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Dungeness crabbing: Deadlier than Alaska?
By Susan Chambers, Staff Writer
Monday, June 09, 2008 | No comments posted.
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COOS BAY- Alaska crabbing has fame, fortune and a TV show to boot: the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch." But the West Coast is deadlier.
Recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that more crabbers die off the shores of Washington, Oregon and California than those fishing king and opilio crab in Alaska’s Bering Sea. It’s a distinction the West Coast is eager to shed.
“They’re bragging about the ‘Deadliest Catch’ in Alaska; we want to be the safest,” said Nick Furman, executive director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.
All commercial fishing is dangerous, but crabbers face the worst weather. Green water waves break over the bow, sometimes breaking windows.
The swaying rhythm of a West Coast crab boat moving through ocean swells is interrupted by a jarring shift of 25,000 pounds of crab pots. When the pots shift, the boat’s center of gravity changes, and the boat may turn turtle, taking everyone with it.
Alaska’s Bering Sea crab fishery takes place in an exotic locale, a world incomprehensibly different from most people’s lives. Much of the weather is similar to the West Coast, but Alaska fishermen have deadly ice to deal with that can make a boat even more top-heavy.
The adventures of Alaska fishermen are profiled on Discovery’s highest-rated docudrama every week, and the danger is part of the drama. Still, the Dungeness fishery claims more lives.
CDC statistics count 11 Alaska crab fishermen who died between 2000 and 2006. Seventeen Dungeness fishermen died during the same period.
Four of those were the crew of the F/V Ash, which sank off the Rogue River in December 2006. The loss still is fresh in the memories of family and friends.
The Alaska example
The 433 vessels and the more than 1,300 crewmen in the Oregon Dungeness crab fleet bring in $12 million to $58 million worth of crab annually to ports and the state economy, but the cost can be steep.
One life? Two? More? The loss of any one life affects a whole community.
The April 25 CDC report was a wake-up call to a fleet that has more fishermen and smaller boats than the Bering Sea fleet. The report’s authors said, “... safety interventions should be tailored to specific groups of vessels and emphasis should be placed on the Northwest Dungeness crab fleet ... .”
The Crab Commission already is all over it — following Alaska’s example.
The Bering Sea fleet started getting serious about safety in 1999, said Andy Hillstrand, one of the captains on the F/V Time Bandit, a boat featured on “Deadliest Catch.” It was unsettling for some fishermen.
When Coast Guard dockside safety inspections were instituted, Coast Guard personnel went so far as to weigh the individual pots on the vessel, Hillstrand said.
“They were pretty confrontational at first,” he said. Now that the system’s been in place for a few years, everyone’s somewhat used to it.
Still, fishermen can be impatient with the Coast Guard’s meticulous approach. The pressures of fishing, of timing, of weather, of dealing with crew and processors — it’s all balled into a 24-hour-a-day ticking bomb afloat on the sea. Delays only serve as an added frustration for crabbers anxious to leave the dock.
“I’m all for being safe. And I’m glad the Coast Guard comes in and does inspections,” Hillstrand said. “Then get the hell out of the way and let us do our jobs.”
Bering Sea crabbers went through a fishery management “rationalization” process in 2005. Instead of a derby-style fishery, in which fishermen raced to sea all at once, caught as much as they could as quickly as they could and rushed back to deliver their catches, the plan was to slow down the harvest. A quota system was instituted that would assure each boat a portion of the overall catch. Fishermen wouldn’t have to race to sea in bad weather. Rationalization also reduced the number of crab boats.
It has worked in some ways. Only 70 or so boats now crab. King crab seasons that used to last as few as three days now last as long as a month.
Marketing and product issues inherent to king and opilio crab still make it necessary to fish quickly. King crab, caught during October and November, must be delivered so it can be processed and shipped to Japanese markets prior to the holidays.
“King crab has to be done in a month,” Hillstrand said. “We don’t have to push so hard, but still ….”
Hillstrand and his brother, Johnathan, share their fishing stories in the recently released book, “Time Bandit.” In it, he talks about safety — before and after rationalization.
“Anyone can read anything in statistics and safety looks good on paper, but from where I sit in the wheelhouse of Time Bandit, safety will always be a mixed bag,” Hillstrand writes.
Looking to Oregon
Some fishermen suggest an individual quota system, as in Alaska, would make the West Coast fishery safer. Others say the same market constraints, getting the crab to consumers before Christmas, would maintain the race for crab, despite any management changes.
