The Deadliest Catch!

[excel]

Seattle-based Deadliest Catch crews race to escape 'meteorological bomb'
BY JOSH KERNS on November 7, 2014 @ 5:12 pm (Updated: 5:28 pm - 11/7/14 )




This Nov. 5, 2014 photo provided by NASA shows a picture captured by NASA's Aqua satellite of Typhoon Nuri. Weather forecasters say an explosive storm, a remnant of Typhoon Nuri, surpassing the intensity of 2012's Superstorm Sandy is heading toward the northern Pacific Ocean and expected to pass Alaska's Aleutian Islands over the weekend. (AP Photo/NASA)



The Seattle-based fishing crews of "Deadliest Catch" fame are racing to get ahead of a "meteorological bomb" raging in Alaska's Bering Sea.
The remnants of Japan's Typhoon Nuri was triggering winds close to 100 mph with waves up to 50 feet Friday, the National Weather Service reported.

The storm could potentially be the strongest to hit Alaska's Bering Sea since October 1977 when it peaks by Saturday before weakening.

What the NWS calls a meteorological bomb, or "bomb cyclone," was hitting in the middle of the Bering Sea crab season that draws dozens of crews from Seattle, including the stars of the hit TV series "Deadliest Catch."

Captain Jonathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit told ABC News via satellite phone that his crew was furiously pulling up crab pots and racing to Dutch Harbor, about 200 miles away.

"We're trying to get our gear out as fast as humanly possible," he said. "It's up to God now whether we beat it or not. Hopefully, we'll be in safe harbor before that hits."

Hillstrand told ABC the winds were powerful enough to capsize his boat. While the Time Bandit and other boats, including many from Seattle, headed for safe harbor, Hillstrand said other crews were planning to ride out the storm - forecast to be far stronger than even Hurricane Sandy, which hammered the East Coast in 2012.

"From what I'm hearing, we haven't been through anything like that before, at least not in my lifetime," Hillstrand told ABC. "And I don't want to. We've seen 50-foot waves, we've seen 120-knot winds. I've been out in stuff like that. But the difference is, if it's going to hit here with that kind of power, you don't know the frequency of the waves. We don't know how it's going to affect the ocean differently. I don't want to stick around to find out."

[excel]

'Deadliest Catch' crew member found dead in motel
A new member of a 'Deadliest Catch' fishing crew has been found dead in an Alaska motel room.

By RACHEL D'ORO

Associated Press






ANCHORAGE, Alaska —
A new member of a 'Deadliest Catch' fishing crew has been found dead in an Alaska motel room.

Justin Tennison was found dead Tuesday afternoon in a room at the Best Western Bidarka Inn in Homer, police said Wednesday.

Tennison, 33, was a member of the Time Bandit, one of the vessels on the popular Discovery Channel reality series. He will make a posthumous debut in the 7th season kicking off in April, said Discovery spokesman Josh Weinberg.

Homer police Lt. Randy Rosencrans said beer, hard liquor and a small amount of marijuana were found in the room. But he added that the cause of death is unknown, although foul play is not suspected. An autopsy by the state medical examiner's office was scheduled to take place Wednesday afternoon.

Police believe a party was held at the room the previous night. Two rooms were registered under Tennison's name and nearby guests complained about the noise. Police said Tennison was a local resident, but Rosencrans didn't know why he was staying at the motel.

A phone call was placed from Tennison's cell phone around midnight, but Rosencrans said he didn't know who made the call or who it was placed to.

TMZ previously reported the death.

The Time Bandit issued a statement about Tennison's death on its official website, saying he leaves behind a son, daughter, father, sister and grandparents.

"Justin was tough as a bull and was an all-around good hand," the statement says. "We will miss him terribly."

Weinberg also released a statement, saying Discovery was saddened by Tennison's death.

"We send our sympathies to his entire family and fellow crew members during this most difficult time," the statement said.

The death comes a little more than year after Capt. Phil Harris of the "Deadliest Catch" fishing vessel Cornelia Marie died following a massive stroke at age 53.

The series, Discovery's highest rated show, depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska.

[Trinityz1]

ah ok....thanks!

glad to hear it

[excel]

Read the next post after mine. They came back to the show.

[Trinityz1]

bummer....not good news at all

[Trinityz1]

unreal....Sig & Phil were my favorite captains on the show
remember the time Sig put like a mini-pickup truck where one of Phil's pots were?

Without them...kinda hard to think will like it as much
will give it a shot
but the show is probably toast with the Hillstrands, Sig, and Phil gone

they may regret their lawsuit

[excel]

New season should start some time in April.

[excel]

Ship captain charged in death had role on TV show

The Associated Press

KENAI, Alaska —
An Alaska man charged with manslaughter once captained a ship on the pilot that spawned the cable TV show "Deadliest Catch."

The Peninsula Clarion reports 59-year-old Clarence "Ole" Helgevold was the captain of the Arctic Dawn. That was the vessel featured in a 2004 three-part miniseries titled "America's Deadliest Season." The Clarion reports the show, effectively a pilot for "Deadliest Catch," followed Helgevold and his crew during the 2003-2004 opilio crab season.

Helgevold was charged last week with driving under the influence and manslaughter after his car struck a snowmachine and killed 47-year-old George Larion.

The Arctic Dawn was substantially damaged in September when it caught fire while moored in Seattle.

---

Information from: Peninsula Clarion, http://www.peninsulaclarion.com

[Wrinkles]

I love this show, when does the new season start? Gray hairs coming in to fast, lol.

[excel]

So anyone watching the new reality shows? Seems like after Deadliest Catch became a hit that show was what jump started a bunch more.

I love American Pickers. You learn from that show without the drama the other reality shows have. Pawn Stars same thing.
You learn.

Now I like Storage Wars and the Logging show but what I don't like is the theme I see used on those shows is treating people like crap. It's like hey the more we have people swearing at each other talking about them the more successful we will be. Sad that people get off on that crap or at least the producers think people do. Sure seems to be a common theme through out the majority of shows.

What amazes me about storage wars is why some of those people leave thousands of $$$ in those lockers? Why didn't they see their situation getting worse and use something in there to either make their situation better or pay their bill?

What I don't like on that show is they don't show enough of the losing lockers. No way everyone has all that good stuff in them lets be real. Whole lot of editing going on. What it does is create false hope in people to go out there and start bidding on junk.

Will there you have it.
Some thoughts on all these new shows related to DC.

[nikoli101]

Yep. Not too surprising.
It's gonna weird enough without Captain Phil Harris, let alone the other 3.

[excel]

Had a feeling they'd all come to their senses. Both sides.

[nikoli101]

Deadliest Catch Captains Back Onboard After "Working Everything Out"
Today 3:20 PM PDT by NATALIE FINN

Discovery
It's looking to be a great crab season for Discovery Channel after all.

