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Deadliest Catch 2013 Rumor Round Up


Another season of Deadliest Catch will be airing on the Discovery Channel tonight. However, it’s been long over for many captains. The King Crab season is filmed first and takes place between October and December. Bering Sea Crabbers traditional take a break and head back out for Opilio Crab after the new year. Although, Discovery Channel keeps the captains and crews exploits secret for most of the winter. It might come as surprise that many captains have taken to Twitter to update their adventures as they happen at sea. Here is a collection of tweets and photos that should give you a hint about the new season. The addition of two “new” boats might be the biggest story so far this season. Say goodbye to the Ramblin Rose and the Kodiak! Two captains found a new ride this season. Wild Bill will be piloting the F/V Cape Caution, while Elliott will be at the helm of his own boat this season, the F/V Saga. Here are a few clips and pics of the new season of Deadliest Catch.

Here are some highlights from the King and Opilio Crab seasons.  Pay attention to the date on the tweet!
https://twitter.com/CaptElliott/status/300543516440928257
https://twitter.com/CaptElliott/status/272896556733194240
https://twitter.com/MikeFourtner/status/309328201874808833
https://twitter.com/crabwizard/status/288374822503849984
https://twitter.com/DeckbossEH/status/288961331023986688
https://twitter.com/JoshHarrisDC/status/289158219744542721
https://twitter.com/JakeVAnderson/status/300938170344808449
https://twitter.com/CaptScottJr/status/285022423873630208
So, now you have an idea of how the season went.  According to the Coast Guard, no crab vessels sank this year and no deaths were reported either.  So sit back and enjoy the show this season.  It sounds like things were much smoother this year.  Here’s a great promo for the new season.
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Dutch Harbor Update | Deadliest Catch Goes Digital At SXSW


It appears that most of the captains and crew have wrapped up their opilio seasons.  Some of the bigger stars from the show will be appearing at South By SouthWest Festival In Austin this weekend.  The Opilio crab season is usually completed by the end of Feburary.  Last season, the bering sea broke all previous records for sea ice coverage and many boast fished well into April.  If you want to keep up with the fleet while they are on the fishing grounds check out the Deadliest TwitterFeed!

 

Watch out Austin, the captains from the hit Discovery series “Deadliest Catch” are swapping the deep sea for Texas and heading up the Twitter for Tough Guys panel this weekend at the SXSW Festival.

Given that they have just returned from months of isolation trolling the Bering Sea for King Crab, the boys are bracing themselves for the onslaught of attention.

“It will be awesome, but when we first get back from fishing it takes a few days so it will be a little disconcerting,” Captain Keith Colburn told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column.

Alongside Colburn will be Captains Sig Hansen and Johnathan Hillstrand to discuss the role social media has played in the groundbreaking series, which returns for its ninth season in April. And aside from having shared their death-defying occupation with the world for several years now, it seems the show has taught the crabbers a thing or two.

via ‘Deadliest Catch’ captains say social media integral to show’s continued success | Fox News.

 

https://twitter.com/MikeFourtner/status/309811362786312192

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Dutch Harbor Update | The Hunt For The Deadliest Catch Continues In 2013


Captains and Crew are gathering back in Dutch Harbor, Alaska for the opilio, “snow crab” season, which generally starts up after the new year.  The 25 percent cut in total quota should speed up the season.  Last year, boats  were challenged  by floating ice, creating the longest snow crab season in history.  Arctic Ice may play a huge factor in this season’s harvest, too.  The Arctic huge melt equals tons more floating ice in the southern fishing grounds.  Stay tuned for more updates as this season on the Bering Sea continues…

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January will also mark the start of the Bering Sea snow crab and Kodiak tanner crab fisheries.

The 2013 total allowable catch, or TAC, for Bering Sea snow crab was set at 66.35 million pounds, a 25 percent cut compared to nearly 89 million pounds in 2012.

The snow crab harvest cut comes from a decrease in the mature male biomass (females may not be retained), and a change in the stock’s age composition. The crab are much older than in the past — about 60 percent of the mature male biomass is old shell crab — compared to about 37 percent last year.

