Deadliest Catch – hardest job off land

Captains of the tv shows featured boats

If you have ever seen an episode of Deadliest Catch, then you'll share a similar point of view to me. Those crab fisherman are nuts. They work in a highly dangerous enviroment with minimal control over their surroundings. Working beside a almost frozen sea, 30 foot waves and enough chances to fall overboard than you could poke a stick at. All in the name of some serious cash at the end of it all...if you survive. You see, they must motor out a couple of hundred kilometers from port, throw 1000kg  pots overboard with ropes moving so fast they would take you to the bottom of the sea like an anchor, and then come back later to pull them out and sort the crab. All the time batteling the cold, and the fear of falling objects crushing them, or falling overboard with a four minute window of life, knowing the boat can take 20

Hauling in a crab pot during 20 foot swell

minutes to turn around. Their one salvation is that when the boat does go down it will automatically sound an alarm over the radio waves via their EPIRB's (EmergencyPositioning Indicating Radio Beacons) for help, if it works, and if your within reach of help. Then they can put on their survival suits, which take around a minute, and buy you up to another 3-4 hours in the sea, instead of the four minutes without one. If your lucky another boat could be nearby, if not, your part of the sea forever.

Next time you enjoy a plate of crab, think for a minute the process in which to capture it, and the lives lost in pursuit of the money behind it.