Time Bandit skippers Andy and Jonathan Hillstrand and Northwestern Capt. Sig Hansen have put aside their differences with the network in time to rejoin Deadliest Catch for its seventh season.

"We're happy we've worked everything out with Discovery," the captains said in a joint statement, a week after announcing they couldn't go on after the Hillstrands were sued for breach of contract.

Wonder what changed their minds...

"A deal's a deal," they said, invoking some refreshingly simple logic.

"We're heading up to Dutch Harbor to start filming the new season of Deadliest Catch and hopefully it will be the best one yet."

Added the Hillstrands, who were the target of a $3 million lawsuit for allegedly failing to hold up their end of the bargain regarding production on a network special: "Everyone worked really hard on putting together Hillstranded and we're looking forward to wrapping that up. It's something new that we hope people will enjoy."

Well, they're going to enjoy it a lot better than they would have a season of Deadliest Catch without some of their favorite captains.

Also returning are the late Capt. Phil Harris' sons Josh and Jake, who will carry on as deckhands on their dad's ship, the Cornelia Marie.

http://au.eonline.com/uberblog/b204779_deadliest_catch_captains_back_onboard.html

[excel]

3 captains pull out of 'Deadliest Catch'
Three captains of "The Deadliest Catch" are pulling out — brothers Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand and Sig Hansen.

By Marian Liu

Seattle Times staff reporter

JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES



Three captains of the "Deadliest Catch" are pulling out.

The popular Discovery Channel reality series follows crab fishermen on their expeditions in the Bering Sea.

Brothers Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand, and Sig Hansen left after the cable network sued the Hillstrands for $3 million. The Hillstrands reportedly failed to finish shooting a spinoff show called "Hillstranded," about their lives outside of fishing, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Hansen says he "stands behind" the Hillstrands.

The Hillstrands co-captain a Homer, Alaska-ported boat, named Time Bandit, while Hansen heads up the Seattle-based ship the Northwestern.

The "Deadliest Catch" series was scheduled to resume filming in October. The sons of Phil Harris, a boat captain who died earlier this year, are expected to return for another season, reports CBS.com.

[excel]

A peek aboard 'Deadliest Catch' boat the Wizard


The Wizard, captained by Keith Colburn, is one of the boats featured in the popular TV show "Deadliest Catch." (Elliot Suhr/Seattlepi.com)

There's a television star moored at a dock in Ballard, but not for much longer.

Later this month, the Wizard will sail back to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The crab-fishing boat, one of five featured on the Discovery Channel show "Deadliest Catch," spends its springs and summers in Seattle.

It spends autumn and winter on the Bering Sea while crew members pull pots of crabs up from the ocean floor. The Wizard's fishing season has been documented by camera crews for several years, but television can't quite capture what it's like to be aboard the 65-year-old vessel.

There's nothing like diesel fumes to bring on an epiphany -- except maybe standing inside the dim belly of a rusting crab tank.

You realize: There's nothing glamorous about life on a crab boat.

Meet Captain Keith Colburn

Keith Colburn wears Carhartts and a broken-in baseball cap that bears the name of his boat: "Wizard."


Captain Keith Colburn speaks to the press in the steering room of the Wizard. (Elliot Suhr/Seattlepi.com)

But this isn't his lucky hat. That one is up in the wheelhouse, a frayed brown cap with the words "Alaska" printed just above the bill.

That's the one Colburn has been wearing since he started fishing in 1985. He's not superstitious, mind you. But when you're staring down a winter storm on the Bering Sea, it's nice to have a comfortable hat on your head.

"It's kind of my go-to hat when I'm fishing," he says. "It's just about being in your comfort zone."

Colburn makes his off-season home in Redmond. Crabbing is a family affair; his wife Florence is his business partner and his brother Monte is his first mate.

Signs of his family are visible in the wheelhouse: There's his son's first pair of shoes, and drawings from his daughter that describe why he should stop chewing tobacco. (In season six, Colburn was trying to quit.)

Colburn moors the boat in Ballard between April and September every year, making repairs and preparing for the fall and winter crabbing seasons. Later this month, Colburn and his crew will make the eight-day trek to Dutch Harbor, where they'll start another season of work -- and the seventh season of "Deadliest Catch."

But Wednesday afternoon, he was giving journalists a guided tour of the Wizard. The tour preceded a preview for a new video game called "Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos."

Here's the scene: Thick ropes coiled nearly as high as a man's head give off the smell of the ocean. And the crab pots that stand in a line on the Wizard's main deck measure about seven feet tall -- much larger than they look as they're tossed over the side of the boat on the television show.

"As you can see, it's not a pleasure craft -- it's an industrial boat," Colburn says.

When he leads the way to the tanks that hold thousands of crabs for as long as a month while the boat is at sea, he apologizes for the mess. The tanks are used as storage during the off-season, and there's a dank, musty smell in the dimly lit rooms.

There are smells in the engine room too, though it's pristine and painted in shades of white and yellow.

"Eau de diesel is pretty much what we smell like," Colburn jokes. "When I get home, my wife just wants to burn everything."

Television stars

Celebrity hasn't changed a lot for Colburn and his crew. They still have to race to harvest their haul, and they still compete for prime crabbing territory.

But do they like being the stars of a hit television show? Depends on who you ask.

"Some guys love the camera, some guys hate the camera. Some guys don't have any time for the camera," Colburn says.

While the cameras don't capture the smells -- and they might make its small sleeping quarters and narrow galley look a bit bigger -- they don't change much else aboard the Wizard.

So, no, the patches of rust in the holding tanks aren't there to make the boat look like it has character; that's just because salt water quickly corrodes metal.

"The TV folks don't encourage me to do a whole heck of a lot," Colburn says. "They found out they're not going to get me to do a lot."

Filming for the seventh season commences in October with the king crab harvest; the show will return to the Discovery Channel in spring 2011.

Last season, the show chronicled the death of Phil Harris, skipper of the Cornelia Marie. The Discovery Channel announced Wednesday that Harris' sons will be returning for the seventh season.

It's not clear if Josh and Jake Harris will still work on their father's boat, or if they'll be featured elsewhere on the show.

"Josh and Jake are part of the Discovery family," Discovery Channel president Clark Bunting said in a prepared statement Tuesday. "We shared a very tough year together and look forward to continuing this special relationship in the future. Right now, they want to get back to fishing and we are doing everything that we can to support that."

Two other "Deadliest Catch" captains also call the Seattle area home: "Wild" Bill Wichrowski of the Kodiak and Sig Hansen of the Northwestern.

The game

The galley of the Wizard is transformed. There are television monitors and game systems -- not to mention stylishly clothed employees from Crave Games, based in Orange County, Calif.

First Mate Monte Colburn says it's been some time since there was a game system aboard the Wizard. He thinks there was a Nintendo 64 at one point, but he's not sure.