Fishing quota holders will be able to harvest 59.7 million pounds, while community development quota programs will take the remaining 6.6 million pounds.

Kodiak tanner crab will be harvested from the eastside and southeast sections, for a total of 660,000 pounds.

via Mixed outlook for fish stocks, new regs | Peninsula Clarion.

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Dutch Harbor Update | King Crab Season Wraps Up


This year’s king crab quota was swiftly harvested this season.  The quota was slightly less than last season’s 7.85 millions pounds.  Excellent quality of the king crab could produce near record high prices.  Snow crab season, which starts in January, has the potential to be just as harsh as last season’s icy nightmare. Here are some recent tweets from the crabbing fleet.  Here’s a LIVE view from the Haystack!

 

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[tweet https://twitter.com/crabwizard/status/265899030301777920] [tweet https://twitter.com/captwildbill/status/266572160909320193] [tweet https://twitter.com/fvcorneliamarie/status/263753606459695104] [tweet https://twitter.com/crabwizard/status/263297469906038785]

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The Bristol Bay red king crab season opened on Oct. 15, and on Tuesday, the season was almost over. Just 11 boats were still crabbing, and 52 had taken their red king quota, according to Fish and Game, reporting a harvest of 7.36 million pounds taken from the season’s quota of 7.85 million pounds, almost the same as last year.

In the St. Matthews blue king crab fishery on Tuesday, 679,000 pounds were harvested from a quota of 1.63 million pounds, with 16 vessels still registered, while one had finished fishing.

Bering Sea snow crab is the next big shellfish harvest, which typically starts in January, with a substantially reduced quota of around 66 million pounds, down from 89 million last year.

Jacobsen said weather forecasts indicated perhaps a repeat of last year for ice obstructing the fishing grounds, and denting boat hulls. Some boats are getting better prepared by reinforcing their bows with more steel, Jacobsen said.

via Good cluster luck for crabbers – The Bristol Bay Times.

via Red King Crab Season Comes to a Close.

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Dutch Harbor Update | King Crab Pots Splash In The Bering Sea


The Bering Sea King Crab Fishery starts at high noon this Monday on the 15th of October. Actually, Snow crab,  Blue crab and King crab open at the same time this season. The blue crab quota is slightly smaller than last year, so many captains will have to decide which species to harvest first. The deadline for snow crab harvesting extends way into May.  King crab ends in Feburary, which is why these species are typically fished first.  Overall, 118 vessels will be participating  in this season’s fishery.  Two of those vessels will be new to the Deadliest Catch. Wild Bill from the F/V Kodiak will be operating the F/V Cape Caution this year and Elliot Neese from the F/V Rambling Rose purchased the F/V Saga. The Saga actually appeared in the first season of Deadliest Catch, so she’s no rookie to the Bering Sea.   The weather is always the main factor in this dangerous fishery.   NOAA states that Arctic Ice levels are at a record low this year.  However, last season the Bering Sea froze solid for the first time since the 70’s.  The current forecast calls for 30 kt. Winds and 12 foot seas, with mixed rain. Sounds like great crabbing weather! So, fresh King Crab will be  hitting the stores by the end of the week.  Order now in time for the holidays!  Check out the awesome crabbing footage supplied by KC Dochtermann from last years opilio fishery. I also included some tweets from the crabbing fleet. Good luck to all of the captains and crew participating in this year’s fishery!  Stay Frosty!

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North Pacific Fisheries Management Council Meetings 2012


This years meeting will cover a number of issues, including stellar sea lion protection, catch share issues, and crab allocations. The real heat of the meeting will focus on halibut and the battle between the charter and commercial fishermen. Halibut continues to be a tense issue because the quota has been decreased substantially over the past few years. Check below for links to LIVE audio of the meetings.  (here)  Read below for more info from Bristol Bay Times.  AbundentOceans has some great YouTube content from past meetings.  I expect that it will be updated soon.

