» Deadliest Catch Options

[jmilazzo]

Thanks for the info on the greehorn from last year's Deadliest Season. I thought it might be the same guy as this year since they did have the event on camera, but couldn't remember the guy's name on this season's series.

Another thing I am not clear on is the comments made about how no one knows how the earnings will be split until after the season. I am assuming they mean that they don't know how each boat will do that season?

[Tonytigr]

I'm pretty sure the earnings go by "shares" as in a percentage of the boat's earnings. The captain gets the biggest slice, then the deckhands and other crewmen according to job and seniority on the boat, then the greenhorns. If your boat gets skunked then you just busted your hump for nothing.

This post has been edited by Tonytigr: Apr 18, 2005 @ 10:23 am.

[GlennGlenn]

They did say how much crab is allowed to be caught and gave it a dollar value of $70,000,000 that is up for grabs. I know each boat counts the number of crabs in each pod (they did last season) and they can approimate the value.

The split is determined in advance, people aren't going to go out without knowing their cut.

So it is really the Fish and Game that makes the job deadly. If they found a way to prevent nght fishing, it would be safer. Maybe put a transponder on each pod?

[AlmondEyes]

GlennGlenn, while the percentages are worked out in advance, the dollar amounts can't be calculated until they know the dollar value of their catch. Boats could hit the jackpot and have tons of money to split, or hit a bad patch and make very little. I imagine some catches could be so meager that they barely cover the cost of taking the boat out. Luck of the draw, I guess.

I don't know if you saw Perfect Storm (and if you're a fan of shows like Deadliest Catch you probably did), but remember in the beginning when the Andrea Gail returned to port and the crew received their checks? Bobby complained because he thought his amount would be larger. The crew didn't have a huge haul, so when the trip expenses and shares allotted to the others were calculated he didn't make as much as he thought. Maybe he didn't realize just how much (or how little) his boat netted, but it seemed clear that the percentages were worked out well before that crew left port.

This post has been edited by AlmondEyes: Apr 18, 2005 @ 12:01 pm.

[jmilazzo]

Someone linked to an article that said next season, Alaska is thinking about relaxing the time constraints, which they think will make the job somewhat safer. However, the impetus seems to be that the season is limited at the outset so there are only X pounds of crabs that can be harvested. Once that amount is reached, the season ends regardless of how much time has passed (assuming that there is no upper time limit, such as X pounds or 3 weeks, whichever comes first). Therefore, it is not the time limit of the season that is the problem, but the need for each boat to bring in as much crab as possible as quickly as possible. Extending the season isn't going to help anything as long as there is still a limit to the total amount fished as it will still be a race to get as much as possible before the limit is reached.

[Tonytigr]

I liked that the captain of the boat with the older crew was at least thinking in terms of ergonomics to reduce stress on the crew. That seems like a smart startegy.

This post has been edited by Tonytigr: Apr 18, 2005 @ 12:24 pm.

[jmilazzo]

I found the article.

Discovery Channel Embarks on Death-Defying Mission in DEADLIEST CATCH

Here is the relevant quote:

This dramatic ten-part series will document the end of an era -- what veteran crab fishermen are calling "The Last Rodeo." Because many believe this race against the clock contributes to the high injury and mortality rate, the frenzied world of crab fishing as they have always known it will soon change forever. After this year, Alaskan authorities will eliminate the traditional time element from crab fishing. A simple, slowed down seasonal quota system will go into effect and the ticking clock of crab fishing will be silenced. DEADLIEST CATCH takes viewers on one last voyage during the final perilously abbreviated season.

[CitizenKang]

Thanks for starting a thread on this! I was supposed to keep track of when this started for my boyfriend, but I'll just tell him, errrr it starts with a double episode on Tuesday the 19th. I'm not a fishing person but it looks intense!

[GlennGlenn]

AlmondEyes Yeah, split/percentage that is what I mean. That's whay everyone is working their ass off. No one wants to be the anchor weighting the team down.