Now, the crew of the Wizard and the other "Deadliest Catch" crabbers are the stars of a video game. The "Sea of Chaos" game puts players through the same trials real crabbers face. They'll drop and retrieve the pots, sort the crabs (females and juveniles go back in the sea to ensure future hauls) and take their cargo back to Dutch Harbor.

Will the crew upgrade their game system so they can play "Sea of Chaos?"

Monte Colburn freezes for a moment -- he looks as if he's trying to picture himself playing a virtual version of his own life.

He admits: "We'll probably have to check it out."

[excel]

Latest 'Deadliest Catch' game plays on crab boat

By Brier Dudley

Seattle Times technology columnist




Monte Colburn didn't beat around the bush when the upcoming video game, "Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos," was demonstrated Wednesday in the galley of his crab boat, the Wizard.

"The buoys are backwards," he said, arms crossed, but smiling.

That's among the fixes due before the game is released, replied Doug Panter, marketing director at Santa Ana, Calif.-based Crave Games. The game, which costs $40 to $50, will launch Nov. 9 for the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3.

Colburn is the brother of the Wizard's captain, Keith Colburn, a star of the "Deadliest Catch" reality-television show and a playable character in the game, which opens with the Wizard sailing through the title page.

The game is more advanced than a 2008 title based on the show, with improved graphics and action. But it's no "Halo: Reach."

You drive diesel boats armed with cranes that sail at 10 knots, not rocket ships loaded with missiles.

Still, Crave and Capt. Keith hope their game will appeal to casual players and fans of the show who want to learn more about fishing for giant crab in the treacherous seas off Alaska.

It will also give the industry even more exposure, beyond the hit show on the Discovery Channel that drew 81.8 million viewers last season.

"More than anything, it's an interesting way to entice the younger audience that loves 'Deadliest Catch,' " Keith Colburn said.

Sitting in his chair on the bridge, adorned with his beloved 2001 Ichirio bobblehead, Colburn said the game seems realistic.

He said it provides more technical detail than there's time for on the show, and gives people an idea of how difficult it is to set the gear.

Colburn thinks players will have to know a little bit about crab fishing to do well. But not vice versa.



"I've tried to play it — with marginal success," he said. "If I fished as well as I play the game, I would be broke."

The captain, who lives in Fall City, defers to his 14-year-old son, Caelan.

"It's going to be really embarrassing to go home and try and fish crab with my son and get my butt waxed," he said. "I can take him down up here in the wheelhouse but I think at home I may have met my match."

In the game, players buy a boat in Dutch Harbor, pick a crew from the show cast and set out. They must navigate over targets in the sea, drop pots, toss out lines to retrieve the gear, then sort the crabs on the boat.

Along the way, they may have to fix broken engines and winches. The game tracks their earnings.

A glitch in the early, beta version shown Wednesday was especially realistic. Trying to start fishing, I was stuck on the dock, lacking money for a boat. Luckily I only had to reboot the PS3 to start fresh with a full bank account.

The game will work with Sony and Nintendo motion controllers, but not Microsoft's upcoming Kinect motion-control system.

On the Wizard, the game was shown on the PS3 and an Xbox that Crave temporarily set up in the galley.

The boat spends summers in Ballard, getting prepared for the crab season that runs from October to April.

Boats featured in the game will receive a small royalty on sales.

Capt. Phil Harris, a star of the show who died Feb. 9, will not be a playable character. But his boat, the Cornelia Marie, is part of the game.

Crave is donating a portion of sales — at least $25,000 — to the Seattle Fisherman's Fund.

Colburn showed Wednesday how the Discovery crew taped over brand names on supplies stored on the boat, told stories about being harassed as a rookie and recounted a giant wave that washed over the boat.

He also revealed a favorite artifact on the boat, which was built to haul oil products in 1945. It's inside the door of its original tool chest: a collection of fading World War II-era pinups.

They're the boat's original virtual entertainment.

[excel]

Deadliest Catch crew expected to reel in crowds this Saturday
By JUSTIN BURNETT
WHIDBEY NEWS TIMES



For the second year in a row, some of the Bering Sea's toughest and best known crabbers will be back in Oak Harbor.

Vinton and Charisse Waldron of Seabolt's Smokehouse are once again hosting a shindig with crew members from the wildly popular "Deadliest Catch" reality TV series. And considering the planned festivities, from barbecued salmon and live music by Woodrush to a question and answer period with crew from the Northwestern, this year's event promises to be a whole lot of fun.

"It's going to be pretty cool," Vinton Waldron said.

Due to the huge success of the party in 2009, the Waldrons decided to shoot big this year and host the party at the Best Western Harbor Plaza and Conference Center. According to Event Coordinator Abbey Campbell, about 400 tickets had been sold as of Wednesday morning. She said tickets would likely continue to be available the rest of the week.

"Tickets will be sold at the door," Campbell said.

The party will be held Saturday, Sept. 4, and will run from 1 to 6 p.m.

In attendance will be crew members from the crabbing boat Northwestern, including deck-boss Edgar Hansen, and deckhands Nick Mavar, Matt Bradley, and Jake Anderson. Capt. Sig Hansen will not be there due to another commitment. Mike Fourtner, a deckhand from the Time Bandit, is expected to come and there is a possibility that other crew on the show could make an appearance as well.

Over 400 people crammed into Seabolt's Smokehouse in 2009 for a chance to meet and get autographs from the famous Bering Sea anglers. This year, people will be coming from as far away as New York, Vinton Waldron said.

As a fisherman himself who trolls the dangerous waters of Bristol Bay two months out of every year, Vinton Waldron, who is also and a longtime friend of Mavar, said the fame the show has brought his sea-going brethren is nothing short of astonishing.

"I don't get it, they're basically movie stars," he laughed.

But that's just fine with him. The reality series has helped educate the public about the industry, that commercial fisherman are not the environment-raping boogymen they are sometimes made out to be. In fact, fishing is heavily regulated by the government and the men that risk their lives for the salmon steak and crab legs in your local grocery store are just a bunch of regular Joes, he said.

Fishing in Alaska remains one of the deadliest jobs in the U.S., and after years at sea Vinton Waldron knows that all too well.

"I've lost a couple of friends doing this," he said.

So, the notoriety gained by the show will pay off in another way as well. A portion of the proceeds from this year's event will go towards the Seattle Fishermen's Memorial, a nonprofit group that works to assist families of fishermen lost at sea.

The group will have a booth at the event and donations can be made there or through the organization's website, www.seattlefishermensmemorial.org.

[auroradude]

Thank you for the kind words.

I feel it was a loss for us all.

May he rest in peace, and hope he is fishin' with capt. Phil H. now.

[excel]

OK, Sorry for your loss.

[auroradude]

Plane crash while he was going to do what he loved - fishing.

