The Retard
03-27-2006, 12:14 AM
It's surprising how little recognition these guys get for doing this sort of work.
Forty-foot waves, freezing temperatures, swinging 700-pound crab pots, a nearly 100 percent injury rate ... but also the chance to earn enough money for a family to live on for a year or more, for just a few months' work. Welcome to one of the world's deadliest jobs — that of the Alaskan crab fisherman — and witness it firsthand in an all-new season of the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch.
Unlike last season — the last derby style race to catch as many crabs as possible in a matter of days — fishermen must now abide by a new set of rules and regulations that were implemented to decelerate the already dangerous conditions in the Alaskan waters. New policy dictates that each ship is given its own quota instead of one fleet-wide quota, allowing captains months to trawl for crabs instead of days.
However, with weather conditions even worse than last season, no one wants to endure the unrelenting Bering Sea any longer than necessary. Crews face sub-zero temperatures and 50-knot winds (compared with last year's 30-knot winds) that knock them off their feet and drag them across the decks. But it's not just the weather that forces the crew to pull 20-hour shifts. They must also meet demanding seafood processor deadlines and minimize rising fuel costs.
For many of these men, often second- and third-generation fishermen, working to the brink of exhaustion to haul in their quota of crab as quickly as possible is also simply a matter of pride. Derby style or not, captains continue to forge into the Bering Sea to compete not only against Mother Nature, but also against each other.
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/about/about.html
Forty-foot waves, freezing temperatures, swinging 700-pound crab pots, a nearly 100 percent injury rate ... but also the chance to earn enough money for a family to live on for a year or more, for just a few months' work. Welcome to one of the world's deadliest jobs — that of the Alaskan crab fisherman — and witness it firsthand in an all-new season of the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch.
Unlike last season — the last derby style race to catch as many crabs as possible in a matter of days — fishermen must now abide by a new set of rules and regulations that were implemented to decelerate the already dangerous conditions in the Alaskan waters. New policy dictates that each ship is given its own quota instead of one fleet-wide quota, allowing captains months to trawl for crabs instead of days.
However, with weather conditions even worse than last season, no one wants to endure the unrelenting Bering Sea any longer than necessary. Crews face sub-zero temperatures and 50-knot winds (compared with last year's 30-knot winds) that knock them off their feet and drag them across the decks. But it's not just the weather that forces the crew to pull 20-hour shifts. They must also meet demanding seafood processor deadlines and minimize rising fuel costs.
For many of these men, often second- and third-generation fishermen, working to the brink of exhaustion to haul in their quota of crab as quickly as possible is also simply a matter of pride. Derby style or not, captains continue to forge into the Bering Sea to compete not only against Mother Nature, but also against each other.
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/about/about.html