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| 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 |
THE FISHING
* The most lucrative Alaskan crab fisheries occur in the fall and winter; the seasons are often short, lasting less than four weeks. In the Bering Sea specifically, the two most active months are October and January.
* Each season, approximately 250 crab fishing boats converge on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in search of Alaskan king crab.
* Crab vessels cost several million dollars to build, and tens of thousands of dollars to operate annually.
* The boats range in size from 40 to 200 feet; each crew typically consists of one captain and three to nine deckhands.
* Because the sonar used on most fishing boats is downward-pointing, it doesn't detect crabs that are right against or buried in the ocean floor. Furthermore, since it is impossible to predict where adult male crabs will be (unless it's spring, which is mating season), captains must rely on intuition to find the best crabbing location.
* To catch the crabs, fishermen use 700-pound steel traps ("pots") baited with ground herring, squid, sardines and cod, which are dropped 400 feet below the ocean's surface.
* On average, the pots measure 7 feet by 7 feet by 3 feet, and soak anywhere from five to 24 hours before being hauled back on deck.
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IT was great. 
I felt bad for the chip that had the lame crew men who didn't count the crabs the right way. The captain was right to make the crew split the fine. Maybe they will learn to count. Heck, I liked how the guy who refused to count said to the cameraman "why are you pointing the camera at me?" 
You dumass, he has you on tape saying you guess the whole time! 