My heart goes out to all who are hurting.

auroradude

[excel]

What happened?

[auroradude]

Good bye uncle Ted.

Your Alaskan family will miss you.

Thank you for all you have done...

auroradude

[excel]

How cool. I love it when we are lucky enough to see an update.

[Linchuck]

I like antiques roadshow because you see some stuff and people have no idea what they have. I love the stories that so and so bought it at a flew market for 5 bucks and here it is worth 200k or something. I think that is so cool. One of my favorite stories was this one.

Seymour card table appraised by Leslie Keno of Sotheby's, New York and Leigh Keno of Leigh Keno American Antiques, New York.
A woman brought in a wooden table she had purchased at a garage sale for $25 thirty years ago. Leslie and Leigh Keno examined the table closely and declared it a rare Federal style card table, made by John and Thomas Seymour of Boston in the late 1700s. Not only did the table have its original finish, but its original label was still affixed to the underside. The owner was astonished to learn that in today's market her table could sell for $200,000 to $250,000!

And then a year later the Show did an update: The owner appeared at an auction in Sotheby's and the piece ended up fetching 300,000 or more!

[excel]

Don't know the schedule but yes check it out. You'll be amazed what you see people collect. Driving down the road you see a barn and think ok there is farm equipment, animals, feed, etc for the possibilities that you think are in there only to find out it is full of old cars or antiques of all kinds. I think you'll enjoy it.

[Linchuck]

I never head of American Pickers until yesterday as a matter of fact. It sounds like a interesting show. I am going to check it out. I think it comes on Tonight? I have DVR set to record it so I will get to check it out.

[excel]

Yep, so nice to turn on the TV and see something good on. Another show I like is American Pickers. Two guys who drive across America stopping sometimes unannounced at farms. They show the owner their flyer that explains what they do and then if permitted go thru their barns picking out stuff to buy. What is cool about it even the stuff the owners doesn't want to sell they tell you the history about the product which I have learned a lot from. Kind of like Pawn Stars which tells you the history of certain items.

I watch that show Pawn stars when I'm really bored. LOL!
I think they take advantage of to many people on that show. I realize they got to make a profit and who knows how long it sits there before it's sold but sometimes i think they could give a bit in the negotiations.

It really surprises me on some items that are in the thousands why people don't try auction houses because even with the house cut I think they would make more.

[Linchuck]

I have watched Ice Road Truckers and Monster Fish. I want to watch the Colony just to see if it is any good. There is so much junk on it is not even funny. I like River Monsters a lot. It is something to see all the places that he goes and the fish that he catches. Amazing.

[excel]

I think that show is what really got a lot of reality type shows going. I only watch certain small amount of TV but I flip around a lot and see how much there is these days that I think are trying to capture that shows magic.

Ever watched I believe it is called "Ice Truckers".
I will watch that show. Those people are NUTS! LOL!

Not a reality show concept so much but a show I been getting into lately is "River Monsters" I believe it is called. What is cool besides the monster fish is he goes all over the world to places I'm never going to see after these huge fish.

[Linchuck]

Never thought to look to see if a board was here about the show. I have seen every episode of this show. Thank you DVR I remember when it was 1st advertised I thought are they serious? A show about crab Fishing? That will be interesting for a week or 2. I missed the whole 1st season and when it was coming back on my old foreman couldn't stop talking about it. So I watched the reruns that they had on and have not missed a episode since then. Capt Phil I think was most peoples favorite. When he escaped death the 1st time I thought how lucky he was. This time when he didn't make it I think it was 1 of the hardest tv shows to ever watch. The way they do the show and you feel you get to know these people personaly even though most of us will never meet them. I hope Phil can RIP knowing his son went for help to fight his addictions and did so before he died.

[excel]

Seattle-based fishing crew rescued from Gulf of Alaska
By KOMO Staff & News Services

Story Updated: Apr 20, 2010 at 11:01 PM PDT




KODIAK, Alaska -- The Coast Guard said it has rescued four people from the Gulf of Alaska after they reported their Seattle-based fishing boat was sinking.

Petty Officer David Mosley said the crew of the 75-foot Northern Belle radioed at about 5:30 p.m. that the boat was sinking about 50 miles south of Montague Island. (Listen to the mayday call)

He said a Coast Guard plane from Air Station Kodiak dropped a life raft to the four, and a rescue helicopter hoisted them on board after. They'd been in the water for approximately 2 1/2 hours by then, but were wearing survival suits, Mosley said.

The four were taken to a hospital in Cordova. One crew member was unresponsive, and three others were displaying symptoms of hypothermia, according to Mosley.

It is not known why the boat ran into trouble, and the investigation is ongoing.

[Serenity]

Previews of new season...

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/deadliest-catch-season-4-sneak-peek/

[excel]

LOL! yep!

[Serenity]

Something the younger generation surely needs.

That is the absolute truth! Maybe they should all have to spend a season on the Bering Sea. That would make doing any other job look like gravy. Make them work for Sig...that will certainly separate the boys from the men. lol

[excel]

He was an old school work ethic kind of guy. Something the younger generation surely needs.

[Serenity]

Very sad news. Loved his style. Only about a month before season 6 starts!

[excel]

Discovery Channel: 'Deadliest Catch' captain dies
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thom Weinstein / seattlepi.com


Captain Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie speaks during CatchCon at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle in this April 2009 file photo.



ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A spokesman for The Discovery Channel says the captain of the "Deadliest Catch" fishing vessel Cornelia Marie has died.

Capt. Phil Harris suffered what his family described as a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the boat was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The 53-year-old fisherman was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

A Discovery spokesman says the Harris family contacted the network Tuesday evening with word of his death.

Discovery Channel spokeswoman Elizabeth Hillman issued a statement on behalf of sons Jake and Josh Harris. It says in part, "It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad - Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end."

In the network's own statement, Hillman says, "We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart."

In an e-mail she said no additional information was immediately available.

The Discovery Channel reality show depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska. Harris' fishing vessel was based in Seattle.

On The Net:

http://www.corneliamarie.com

[excel]

How you can not have a life jacket on in 8ft seas is unreal to me. This isn't some lake you are in with the shore twenty feet away. If I had a ship you would be required to have one on in calm waters let alone 8ft.





Seattle-based trawler reports man overboard in Alaska

By CHARLES E. BROWN

Seattle Times staff reporter

The Coast Guard in Alaska continued searching the waters west of Dutch Harbor Tuesday for a man who fell overboard Monday from the Seattle-based commercial fishing vessel Alaska Warrior.

A Coast Guard spokeswoman said its Anchorage station received a call at 1:15 p.m. from the Alaska Warrior crew reporting a 58-year-old Japanese man fell overboard at 12:45 p.m. with no survival gear or life jacket.

"He fell off the back of the boat," Petty Officer Charlie Hengen said Tuesday. "He is considered a missing person and we remain actively searching for him."