Furman and some of the fleet met with the U.S. Coast Guard and Oregon Sea Grant in May in Newport to brainstorm ways crabbers could create an educational program for fishermen. Most of it would revolve around safety training, on top of the Coast Guard’s “Operation Safe Crab” vessel inspections that take place prior to the Dec. 1 season opening.
Much of the safety to-do is about weather, but there still may be onboard issues such as catastrophic mechanical failures or even rogue waves, unexpected things, that can trip up any fisherman, no matter how safe he is.
Furman already has a safety proposal for the Oregon crab fishery. He’s shooting for getting it going in the summertime, before crabbers start working on their gear and get too busy to attend.
Charleston would be the testing ground. Fishermen, be prepared. The program would entail more hard work than just a dockside exam.
There already is buy-in among the gear stores and businesses that work with the fleet. Englund Marine Supply, with stores in most ports, can make life rafts available so fishermen are familiar with them — in the water — before they may be needed, Furman said. Insurance companies may be able to give a break to boat owners whose captains and crews go through the full program of safety training, including book work, CPR and first aid. The commission also may pay part of the tuition, he added.
Crab Commission Chairman Al Pazar, of Florence, and some of his F/V Delma Ann crew took additional Coast Guard safety classes. They learned advanced techniques related to flooding, fire and abandoning ship as part of the program. They got into survival suits, in the water, and into life rafts. His crew was reinvigorated afterward and had greater confidence while fishing, he said.
“There’s no substitute for hands-on training,” Pazar said.
“We want to use this as a catalyst,” Furman added. He’s hoping for 100 percent participation by the Oregon fleet, if not this year, next year.
“I don’t see how it gets any better than saving a life,” Pazar said.
Related stories about crab fishermen lost at sea:
Vessel sinks; four fishermen missing
Dec. 18, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/18/news/news01121806.txt
Search for boat crew called off
Dec. 21, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/21/news/news07122106.txt
Finding community: Families treasure memories of loved ones
Dec. 22, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/22/news/news01122206.txt
Curry officials recover second body
Dec. 28, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/28/news/news01122806.txt
Survival suit found
Jan. 9, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/01/09/public_records/police_reports/vitals02010907.txt
Body of Gold Beach fisherman identified
Jan. 18, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/01/18/public_records/police_reports/vitals03011807.txt
Body still unidentified
April 24, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/04/24/public_records/police_reports/vitals05042407.txt
Crew member missing from local vessel
Friday, December 07, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/07/public_records/police_reports/doc47599a2978b6c146488586.txt
Coast Guard ends search for missing crabber
Sunday, December 09, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/09/public_records/police_reports/doc475a2165209b2099205262.txt
Police release identity of missing fisherman
Monday, December 10, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/10/public_records/police_reports/doc475d92becfcdb472926691.txt
Former Bandon resident lost at sea
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/12/public_records/police_reports/doc4760355f3a8ca888743172.txt
Recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that more crabbers die off the shores of Washington, Oregon and California than those fishing king and opilio crab in Alaska’s Bering Sea. It’s a distinction the West Coast is eager to shed.
“They’re bragging about the ‘Deadliest Catch’ in Alaska; we want to be the safest,” said Nick Furman, executive director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.
All commercial fishing is dangerous, but crabbers face the worst weather. Green water waves break over the bow, sometimes breaking windows.
The swaying rhythm of a West Coast crab boat moving through ocean swells is interrupted by a jarring shift of 25,000 pounds of crab pots. When the pots shift, the boat’s center of gravity changes, and the boat may turn turtle, taking everyone with it.
Alaska’s Bering Sea crab fishery takes place in an exotic locale, a world incomprehensibly different from most people’s lives. Much of the weather is similar to the West Coast, but Alaska fishermen have deadly ice to deal with that can make a boat even more top-heavy.
The adventures of Alaska fishermen are profiled on Discovery’s highest-rated docudrama every week, and the danger is part of the drama. Still, the Dungeness fishery claims more lives.
CDC statistics count 11 Alaska crab fishermen who died between 2000 and 2006. Seventeen Dungeness fishermen died during the same period.
Four of those were the crew of the F/V Ash, which sank off the Rogue River in December 2006. The loss still is fresh in the memories of family and friends.
The Alaska example
The 433 vessels and the more than 1,300 crewmen in the Oregon Dungeness crab fleet bring in $12 million to $58 million worth of crab annually to ports and the state economy, but the cost can be steep.
