“Deadliest Catch” and the government shutdown

I love watching Deadliest Catch.  It’s probably one of my favorite reality TV shows, in that the viewers are part of this “slice of life” show where careers are made and broken and remade with every haul of Alaskan crab off the sides of gigantic crab boats.

Yes, I shed a tear when Phil Harris, captain of the F/V Cornelia Marie passed away.  I cheered when Jake Anderson went from greenhorn on the F/V Northwestern to an opportunity to learn new skills and become a crab captain someday.  I groaned and snarled when Elliot Neese spent less time commandeering the F/V Ramblin’ Rose (and later, the F/V Saga) and more time hassling the mother of his two children.  And I applauded when, after years of barely scraping together with pennies and spare parts, the F/V Wizard had its best crab haul of king crab and opilio crab in nearly twenty years.

Aren’t these some great moments from Deadliest Catch episodes?  Yes they are.

But this year, I might not be able to watch Deadliest Catch.  No, it’s not because the show got cancelled or Time Warner Cable stopped carrying the Discovery Channel.  Wait, let me check.  No, Time Warner Cable is still carrying the Discovery Channel.  Sorry, it’s Time Warner Cable.  I gotta double-check sometimes.

No, the reason Deadliest Catch might not air this season – is because of the government shutdown.

And you say to me, “Chuck, how can the government shutdown affect the Alaskan crab fishing industry?”

Here’s how.  Crab fishing is determined by quota.  A crab boat can only haul so many pounds of crab per season; this way, the crab grounds are not overfished.  Years ago, crab fishing was done in “derby” style, when everybody fished as much crab as they could over a period of just a few days.  Those days are over, and the United States government determines how many pounds of crab each boat can legally haul.

And guess who got furloughed?  The national fisheries managers.  Without those quotas, the crab boats can’t legally fish.  And if they don’t get those crab pots in the water soon, the lucrative king crab market – which includes everything from Red Lobster restaurants to Japanese celebration meals – might lose up to $7 million in profits.

Owtch.

Meanwhile, the crab boats are still in Unalaska (Dutch Harbor), waiting to set sail.  And for every day that the crab boats sit in port, money is spent.  And that money is not recouped.

Double owtch.

You can hear an interview with Keith Colburn, captain and owner of the F/V Wizard, at this link.  He’s got the Wizard up there in Dutch Harbor, and after spending money on renovations and upgrades to his boat, he can’t do anything right now except stare out the window and watch the waves crash into the shore.

Surprisingly, I didn’t think that the government shutdown would actually affect me this way.

I guess I was wrong.

GRRRRR

This better get resolved quickly.  Or else the only thing I’ll be watching on the Discovery Channel…

Are these guys.

And I’m not scheduled to do recaps of these guys’ antics until Christmastime.