The man's identity has not been disclosed.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an HC-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Kodiak were launched about 3 p.m. and were expected on the scene Tuesday morning.

The Alaska Warrior's crew and its sister ship, the Alaska Juris, also are actively searching for the crew member, Hengen said.

Reported weather conditions in the area were 23 mph winds with seas to eight feet and overcast skies, the spokeswoman said. The sea temperature during this time of year can range from the low to high 40s.

The Alaska Warrior is a 192-foot trawler. The Alaska Juris, a 218-foot trawler, also is home-ported in Seattle. Both vessels routinely operate out of Dutch Harbor.

On Sunday, a Coast Guard search was suspended for another man, overboard from another Seattle-based trawler, the Rebecca Irene. A cutter and two Coast Guard helicopters had been searching the waters southeast of Umnak Island after the vessel's crew reported a crew member had gone overboard in the area Saturday morning.

The Coast Guard called off its search early Sunday because of poor weather and the length of time the 38-year-old man, identified as Nhial Opiew, a Kenyan-born U.S. citizen, had spent in the 43-degree Bering Sea, said a Coast Guard spokeswoman. The crew discovered he was missing Saturday morning, but no one saw him go overboard, the spokeswoman said.

The 140-foot Rebecca Irene, fishing for ocean perch, searched the waters for 14 hours Saturday, along with other fishing vessels.

[excel]

Fans reel in autographs, answers from "Deadliest Catch" captains
By Ken Armstrong

Seattle Times staff reporter





For fans of the Discovery Channel's hit show "Deadliest Catch," Saturday's gathering on Pier 66 in Seattle was like a Trekkie convention, with three times the testosterone and lots of bawdy talk.

Folks from as far away as Texas, Louisiana, Indiana, Maryland and the United Kingdom descended on Seattle's waterfront to shake hands with their favorite captain and to check out the deck of his ship.

Nearly 500 people attended the inaugural CatchCon, with about 1,000 more relegated to a waiting list. The fans who got in were as young as 18, as old as 71.

After signing the obligatory liability waivers, they toured the Wizard and the Northwestern, and lined up 40 deep for autographs from captains Keith Colburn, Andy Hillstrand, Johnathan Hillstrand, Phil Harris and Sig Hansen.

The captains, who make their living catching crab on the Bering Sea, took the stage and fielded questions.

One woman approached the microphone and said: "Me and my husband love you. We think you're adorable." To which one captain whispered to another, "Stalker."

With the show in its fifth season, the captains have gotten used to this. But if they're celebrities, they're approachable celebrities, as fans talked of running into one captain or another in some bar in Ballard, or at 13 Coins restaurant.

If nothing else, their appeal shows the constant shift in what it is to be a star. Kids used to dream of swinging a bat. Then it was slinging a guitar.

Now, for fans of "Deadliest Catch," it's dropping pots, letting them soak and pulling 'em in, to see if you're on the crab.

How strong is the captains' appeal? Harris recounted how one woman told him that when she's being, uh, intimate with her husband, she likes to gaze upon Harris' picture.

Marja Stevens, a fan from Whidbey Island, has watched the show from season one.

Asked what draws her, she says, "The thrill, the risks they take, it's almost unreal." Her favorite captain is Johnathan Hillstrand.


"I call him my future ex-husband," she says. She even has a favorite deckhand, Russell Newberry.

Gina Chalcroft came down from Juneau, Alaska, for the convention. Asked about the show's appeal, she made it simple: "It's about men working." Plus, she said, "A number of the guys are easy on the eyes."

With its mix of 40-foot rogue waves, Arctic storm fronts and tension among crew members, the show creates real drama with real consequences.

"You screw up, you die. That's the ultimate stakes," said Jeff Conroy, the show's executive producer.

After signing autographs for an hour, the captains took a smoke break.

"It blows me away," Andy Hillstrand said of the fans' devotion to the show. "The guys love it because it's a man's man's job. And the girls love it because we're stinky, I guess."

You feel like a rock star, he's asked.

"A rock star without the money," he said. "You got it."

[Trinityz1]

we love this show......
and it certainly gives an appreciation for what goes into bringing these products to our convenience at the grocery store

every year they have the BIG king crab legs on sale for around $10
we get 15 or 20 lbs ad while we enjoy it
we actually mention those folks who work so hard to bring us the feast

this year they actually had it on sale again in March
so we loaded up again.....

[excel]

Crab fisherman missing in Bering Strait
Seattle Times staff and news services

Juneau, Alaska



A 40-year-old crab fisherman was reported missing Tuesday in the Bering Sea after his foot became tangled in a pot line, and he was pulled overboard.

Coast Guard helicopters and a C130 searched — but did not locate the crabber who worked aboard the Kodiak-based Seabrooke.

The Seabrooke was fishing for snow crab about 22 miles northwest of Cold Bay, Alaska, when the accident occurred at about 9:55 a.m., according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Walter Shinn.

The name of the fisherman was not released Tuesday. The search was expected to resume today.

[excel]

Bad harvest, low demand threaten Pacific fishermen


By TERENCE CHEA

Associated Press Writer




HALF MOON BAY, Calif. —
An unusually weak Dungeness crab harvest is compounding the financial woes of West Coast fishermen who were already struggling with depressed consumer demand and the unprecedented collapse of the Pacific chinook salmon fishery.

Commercial fishermen in California, Oregon and Washington are struggling to stay afloat financially. They say the downturn could force fishermen who depend heavily on crab and salmon to leave the shrinking ranks of the region's fishing fleet.

"With this crab season being slim at best, it's going to be pretty hard to make it through to the next one," said 58-year-old Duncan MacLean, a commercial fisherman since 1972. "I would suspect there are going to be lots of people falling by the wayside."

The Dungeness season that began in mid-November is shaping up to be one of the least productive in years. In Half Moon Bay, about 25 miles south of San Francisco, MacLean and other crabbers are not doing much fishing because the catch is so poor and prices offered by seafood processors are so low.

"It's disappointing to everybody because you want to support your family," said 45-year-old Steve Mills. "Even though we're not catching crab, the bills still pile up."

Last spring, federal regulators for the first time canceled the West Coast's commercial salmon season after a near-record low number of chinook returned to spawn in the rivers of California's Central Valley. Next year's season also could be called off to allow salmon populations to rebound.

Congress approved $100 million in federal disaster relief to help trollers and businesses that depend on West Coast salmon fishing. Many fishermen say they would be hurting even more without the aid, but they still had been counting on a robust Dungeness season.

Scientists attribute the weak crab harvest to increased fishing earlier this year, ocean conditions that disrupted the marine food chain and the natural cycle of crab populations, which tend to peak every seven to 10 years.

This season's California catch is expected to fall below the 8 million pounds caught last year, which was down from 25 million pounds four years ago, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.

