Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As far as reality television goes, the majority of the money The Deadliest Catch crew rakes in comes from The Discovery Channel. I thought we'd established on this forum that these reality shows are bs.
I wouldn't worry so much about this opening.
Quote:
“We’re really happy they’re opening up the king crab season, it’ll bring some much needed relief,” said Gabriel Prout, a third-generation fisher and president of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a nonprofit trade association.
But Prout expects fewer boats to participate in this season’s crab fishery. Difficulty in finding crew members and having enough money to maintain boats may limit the number of vessels participating this season, he added.
So much for that "crazy good" money. It's not as simple as television makes it look.
As far as reality television goes, the majority of the money The Deadliest Catch crew rakes in comes from The Discovery Channel. I thought we'd established on this forum that these reality shows are bs.
2.1 million pounds is 2.1 million pounds. My point is, that over and over when they keep hammering a fishery in distress, nothing good comes of it in the long term. I get that many of these crabbers have loans to pay but it seems to me you a slitting your own throat when you keep fishing a stock that is clearly in trouble.
And, me and my wife LOVE king crab. We can certainly go without while stocks recover.
2.1 million pounds is 2.1 million pounds. My point is, that over and over when they keep hammering a fishery in distress, nothing good comes of it in the long term. I get that many of these crabbers have loans to pay but it seems to me you a slitting your own throat when you keep fishing a stock that is clearly in trouble.
And, me and my wife LOVE king crab. We can certainly go without while stocks recover.
Just so you know, I was responding to the allegation based on reality tv about "big money!!!!" in crabbing to dispel the usual myth, not giving a personal opinion about whether they should fish it this year or not (Personally, I think they should let it go a couple of more years and I don't even eat the crap or allow it in my home).
But this opening comes to no surprise; they clearly stated earlier this year they'd open it back up if levels bounced back up. As I've stated several times in these discussions, it's entirely possible to have empathy for those on the losing end here while understanding the need for protective measures ... but I'll go even farther this time and say that it's easy for a suit in Anchorage to make a great sacrifice and not buy red crab, and not so easy for their counterpart in Naknek to sacrifice actual food for their family table and other basics necessary to sustain life. Despite the glamorization of the industry by reality tv, the majority of these crab fishermen have to make some really hard choices this year, and one of them isn't to eat cake instead. Additionally, they've been more proactive than I think you realize about managing stocks in a way that doesn't decimate them.
And my other point WAS that the trawling continues. Like I said, there's such a glut of pollock that the USDA had to bail out Ocean Beauty Seafood, Trident, and a couple of other corporate processors. JFC the crabbing industry has been trying for years to get some protections on specific seafloor crab habitat — the Bering Sea Crabbers Association actually lobbied to close it altogether (including crabbing) in parts of the Bering Strait for a period of time, but NOAA denied it. Ocean Beauty etc. has to have that McFish even though they can't sell it.
And no, I'm not so worried about this small opening. Probably won't be anyone out there but Discovery Channel employees pretending to crab anyway.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 10-08-2023 at 08:56 PM..
"a suit in Anchorage", that's rich. I don't own a suit. A few ties and some dress clothes for weddings and funerals but that's about it.
Your insinuation that because I live in Anchorage means that I don't know jack **** about Alaska couldn't be more wrong. I have worked in more Alaskan cities, towns, and villages then most people, whether they were born here or moved here. I have spent a lot of time working in both Dutch Harbor and Kodiak, two of the biggest fishing ports in the US depending on how you are measuring things.
I get that these crab fishermen need to fish to stay solvent financially. My point was that fishing a strained stock this year may very well lead to a permanent closure in a few years when the stock completely collapses and there are no crab at all. There are real world examples of this having happened.
I agree with you that the trawlers are likely causing the most damage. Dragging a weighted net across miles of ocean floor is destructive. Any by-catch caught, and it is a lot, is dead when brought onboard and simply wasted. Ironically, as crab leg prices have climbed, I've noticed more and more fake crab meat in the stores, which is made from - pollock.
"a suit in Anchorage", that's rich. I don't own a suit. A few ties and some dress clothes for weddings and funerals but that's about it.
Your insinuation that because I live in Anchorage means that I don't know jack **** about Alaska couldn't be more wrong. I have worked in more Alaskan cities, towns, and villages then most people, whether they were born here or moved here. I have spent a lot of time working in both Dutch Harbor and Kodiak, two of the biggest fishing ports in the US depending on how you are measuring things.
I get that these crab fishermen need to fish to stay solvent financially. My point was that fishing a strained stock this year may very well lead to a permanent closure in a few years when the stock completely collapses and there are no crab at all. There are real world examples of this having happened.
I agree with you that the trawlers are likely causing the most damage. Dragging a weighted net across miles of ocean floor is destructive. Any by-catch caught, and it is a lot, is dead when brought onboard and simply wasted. Ironically, as crab leg prices have climbed, I've noticed more and more fake crab meat in the stores, which is made from - pollock.