One life? Two? More? The loss of any one life affects a whole community.
The April 25 CDC report was a wake-up call to a fleet that has more fishermen and smaller boats than the Bering Sea fleet. The report’s authors said, “... safety interventions should be tailored to specific groups of vessels and emphasis should be placed on the Northwest Dungeness crab fleet ... .”
The Crab Commission already is all over it — following Alaska’s example.
The Bering Sea fleet started getting serious about safety in 1999, said Andy Hillstrand, one of the captains on the F/V Time Bandit, a boat featured on “Deadliest Catch.” It was unsettling for some fishermen.
When Coast Guard dockside safety inspections were instituted, Coast Guard personnel went so far as to weigh the individual pots on the vessel, Hillstrand said.
“They were pretty confrontational at first,” he said. Now that the system’s been in place for a few years, everyone’s somewhat used to it.
Still, fishermen can be impatient with the Coast Guard’s meticulous approach. The pressures of fishing, of timing, of weather, of dealing with crew and processors — it’s all balled into a 24-hour-a-day ticking bomb afloat on the sea. Delays only serve as an added frustration for crabbers anxious to leave the dock.
“I’m all for being safe. And I’m glad the Coast Guard comes in and does inspections,” Hillstrand said. “Then get the hell out of the way and let us do our jobs.”
Bering Sea crabbers went through a fishery management “rationalization” process in 2005. Instead of a derby-style fishery, in which fishermen raced to sea all at once, caught as much as they could as quickly as they could and rushed back to deliver their catches, the plan was to slow down the harvest. A quota system was instituted that would assure each boat a portion of the overall catch. Fishermen wouldn’t have to race to sea in bad weather. Rationalization also reduced the number of crab boats.
It has worked in some ways. Only 70 or so boats now crab. King crab seasons that used to last as few as three days now last as long as a month.
Marketing and product issues inherent to king and opilio crab still make it necessary to fish quickly. King crab, caught during October and November, must be delivered so it can be processed and shipped to Japanese markets prior to the holidays.
“King crab has to be done in a month,” Hillstrand said. “We don’t have to push so hard, but still ….”
Hillstrand and his brother, Johnathan, share their fishing stories in the recently released book, “Time Bandit.” In it, he talks about safety — before and after rationalization.
“Anyone can read anything in statistics and safety looks good on paper, but from where I sit in the wheelhouse of Time Bandit, safety will always be a mixed bag,” Hillstrand writes.
Looking to Oregon
Some fishermen suggest an individual quota system, as in Alaska, would make the West Coast fishery safer. Others say the same market constraints, getting the crab to consumers before Christmas, would maintain the race for crab, despite any management changes.
Furman and some of the fleet met with the U.S. Coast Guard and Oregon Sea Grant in May in Newport to brainstorm ways crabbers could create an educational program for fishermen. Most of it would revolve around safety training, on top of the Coast Guard’s “Operation Safe Crab” vessel inspections that take place prior to the Dec. 1 season opening.
Much of the safety to-do is about weather, but there still may be onboard issues such as catastrophic mechanical failures or even rogue waves, unexpected things, that can trip up any fisherman, no matter how safe he is.
Furman already has a safety proposal for the Oregon crab fishery. He’s shooting for getting it going in the summertime, before crabbers start working on their gear and get too busy to attend.
Charleston would be the testing ground. Fishermen, be prepared. The program would entail more hard work than just a dockside exam.
There already is buy-in among the gear stores and businesses that work with the fleet. Englund Marine Supply, with stores in most ports, can make life rafts available so fishermen are familiar with them — in the water — before they may be needed, Furman said. Insurance companies may be able to give a break to boat owners whose captains and crews go through the full program of safety training, including book work, CPR and first aid. The commission also may pay part of the tuition, he added.
Crab Commission Chairman Al Pazar, of Florence, and some of his F/V Delma Ann crew took additional Coast Guard safety classes. They learned advanced techniques related to flooding, fire and abandoning ship as part of the program. They got into survival suits, in the water, and into life rafts. His crew was reinvigorated afterward and had greater confidence while fishing, he said.
“There’s no substitute for hands-on training,” Pazar said.
“We want to use this as a catalyst,” Furman added. He’s hoping for 100 percent participation by the Oregon fleet, if not this year, next year.
“I don’t see how it gets any better than saving a life,” Pazar said.
