab from harvesters, and persons that buy crab harvested by catcher processor vessels.

Groundfish:

The groundfish fishing capacity reduction program, or vessel buyback, was implemented in 2003 by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The purpose of the program was to reduce the number of vessels and permits endorsed for the operation of groundfish trawl gear in order to increase productivity in the groundfish fishery, help financially stabilize the fishery, and conserve and manage fish. The program also involved fishing capacity reduction in the California, Oregon, and Washington fisheries for Dungeness crab and pink shrimp.

To participate in the voluntary program, groundfish permit holders bid for reduction payments, and NMFS scored each bid against the bidder’s past exvessel revenues. A reverse auction accepted bids whose amounts were the lowest percentages of revenues. This created reduction contracts. A referendum on the fees followed the bidding process. All seven fisheries (federal groundfish and Washington, Oregon, and California pink shrimp and Dungeness crab fisheries) voted in the referendum. A statutory formula assigned different weights to each fishery’s votes.

On December 4, 2003, accepted bidders were required to permanently stop all further fishing with the reduction vessels and permits. NMFS is revoking the relinquished Federal permits, and NMFS will advise California, Oregon, and Washington about the relinquished state permits. NMFS will also notify the National Vessel Documentation Center to revoke the reduction vessels’ fisheries endorsement, and will notify the U.S. Maritime Administration to restrict the vessels’ transfer to foreign ownership or registry.

Vessels participating in the program must be sold, scrapped, or converted to nonfishing purposes, and the owner must agree not to use the vessel for fishing again.

The program’s maximum cost is $46 million, of which a 30-year loan will finance $36 million. Future fish landing fees will be used to repay the loan. Each of the seven fisheries involved will pay fees at different rates. Congress appropriated the remaining $10 million of the program’s cost.

One hundred eight groundfish permit owners submitted bids. These totaled $59,786,471. NMFS accepted 92 bids. These totaled $45,752,471. The next lowest scoring bid would have exceeded the program’s maximum cost.

The accepted bids involved 92 fishing vessels as well as 240 fishing permits. Ninety-two of the permits were groundfish trawl permits, and 121 were crab and shrimp permits. The remaining 27 were other Federal permits.

NMFS received 1,105 timely votes in the referendum. After weighting, 85.85% of the votes approved the fees. The referendum was successful. The reduction contracts are in full force and effect.

Stay tuned for part three!

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Fishing Vessel Buyback Program Part 1

2007-02-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fishies!

I have noticed that some of you have had questions about the fishing fleet reductions, also known as “buy back.” What follows is information taken from different governmental websites.

Bering Sea and Aleutian Island crab fishermen voted to take a 30-year federal loan to pay 25 of their competitors to withdraw their vessels from fishing and relinquish both their fishing licenses and fishing histories. 273 of the 313 qualified voters cast timely ballots, with 80% approving the buyback's industry fee system, which will repay all of the buyback's $97.4 million cost.

NMFS published a reduction payment tender notice in the Federal Register November 2004. The bidders' fishing licenses and fishing histories were revoked and their vessels permanently restricted from fishing worldwide on December 27, 2004. The agency completed making payments to the 25 accepted bidders on January 19, 2005.

Fishermen remaining in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Island crab fishing industry will pay back the $97.4 million loan with a fee on future crab landings. NMFS published a final rule to implement the fee system and fee payment collection began in October 2005.

The fishing capacity reduction program for the crab fisheries managed under the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs Fishery Management Plan reduced excess capacity and promoted economic efficiency. The program is authorized under both special legislation and existing NMFS regulations governing fishing capacity reduction programs. Its objectives include increasing harvesting productivity for crab fishermen who remain after capacity reduction, helping conserve and manage fishery resources, and encouraging harvesting effort rationalization.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

These frequently asked questions provide a general overview of the buyback program.

What is the crab fisheries capacity reduction program?

The crab fisheries capacity reduction program, also called the crab "buyback" program, reduced excess fishing capacity and promoted economic efficiency in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) king and Tanner crab fisheries. Under this program NMFS bought License Limitation Program (LLP) crab licenses and fishing privileges of crab vessels. All fishing permits, fishery endorsements, and fishing histories associated with the crab vessel were revoked. NMFS has borrowed from the U.S. Treasury to make buyback payments to successful bidders. Remaining BSAI crab fishery participants will repay this loan over 30 years.

Which crab fisheries does the crab capacity reduction program cover?
This program bought LLP crab licenses and fishing privileges of crab vessels for the following BSAI crab fisheries that occur in federal waters:

Aleutian Islands brown king crab
Aleutian Islands red king crab
Bristol Bay red king crab
Snow crab (C. opilio)
Tanner crab (C. bairdi)
Pribilof Islands red and blue king crab
St. Matthew blue king crab

These are LLP endorsement fisheries. License holders whose licenses only have an endorsement for Norton Sound red king crab may not participate in the buyback program.

How did the buyback process work?

The buyback was implemented in a series of steps, as follows. All notices sent to license holders were published in the Federal Register and available on the web.

NMFS sent a list of potential qualifying bidders and referendum voters to all crab license holders.
License holders had 30 days to comment to tell us if any of this information was incorrect.
NMFS sent an invitation to bid and a bidding package to all qualifying bidders. Materials in the package explained exactly how to submit a bid.
Qualifying bidders submitted bids for buyback payments to NMFS.
NMFS scored the bids and accepted or rejected each bid based on terms explained in the final rule.
Also, NMFS calculated:

the total gross value of the crab harvested by the vessels that successful bids will remove from each fishery.
the loan amount for which each LLP endorsement fishery will be responsible, and
the future repayment fee needed to retire that debt.

NMFS held a referendum so all crab license holders could vote to approve or disapprove the loan repayment fee. We provided voters the information necessary to make informed decisions on which to base their votes.
More than two-thirds of the license holders voted to approve of the fee, therefore NMFS is buying back the licenses and fishing privileges of the vessels.

How is the buyback funded?

Congress authorized a U.S. Treasury loan of up to $100 million to pay to successful bidders. Crab harvesters who remain in the crab fisheries will repay the entire loan, plus interest, to the government when they sell crab over the next 30 years.

Who could submit a bid?
Only a qualifying bidder, or a qualifying bidder and his/her co-bidder(s) could submit a bid. A qualifying bidder was defined as the person who holds a permanent, fully-transferable LLP crab license. The qualifying bidder could also own the crab vessel named on the LLP crab license. If the vessel was owned by another person, that person could be a co-bidder to the bid. Holders of interim crab licenses did not qualify to bid in the buyback program.

What was bid and bought back?

A bid included a permanent, fully-transferable crab LLP license, the crab fishing privileges of the vessel(s) named on that license, the complete fishing history of the vessel(s) whose history gave rise to that license, and any other licenses based on the history of that vessel(s) which were held by the bidder(s) when NMFS began to implements this program. All of these permits and privileges are permanently revoked by the program.

Here are the 25 boats:

Aleutian Rover - American Way - Arctic Eagle – Morzhovoi – Norseman

Diamond Head – Westling – Sirene - Kodiak Queen – Labrador - Shaman

Rebel - Norseman II - North Pacific - Northern Orion - Western Viking

Stormy Sea –Exito - Sea Spray - Lady Jessie - Silent Lady - Sitkin Island

Susitna - Secret Island -Zolotoi

Stay tuned!

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