Alaska’s crab fishermen go prime time

 Anchorage Daily News by Sarah Hennings… 

The crabber Time Bandit heads into a wave. To get a perspective of size, figure the rail on the bow is likely 15 to 20 feet above the vessel’s water line.
Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel
Captain Phil Harris lost a crew member overboard. He broke his back (twice), all his fingers, both [...]

Aleutian Islands Area Fishing Seasons

These are the Aleutian Island area fishing seasons according to the Unalaska/Dutch Harbor website. The International Port of Dutch Harbor is the number one fishing port in the United States.  Learn more about Unalaska and Dutch Harbor by clicking here. 
Bering Sea Aleutian Islands Fishing Seasons
SPECIES                                                                       Opening
Pacific Cod (Pot)’A’                                                        January 1
Pacific Cod Catcher Processor (Hook & Line) ‘A’      January [...]

ROGUE WAVES and Predicting Them

     From Technology Review, a recent article ( 03/01/07) about steps being taken to predict WHERE rogue waves may occur…
Scientists from the German Space Agency say they have mapped incidents of extremely large waves, known as rogue waves, using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data, and will soon publish a massive wave atlas for the first time. Such [...]

Fishing Vessels from Deadliest Catch, season 1

BIG VALLEY, skippered by Gary Edwards (Sunk Jan. 15th, 2005, only 1 survived)
BILLIKIN, skippered by Jeff Weeks
FIERCE ALLEGIANCE, skippered by Tony LaRussa
LADY ALASKA, skippered by Pete Liske
LUCKY LADY, skippered by Vince Shavender
MAVERICK, skippered by Rick Quashnick and tended to by Donna Quashnick
NORTHWESTERN, skippered by Sig Hansen
RETRIEVER, skippered by Jim Stone
SAGA, skippered by Roger Strong
SEA STAR, [...]

Original Season One Press Release

Original press release for season one, published in Jan 2005 
DISCOVERY CHANNEL EMBARKS ON DEATH-DEFYING MISSION IN DEADLIEST CATCH
Alaskan crab-wranglers Encounter Most Dangerous Working Conditions in New 10-part series Premiering in April 
SILVER SPRING, Md., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ — Forty-foot waves. Eighty mile-per-hour winds. Seven-hundred-pound crab pots slamming against the deck. A nearly 100% injury rate. But a [...]

‘Deadliest Catch’ is a keeper

Boston Globe, June 2006.  Joanna Weiss of the Boston wrote writes…
A fisherman’s schedule doesn’t allow for much appointment TV viewing, but Matt Thompson, 44, of Monhegan Island, Maine, maintains one weekly ritual. Every Tuesday night — provided a barge isn’t coming into port and he isn’t out on the water — he meets up with [...]

…About Getting a Job on a Bering Sea Fishing Vessel

Many stories have been told about people who, with no trouble whatsoever, landed a job as a crew member in Alaska’s fishing industry on a highliner fishing boat and made tons of money. There are published materials for sale which boast of lucrative jobs in canneries and on fishing boats. The reality is, that for [...]

How I found myself while homeless in Alaska

The  Michigan Daily and written by Jasper Kigar. 
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 [...]