I think MarkyMark was expecting more on his check without doing the math ahead of time? Right off the top is the fee for the boat, bait, etc... then they split it up. I guess he would be considered the lower paid greenhorn.

Well looks like the finally figured out how to save lives, so this is the last season they will have to work around the clock!

Wow, ten episodes, should be good. Hope they are not 1/2 hour?

[Tonytigr]

I guess that was a good episode. It had things I wanted to see but I was really left pretty meh after watching the show.

[Echo54]

Not nearly as good as the first episode, and the previews of what is to come after the next commercial drive me nuts.

The biggest revelation from last night's show is that they are no longer implying that someone from the show won't make it back alive...they came right out and said it. Now I'm totally hooked. It's a little grim, but it's like a train wreck - I have to look (or in this case, keep watching)

[rianaMartin]

All I can say is, Goddamn, I'm glad I'm vegan so I don't have the deaths of any of these poor bastards hanging over my head! I think even if I wasn't vegan, I wouldn't be able to eat king crab ever again. . .for me at least, it would be like buying blood diamonds.

[Echo54]

I eat crab legs once a year while on a fishing trip with my buddy and his dad. I'll still eat it, but I'm sure I'll think about who died to bring it to the table.

Now, for my morbid curiosity and impatience...does anyone know where I can find spoilers for the show? I've searched Google but can't find anything.

[yama]

A simple, slowed down seasonal quota system will go into effect and the ticking clock of crab fishing will be silenced.

Yeah, after this past season the Bering Sea crab fishery will go to an IFQ (individual fishing quota) system in which boats/owners have a certain amount of pounds that they can catch anytime during the season. I'm assuming that the number of IFQs given to each boat owner will be determined based on the boat's average catch over the past x-number of years. This will undoubtably make fishing a lot safer, but will also take away from what Bering Sea crab fishing has come to be. My boyfriend's brother fished king and opilio crab on the Bering Sea for 4 years and sometimes had openers as short as 40 hours where he made $17,000+. I think that's a big allure for a lot of people--short hours, big risk, big cash.

GlennGlenn, while the percentages are worked out in advance, the dollar amounts can't be calculated until they know the dollar value of their catch. Boats could hit the jackpot and have tons of money to split, or hit a bad patch and make very little.

Not to mention, they can only sell live crab. If they have to wait too long to unload or if the crab get knocked around too much when they're out on the sea, it can severely damage their catch. A huge catch can quickly lose value if it becomes damaged.

I come from an Alaskan fishing community and love the exposure/respect that any fishery gets from shows like this. However....other posters have talked about how creepy it would be if they're foreshadowing crewmembers' deaths and I definitely noticed in yesterday's episode (when they were talking about survival suits) they chose to talk to the captain of the Big Valley. That's a boat that went down during the snow crab season. I believe captain Gary Edwards was one of the men who was not recovered in the Coast Guard search.

This post has been edited by yama: May 11, 2009 @ 5:19 pm.

[steffj]

I so hate reality shows, but this one's got me mesmerized. I had no idea there was a last season, but do remember seeing a show on discovery about the worlds most danerous jobs. This was the first one, with several other professions that were deemed danerous. I wonder how many young men watching this show, will head out for Alaska to find fortunes. I work in a factory, we have alot of young guys out of high school working there, some their first and only job. There's ALOT whining about how long, and hard the job is, when is break time? blah blah.. I have been telling them all to watch this show.

Even if they slow down the fishing season so their not so rushed, it will still be dangerous, being out in the Bering sea, storms, freezing cold, falling over board, nothing scares me more than the thought of being lost at sea, but unlike Open Water, at least the cold will get you before the sharks. I don't know anything about the bering sea, are there even any sharks out there?

They keep saying someone isn't going to make it, do you think it will be any of the actual people we have been focussing on, or different people we don't really know?
The greenhorn, who's the owners son, what a tool, the other GH have at least trying, and the guys have been rough on them, but the owners sons doesn't look like he's busting ass, yet it looks like he's getting special treament.
Next week looks pretty good, looks like someone goes a little insane on deck.