"I'd characterize it as near the bottom of the natural cycle," said Peter Kalvass, a state biologist in Fort Bragg who expects the harvest to rebound in a couple of years, based on the large number of young crabs found in fishermen's traps.

In most years, low supply means higher prices, but this year crab fishermen are getting paid less than they got in more abundant years.

"The economy is in the toilet, and people that normally buy crabs are not buying the crabs," said Dale Beasley, a fisherman in Ilwaco, Wash., who heads the Columbia River Crab Fishermen's Association.



The lack of locally caught chinook, or "king," salmon and the disappointing crab harvest is a loss not just for fishermen but for businesses that draw tourists based on their communities' ties to the ocean.

"Our preference would be to sell as much local seafood as possible, and that's becoming increasingly difficult now," said Paul Shenkman, who owns Sam's Chowder House. "A lot of our guests want local fish, and we can't give it to them."

Fishermen wonder whether they can afford to keep fishing for a living.

San Francisco fisherman John Mellor said he did not receive any federal aid and had been banking on a decent crab harvest to pay for his taxes, boat insurance and daughter's braces. "I have to come up with money to pay these big bills," Mellor said.

To get by, fishermen plan to catch herring, squid, sardine, rockfish and albacore tuna, but they say fishing for those species is not as lucrative.

The salmon fishing ban and poor crab harvest could force more commercial fishermen to leave the business at a time when the Pacific Coast fleet is aging and shrinking amid increasing regulation, declining fisheries and the expansion of farmed fish.

Over the past three decades, membership in the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations has dropped from about 4,500 to 1,000 members, said executive director Zeke Grader. The average age of the group's members has risen from the mid 30s to the late 50s as few young people choose to fish for a living.

"People don't think there's a future in it," Grader said.

[excel]

'Deadliest Catch' star sued
By LEVI PULKKINEN
P-I REPORTER

A Seafair reveler injured while celebrating aboard Sig Hansen's crab boat, the Northwestern, is suing Seattle's most famous fisherman.

Hansen, who is featured in the Discovery Channel program "Deadliest Catch," and his company, Hansen Enterprises Inc., are named in the lawsuit, which was filed by Jon Moreno late last month in King County Superior Court.

According to the lawsuit, Moreno boarded Hansen's boat at the Seafair log boom, a gathering point for boaters near the annual hydroplane races. Like other partygoers aboard the boat, Moreno and a friend were hoisted above the water by a crane on the crab boat and dropped into Lake Washington.

Moreno was hurt in the fall, suffering a broken pelvis and other injuries, according to the suit. He was rushed to shore by another boat, then taken by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center.

In the lawsuit, Moreno is asking for unspecified financial damages to cover the costs of his injuries, legal expenses and loss of work.

No response from Hansen has been filed with the court. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

[excel]

'Deadliest Catch' crew makes one boy's dream come true
A lot of kids would love to ride around on the Northwestern from the Discovery Channel's 'Deadliest Catch' show. Friday, Captain Sig Hansen and his crew took one boy on a special voyage.

http://www.komonews.com/home/video/26196599.html?video=pop&t=a

[excel]

Tour 'Deadliest Catch' chase boat turned gift shop

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/thebigblog/archives/140933.asp


If you watch the Discovery Channel series "Deadliest Catch," you've probably figured out that all those wet and wild off-boat scenes don't film themselves.


Camera crews filmed scenes from "The Deadliest Catch" onboard the Sea Star, shown here in Seattle before its retirement from the fishing industry in 2005. (Karen Ducey/Seattle P-I) Last season, most were shot from the deck of the Sea Star, a retired fishing boat where crewmembers will start giving tours to Seattle fans Saturday.

"We're not privately funded paid tour guides. We're the guys that actually did the job," said Michael Day, a retired crab fisherman whose main responsibility on the Sea Star was guarding cameramen from the predictable hazards. Namely, crippling, crashing waves and flying chunks of ice.

He's pretty sure he can handle a gift shop cash register and a couple curious sightseers.

"We're crabbers," he said. "We're good at multitasking."

The Sea Star, which was featured on the first season of "Deadliest Catch," was turned into a tourist attraction last May, when it opened to tourists in Ketchikan, Alaska, last year. Business suffered when cruise ships judged their operation too small to put on their passengers' agenda, Bay said.

He hopes Seattle gives a more welcome reception.

Tours feature a gift shop, video segments from the show, the opportunity to ask Bay and fellow tour guide Kenny Hendricks lots of questions and a life-size prop of a king crab.

"When they pick it up, they get an idea of weight of that crab," Bay said. "And they think, you throw 30,000 of these in a day -- your arms must ache."

You'll find the Sea Star at Dock 9 at Fishermen's Terminal. Tours start Saturday and go from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7.50 for seniors and children. Kids under five are free. For more info, call [phone].

P.S. -- In other "Deadliest Catch" news, Bellevue company Liquid Dragon is working on a video game based on the show, "Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm," which is now available for pre-order for the Xbox 360 and the PC.

[excel]

Report cites danger of commercial fishing off the West Coast
By The Associated Press




A new report from the federal government says fishing off the West Coast of the United States has one of the highest death rates among commercial fishing — even higher than in Alaska.

A National Institute for Occupational Safety and Heath report finds that commercial fishing off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington had a fatality rate 68 percent greater than the national commercial fishing average between the years of 2000 and 2006.

In that time period, 58 deaths were reported for the three states. Most of the deaths came when ships sank or capsized.

[excel]

Crewman: Alaska Ranger rode through heavy ice before sinking
By LEVI PULKKINEN
P-I REPORTER

A former Alaska Ranger crewman testified Wednesday that company officials charged with finding fish may have directed the boat into heavy ice a month before the Seattle-based boat's sinking.

So-called "fish masters" -- crewmembers representing the fish buyer, in many cases Japanese-held companies, responsible for maximizing the catch -- often countermanded ship captains working for the Ranger's owner, Seattle-based Fishing Co. of Alaska, said David Hull, a Ranger crewman of three years.

Speaking to a panel of investigators looking into the sinking, Hull recounted the harrowing details of the March 23 disaster that claimed the lives of five crewmembers.

In February, Hull said, the Ranger was directed into the toughest ice he'd faced in his five years at sea. The order, Hull said, came from the fish master, not Capt. Eric Peter Jacobsen of Lynnwood, who was killed when the Ranger went down.

"Honestly, the fish master basically runs the ship. That's how it stands"

A joint U.S. Coast Guard-National Transportation Safety Board panel was scheduled to hear Wednesday from several survivors of the sinking and others familiar with the 35-year-old fishing boat. The hearings, which started in Seattle on Tuesday, follow a series of meetings in Dutch Harbor and Anchorage, Alaska.