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A long list of crabbing issues, decisions on halibut catch sharing, and groundfish regulations look to dominate a fall meeting of Pacific fisheries overseers.

The 15 members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will gather next week, beginning on Wednesday, to discuss fish issues for the Pacific Northwest.

The council is made up of 11 voting and four non-voting members. Seven of the voting members are from the state of Alaska, while others hail from Washington and Oregon.

The meeting is being held at the Anchorage Hilton from Oct. 3-9. For those unable to attend the public meeting, online participation is welcomed via http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/.

After hearing initial reports from state and federal agencies, the council will move on to big-ticket items such as halibut, groundfish, stellar sea lions, vessel replacement issues and crab management.

In the halibut world, the council will make a final decision on the halibut catch sharing plan. If approved, the plan may move five percent of the yearly halibut allocation from commercial fishermen to charter and sport operations. There are a total of five options for Pacific halibut allocation on the table. That decision will be the first of the major issues addressed following reports.

via Halibut, crab, groundfish top council agenda – The Bristol Bay Times.

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Dutch Harbor Update | Deadliest Catch Rumor Roundup


Another crab season on the Bering Sea is just around the corner. The actual forecast is about 19,000 metric tons of king crab, which is better than last year’s quota at 15,00 metric tons. This is still a small harvest for King Crab, but the price should hold. The quota for Oplio crab, also known as, Snow crab, has gone down this year by almost 30 percent. However, demand for snow crab has grown over the last few years as well, which means that the price is good. These are only preliminary estimates and the official total will be out by the end of october.

Here’s a little example of the Deadliest TwitterFeed.  It appears that Elliot is not returning to the Ramblin Rose and he is shopping for a boat.  Will he be on season 10?  The rest of the guys are prepping the boats for the upcoming season.  Check out the tweets below to catch up.  Filming will begin this fall and the next season will air in the spring.  Let’s hope the ice isn’t as bad as last year.








Here’s a crazy video that will give you a laugh.  Norwegians!   What can I say?

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Piscatology 101 | NOAA State Of The Fisheries Report


In general, 86% of the fisheries reviewed are in good shape.  This is great news for an industry that has a bad wrap for raping and pillaging the oceans resources.   The entire report is below.  Also, the article below is a nice summation of the report from SeafoodSource.com.

 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries Service on Monday released its annual report card, called the “Status of U.S. Fisheries,” which has been issued to Congress annually since 1997.

Of the 258 stocks and multi-species groupings known as complexes NOAA scientists reviewed for “overfishing” status in 2011, 222 stocks, or 86 percent, were not subject to overfishing, an improvement from 2010 when 84 percent, or 213 out of 253 stocks, were not subject to overfishing.

Of the 219 stocks and complexes reviewed for “overfished” status in 2011, 174 stocks, or 79 percent, were not overfished, compared to 77 percent, or 159 out of 207 stocks, in 2010. Thirteen of those 45 overfished stocks were located off New England, the most of any geographic region.

“Overfishing” means the catch is above the target set in the fishery’s management plan, while “overfished” factors in a safety margin ensuring the stock is able to recover.

Also, a record six fish stocks were rebuilt to healthy levels in 2011, bringing to 27 the number of stocks that have been rebuilt in the last 11 years. They are Bering Sea snow crab, widow rockfish, chinook salmon (North California Coast, Klamath Fall), coho salmon (Washington Coast, Queets), summer flounder and Gulf of Maine haddock.

“[Most] rebuilding plans started 10 to 15 years ago after Congress amended the Magnuson-Stevens Act in 1996, so we’re seeing the results of that,” said Galen Tromble, NOAA Fisheries’ division chief for domestic fisheries, in a press briefing on Monday.

However, six stocks were newly determined to be overfished in 2010 and 2011. Rebuilding plans are currently being developed for these stocks and must be in place within two years of an overfished determination. Overall, 51 stocks are subject to rebuilding plans, with six additional plans in development.

via A record six U.S. fish stocks rebuilt in 2011 – SeafoodSource.com.

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