I'm aware from previous posts that you don't typically wear a suit — it was a figure of speech. It's pretty clear you don't work in seafood, though, and that you're aren't getting that I wasn't making a point for fishing it so much as offering perspective (as someone actually in the industry) on why those who can fish it will do so.
My response wasn't because you live in Anchorage and I couldn't give a rat's ass about what you wear. It was because equated you and your wife giving up a luxury food item to a boat owner who doesn't have a equivical choice to make. You sound like they should just altruistically refuse to fish it this year as lightly as you and your wife are planning to find another brand of cake to eat.
Do you honestly believe that people who have been crabbing for generations are so dumb they don't understand that a permanent closure may be in the cards for the future? I'm not disputing your "point," but here's the deal — the long game has been played out, and a lot of them are focused on real-time breathing room for getting through another winter. Considering that NOAA would just raise bycatch limits if this small opening wasn't happening, taking the kind of stand you're advocating wouldn't have much but neglible symbolic value. Additionally, most wouldn't have anything to come back to if they took a few years off from it. Boats and homes are already being lost. Edit: I probably should reiterate yet one more time that it's possible to see a need for conservation and yet have empathy for those affected.
Meanwhile, the trawlers will continue to work all year round because their catch comes with such a low price point that anything else wouldn't be cost-effective for them. NOAA agrees, so here we are.
Bycatch doesn't tell the whole story — habitat degradation on the seafloor may be even more to blame.
Hope you and your wife enjoy this year's cake du jour. I've had fake crab before and it isn't half bad with a little Meyer lemon/dill/clarified butter sauce with a dry chenin blanc (as long as the wine is cold enough to dull that inevitable McFish flavor). Might as well get used to it, because when this generation of crabbers quits, no one in their right mind will come along to take their place.
For anyone who's actually interested in some backstory:
Quote:
The National Marine Fisheries Service denied a request for emergency action to close red king crab habitat areas to all fishing gears, ruling that “available evidence does not support a finding that the proposed emergency regulations would address the low abundance and declining trend of mature female Bristol Bay red king crab.”
The Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers association filed the emergency petition Sept. 28, days widespread fishery shutdowns were ordered in response to declining red king and opilio. The crabbers sought closures in red king crab savings areas, “to protect Bristol Bay red king crab and their habitat at a time of historically low crab abundance,” according to NMFS’ announcement Friday that the petition was rejected.
My response wasn't because you live in Anchorage and I couldn't give a rat's ass about what you wear. It was because equated you and your wife giving up a luxury food item to a boat owner who doesn't have a equivical choice to make. You sound like they should just altruistically refuse to fish it this year as lightly as you and your wife are planning to find another brand of cake to eat.
I get what you are saying and regret writing that. I see now how it comes off sounding. You are right, for us it is a choice, for those that depend on it for a living, it isn't. And, you are correct, I don't work in the seafood industry, I just like seafood and being out on the water, so I'm interested in what's going on in regards to commercial fishing.
Again, I agree that the trawlers are causing the most problems.
The state of commercial fishing is very much in turmoil right now. No doubt you've heard about the ex-vessel salmon price scandal in Bristol Bay that the corporate processors are trying to blame on Russia but was actually caused by their own greed (not sure what they thought was going to happen when they funded overproduction by hatcheries for years on end). Here's some backstory:
Larsgaard says that with the price announcement, many deckhands quit, skippers put up their boats, and market-based social media began blowing up with ads to sell permits and boats.
Alaska seafood's biggest customer right now is the federal government. Those of us with any sense are distancing ourselves from the overall brand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Northrick
In other fisheries, whales, sperm and killer in particular, have figured out fishing boats mean easy food. Even if the stress of a round trip from the bottom to the boat back to the bottom is survivable for the female and undersized males, you have to wonder how many crabs are getting picked off by predators as they drift back to the bottom.
Both species will have migrated out by the time this opening occurs.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 10-10-2023 at 01:03 PM..
The City of Bethel recently joined with the two others against Coastal Villages Region Fund.
FWIW, all but two of their vessels are registered in Washington, where Coastal Villages has its main corporate offices. Both The Northern Hawk and The Flicka list small villages that don't even have docks as their home ports; that seems like it's just for show since both vessels spend their downtime in Seattle (edit — you can pretty much put anything down as your home port).
Coastal Villages may have started out with good intentions, but this groundfish thing has gotten out of control, and they seem to have become part of the problem. Maybe they're even worse since they're operating under the guise of being a nonprofit that's supposed to benefit the villages they represent. I mean, they have a program designed to help locals access subsistence fish, but on the other hand, they're playing a substantial role in decimating those same fish.
Not to defend the trawlers, but Alaska has to get its money from somewhere, and these processors pay millions of dollars in fisheries taxes that are distributed throughout the state via the general fund and directly to boroughs and communities.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 10-15-2023 at 07:57 PM..
In the short term, Alaska crab fishers and the communities that depend on them will get a slight reprieve from the disastrous conditions they have endured for the past two years, with harvests for iconic red king crab to open on Sunday.
In the long term, the future for Bering Sea crab and the people who depend on it is clouded by environmental and economic upheaval.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