Related stories about crab fishermen lost at sea:
Vessel sinks; four fishermen missing
Dec. 18, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/18/news/news01121806.txt
Search for boat crew called off
Dec. 21, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/21/news/news07122106.txt
Finding community: Families treasure memories of loved ones
Dec. 22, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/22/news/news01122206.txt
Curry officials recover second body
Dec. 28, 2006
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/12/28/news/news01122806.txt
Survival suit found
Jan. 9, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/01/09/public_records/police_reports/vitals02010907.txt
Body of Gold Beach fisherman identified
Jan. 18, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/01/18/public_records/police_reports/vitals03011807.txt
Body still unidentified
April 24, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/04/24/public_records/police_reports/vitals05042407.txt
Crew member missing from local vessel
Friday, December 07, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/07/public_records/police_reports/doc47599a2978b6c146488586.txt
Coast Guard ends search for missing crabber
Sunday, December 09, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/09/public_records/police_reports/doc475a2165209b2099205262.txt
Police release identity of missing fisherman
Monday, December 10, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/10/public_records/police_reports/doc475d92becfcdb472926691.txt
Former Bandon resident lost at sea
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/12/12/public_records/police_reports/doc4760355f3a8ca888743172.txt
Unintended consequences
The “Deadliest Catch” television show might be only about the tough Bering Sea king and opilio crab fishermen, but has benefited the Oregon crab industry anyway.
“I have not received a complaint about the cost of crab since ‘Deadliest Catch’ became so popular,” Oregon Dungeness Crab Commissioner Nick Furman said.
Furman often travels to seafood shows here and abroad to promote Oregon seafood ” and Dungeness crab in particular.
Now, instead of fielding questions asking why whole Dungeness crab retails for up to $7.99 a pound, and trying to explain the catching, processing and marketing phases, he gets questions such as, “Do Oregon crabbers have to go through that?” and “Do they have to work that hard for their money?”
Furman patiently explains the similarities and differences ” it helps that king crab sells for double what Dungeness crab retails for ” and is able to use the Deadliest Catch show as a way to make the local crab fishery even more real to other domestic and foreign consumers.
Florence fisherman and commission Chairman Al Pazar said he’s noticed increased knowledge by consumers at the dock, too.
Pazar often sells tuna and other fish from his boat. He has video footage of fishing running on a small TV while customers wait to have their fish cleaned and packaged.
After the movie “Perfect Storm,” too, “they understand what it takes to get seafood,” Pazar said.
Crabbing sites
* Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission: http://www.oregondungeness.org
* U.S. Coast Guard 13th District: http://www.uscg.mil/d13/default.htm
* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/blog/nsb042808_fishing.html
* Deadliest Catch: http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/deadliestcatch.html
* F/V Time Bandit: http://www.timebandit.tv
* F/V Wizard: http://www.crabwizard.com/
The “Deadliest Catch” television show might be only about the tough Bering Sea king and opilio crab fishermen, but has benefited the Oregon crab industry anyway.
“I have not received a complaint about the cost of crab since ‘Deadliest Catch’ became so popular,” Oregon Dungeness Crab Commissioner Nick Furman said.
Furman often travels to seafood shows here and abroad to promote Oregon seafood ” and Dungeness crab in particular.
Now, instead of fielding questions asking why whole Dungeness crab retails for up to $7.99 a pound, and trying to explain the catching, processing and marketing phases, he gets questions such as, “Do Oregon crabbers have to go through that?” and “Do they have to work that hard for their money?”
Furman patiently explains the similarities and differences ” it helps that king crab sells for double what Dungeness crab retails for ” and is able to use the Deadliest Catch show as a way to make the local crab fishery even more real to other domestic and foreign consumers.
Florence fisherman and commission Chairman Al Pazar said he’s noticed increased knowledge by consumers at the dock, too.
Pazar often sells tuna and other fish from his boat. He has video footage of fishing running on a small TV while customers wait to have their fish cleaned and packaged.
After the movie “Perfect Storm,” too, “they understand what it takes to get seafood,” Pazar said.
Crabbing sites
* Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission: http://www.oregondungeness.org
* U.S. Coast Guard 13th District: http://www.uscg.mil/d13/default.htm
* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/blog/nsb042808_fishing.html
* Deadliest Catch: http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/deadliestcatch.html
* F/V Time Bandit: http://www.timebandit.tv
* F/V Wizard: http://www.crabwizard.com/
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