The panel has not determined what caused the catastrophic flooding at the ship's stern that claimed the vessel, said Capt. Michael Rand, the ranking Coast Guard officer on the panel. But investigators haven't ruled out damage from the ice as a possible cause.

Panelists also inquired out the status of the Ranger's watertight doors at the time of the sinking and the condition of the ship. They also asked Hull about reports of drinking aboard the Ranger and allegations that Fishing Co. of Alaska ignored the problem.

Hull said that, while fishing for sole and rockfish in the Aleutian Islands earlier this year, the Ranger was directed into a broken field of ice. Hull said he believes the vessel's fish master forced the Ranger into the ice.

""I've been through ice before, and I've never experienced that vibration before," said Hull, of Long Beach, Calif. "It was enough to hurt your ears at certain points."

At Fishing Co. of Alaska, Hull said, vessel captains can be fired if they don't follow directions given by the fish master.

"I don't want anyone to underestimate the power the Japanese (fish masters) have at FCA," Hull said. "Honestly, the fish master basically runs the ship. That's how it stands," he added.

The vessel's fish master, Japan citizens Satoshi Konno, is presumed to have died in the sinking. His body has not been found.

On another Fishing Co. of Alaska boat, Hull and others were ordered to rinse leaked hydraulic fluid off of a load of soiled fish, he said. The captain of that vessel, the Alaska Spirit, had initially ordered that the fish be tossed overboard. But, Hull said, the captain relented after an argument with the fish master.

During Hull's testimony, an attorney representing Fishing Co. of Alaska interrupted Hull and demanded that the hearing be recessed. In objecting, attorney John Neeleman called Hull's testimony on the issue "rank hearsay."

Questioning Hull on cross-examination, Neeleman accused Hull of attempting to "extort" Fishing Co. of Alaska after Hull was approached last week by an insurance adjuster hired by the company.

Nelman claimed Hull, after being offered $35,000 to settle any claims against the company, promised to destroy photos and videos taken aboard the Ranger for a payment of $100,000.

"Do you recall telling her that you'd toss the evidence?" Neeleman asked.

Hull disputed Neeleman's claim, and said he told the adjuster about the video in reference to its use in a future civil suit. He flatly denied offering to toss evidence and said he wanted to avoid a lawsuit but believes the damage he suffered when the Ranger sank was worth more than $35,000.

Hull also said that several of his crewmembers drank while at sea in violation the policy of Fishing Co. of Alaska. In previous hearings, other survivors also discussed drinking at sea.

Following the hearing, Hull praised the Jacobsen and the ship's first mate, and said he has no animosity toward the company. But he's passed up fishing jobs since the sinking and said he doesn't expect to head back to sea.

"When I look at the water, sometimes I see the faces of those guys who died," Hull said. "I don't think I'll be jumping onto a boat anytime soon."

[excel]

Fishing boat crewman (Bristol Bay Alaska)

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/lbg/642383385.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: [e-mail]
Date: 2008-04-14, 2:28PM PDT


CREWMAN NEEDED ABOARD A SALMON GILL NET BOAT IN BRISTOL BAY ALASKA.

[excel]

The reclusive owner behind the doomed ship
By Jonathan Martin and Hal Bernton

Seattle Times staff reporters


Auctioneers had hoped to get at least $5 million per boat, but the attorneys balked at the financial risk. As they hesitated, a striking, dark-haired woman in snakeskin boots and a fur coat swept in, made her bids and walked away with two of the ships, at the fire-sale price of $4.5 million for both.

It was an uncommon public appearance for Karena Adler, but an important one. The two boats bought that day in 1991 became workhorses for her Seattle company, The Fishing Company of Alaska, known as FCA. And they helped Adler become one of the most powerful women in Alaska's male-dominated fishing world, with a fleet of seven boats and precious Alaskan fishing rights valued at many millions of dollars.

Yet while shrewdly building her fleet, she has remained an enigmatic character, a stranger whom some competitors call "the Howard Hughes of fishing."

Then last Sunday, one of her company's ships, the Alaska Ranger, sank in the Bering Sea, throwing the entire 47-member crew into the icy waves and killing the skipper and four other men. More deaths were averted only by a harrowing rescue.

Now Adler and her company, and its safety and maintenance history, are front-and-center in an investigation to determine what exactly happened that day and whether it could have been prevented.

Associates, past employees and industry officials describe Adler as a tough, savvy businesswoman but a maverick isolated from the rest of the industry, often at odds with the government, and, like others in the dangerous fishing business, frequently sued over injuries and accidents aboard her vessels.

She maintains tight control on her empire while rarely appearing in the company's offices in Seattle's Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, according to those who know her. Instead, the 55-year-old runs the company by phone and fax from the gated confines of a multimillion-dollar Mercer Island home. She is known to wear scarves and sunglasses even indoors.

"This is the most reclusive woman worth ... millions that you never heard of," said Chris Kuebler, a Michigan attorney who has frequently sued FCA on behalf of injured seamen.

But Adler, who has not spoken publicly since the Ranger sank, also has engendered strong loyalty from a cadre of long-serving crew members, whom she lavishes with bonuses and quiet personal touches, such as sending roses every year to the widow of an employee who was killed at sea.

Close friends describe a warmhearted, caring woman who has been "devastated" by the Ranger disaster.

"Karena Adler, she's blaming herself," said Mike Szymanski, a former Alaska state senator who is FCA's lobbyist. "She can't figure out what she could have done differently. She's beating herself up over it."



Good at business, timing

Adler was born in New Jersey but attended school in Japan, where she found a gift for languages — she speaks four — and an interest in the fishing industry.

She cast herself into the fishing industry more than two decades ago, shortly after a two-year marriage to Masashi Yamada, a wealthy Japanese businessman 29 years her senior, ended in 1984 in Hawaii. As part of the divorce, her ex-husband gave Adler a seven-acre estate in the hills above Honolulu and paid child support for their young son, Richard, who is now 28 and works for her company.

A year later, Adler and her sister, Stephanie Wilson, opened FCA in Seward, Alaska, and built their houses on either side of the office. Adler bought her first two boats — former tuna seiners — on the cheap at a bankruptcy auction in San Diego in the mid-1980s and had processing factories built below decks. It would become the pattern as Adler expanded her fleet.

"You've got to give her credit for coming from where she did to where she is today," said John Winther, the owner of Ocean Prowler Fisheries in Petersburg, Alaska. "She did it by converting boats. Buying them, converting them and going fishing."

Her timing was also fortuitous. At the time, the Alaska fleet was rapidly expanding, thanks to federal efforts to limit foreign ownership. Adler added "Alaska" to the name of all her boats but maintained close ties to Japanese buyers, according to current and past employees.

Adler's genius was as a fish broker, said former FCA port captain George Anderson.

"Karena knew the markets, backwards, forwards and sideways," said Anderson, now retired in Puyallup.

She has earned the loyalty of many of her longtime crew through her generosity, said Rosie Szymanski of Seward, one of FCA's first employees. She said Adler in the 1990s donated about $250,000 to upgrade the medical clinic at Dutch Harbor and at Christmas, she is known to send stockings stuffed with Playboy magazines and candy to men at sea, who work grueling hours to bring in the catch that makes FCA's profits.

"If you were ever in need, Karena would be the first to call and it would be taken care of," said Szymanski, who is Mike Szymanski's sister. "She's a different breed of cat, but she loves her crews."

In the early years, Adler's sister, Stephanie, was the more public face of the company, greeting crews on the dock and on boats, said Frank Lemacks, head engineer of the Alaska Ranger in the late 1990s.

"[Wilson] was the people person, pressing the flesh, and her sister lingered in the background, a harder-edged personality," Lemacks said.

For reasons that are unclear, Wilson, who couldn't be reached for this story, left the company in the early 1990s, and Adler has had sole control since then.

"She ruled with an iron fist," said Eric Hollis, FCA's operations manager until 2006, when he quit to become an attorney. "She thinks about this company 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

But that management style has left some former employees bitter and angry. Fishing can be brutal on workers, with 18-hour days and no days off, in dangerous stormy seas, for about $4,000 a month.

"This job was a big mistake — that whole company is bottom feeders," said Rick Weaver, an Oregon man who worked in Alaska for FCA last summer and has sued the company for injuries he says he sustained when crates of frozen fish fell on him.

He alleges the company kept him aboard the processing ship for three weeks despite injuries that kept him bedridden and in pain.

Not a "good old boy"

Adler's fleet of ships — five trawlers counting the Ranger and two long-liners — are part of the "head and guts," or H&G, fishery, which drags the ocean floor for yellowfin sole, rockfish, cod, mackerel and other species. The name of the industry comes from the way the catch is immediately cleaned of the heads, fins and guts while still on board, then frozen and shipped to worldwide markets, often to Japan.

It's a tight-knit corner of the market. But The Fishing Company of Alaska's go-it-alone approach has run afoul of peers and regulators alike.

In 2006, the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fined FCA $254,000 for 34 separate violations, including illegally keeping a tank of king crab and halibut, and for not reporting two Northern fur seals killed after being caught in the nets.

The company was also accused of tampering with the records of federal observers, who travel aboard fishing vessels to ensure compliance with fisheries laws. It has appealed the fine, and the case is pending.

Under recently enacted fisheries rules intended to reduce the accidental catch of prohibited halibut and crab, most of the H&G fleet formed a cooperative to divvy up the catch. But FCA has refused to join. Instead, it has sued fisheries managers for what it calls excessive regulation.

Hollis, the former FCA operations manager, said Adler's approach stems from her being a rare woman in the profession.

"She says, 'I'm not one of the good old boys; I'm never going to be one of the good old boys; so why should I share that with them? They'll slap me on the back, then turn around and burn me,' " said Hollis, now an attorney in Fall City.

"From her perspective, you have to go out and fight for fish. It's like survival of the fittest. And the system worked for her."

But that attitude, combined with her reclusive nature, makes FCA a tough company to work with, said Craig Cross, an executive at Aleutian Spray Fisheries in Seattle.

"They've always taken the perspective of looking out for their interest first," he said.

"I've never met her"

As a privately held company, FCA's financial records are closed, but its portion of the annual H&G catch is estimated at more than $30 million a year at wholesale prices, based on figures from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Other ships in other fisheries bring in more revenue.

In addition, the company, through its ships, holds valuable harvest rights issued by the government, that are potentially worth tens of millions of dollars.

The Alaska Ranger alone has been estimated at being worth up to $27 million before it sank. But as FCA has risen in prominence, Adler herself retreated even further.

Friends, most of whom would speak only without being named out of respect for her, said her seclusion increased in part because of a serious medical issue abut 10 years ago. Although she is not registered to vote, she has donated about $13,000 to political causes, mostly the Republican National Committee.

Former FCA employees say they would typically see Adler only a few times a year. Even while communicating with her, they said, they couldn't be sure where she was at the moment. She divided her time among homes in Alaska, Hawaii and Seattle.

"I have been working for the at-sea processors for nearly 20 years, and I have never met her," said Jim Gilmore, lobbyist for a Seattle-based association representing pollock fleets.

She may not be able to stay silent for long. She could be subpoenaed to testify in the inquiry into the Alaska Ranger sinking, which is already bringing unprecedented public scrutiny upon FCA and questions about whether her company's practices contributed to the disaster.

That inquiry began Friday and continued through this weekend in a conference room of the Grand Aleutian Hotel in Dutch Harbor. FCA was represented by a pair of attorneys and company officials.

Adler has not appeared.

Last week, at the gate of her waterfront home on the north end of Mercer Island, a woman answered the call box. She wouldn't say whether Adler was home.

She told the reporter to go away.

[excel]

New Season, New Perspective
Tune in Tuesdays at 9 pm e/p.

Discovery Channel's Emmy-nominated series Deadliest Catch returns Tuesday, April 3, for a third season of daring adventures on the high seas. Viewers once again voyage to the Bering Sea and follow the brave captains and crew of eight crab-fishing vessels as they struggle against the treacherous weather conditions doing one of the deadliest — and most lucrative — jobs in the world.

This season, which is currently being filmed as boats head out to catch opilio crab, viewers experience life above and below the Alaskan waters. Submersible cameras capture unprecedented underwater images of crabs migrating on the bottom of the Bering Sea and entering the crab pots.

In addition, footage shot from a "chase boat" shows just how diminutive these crab boats actually are in the midst of the Bering Sea. For the first time, viewers see the fishing vessels being tossed around by the high winds and rough seas. The unique angle will also offer a new perspective of the fishermen working the rails, setting and hauling the massive 800-pound crab pots as their boats fight the crashing waves.

This season, viewers will get a more in-depth look at the men who put their lives on the line in search of modern-day buried treasure — Alaskan crab.

Returning to Deadliest Catch this year are the men of the Northwestern, led by Captain Sig Hansen; Captain Phil Harris and his crew of the Cornelia Marie, including sons Jake and greenhorn Josh; Captain Johnathan Hillstrand (king crab season) and Captain Andy Hillstrand (opilio crab season) of the Time Bandit; and greenhorn Captain Blake Painter (king crab season) of the Maverick and his new hand-picked crew, along with Rick Quashnick (opilio crab season) with his wife Donna.

New to Deadliest Catch this season are the men of the Wizard, led by Captain Keith Colburn; Captain Greg Moncrief of the Farwest Leader, who is joined on board by his wife Ragnhild; Captain Allen Oakley of the Early Dawn and his crew, including greenhorn Bryan Mezich; and the crew of the Aleutian Ballad, with Captain Corky Tilley at the helm and son Matthew and daughter Nicole on deck.