Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
Posted on January 6, 2009 - by Morgan Howard
Deadliest Catch camera man reports for duty
What is more dangerous than fishing for crab in the Bering Sea? Filming the guys fishing in the Bering Sea! The “Deadliest Catch” camera men are just as crazy as the fishermen. Once the weather turns bad, they want to be there to get the shot.
Last year, the Cornelia Marie had a “green horn” camera man by the name of Ben Zupo. This year he returns more experienced and ready to go. Unfortunately, this year he’s working for the F/V Northwestern:) I’m sure he’ll miss the good-natured humor of Captain Phil. Now, he’ll have to put up with the Hansen brothers. Also, he’ll realize how nice the F/V Cornelia Marie rides compared to the F/V Northwestern. This is because our house (living quarters) is in the stern instead of forward like the Northwestern.
Most of the “Deadliest Catch” crew are now showing up in Dutch Harbor to prepare for the Opilio season starting on January 15th. Unfotunately, we have some boat issues to take care before we can fish. More later.
To read Ben Zupo’s full story, click here.
Posted on December 3, 2008 - by Morgan Howard
Cornelia Marie is on Facebook
Are you a member of Facebook? If not, it’s easy to sign up at http://www.facebook.com.
We have a fan site on Facebook called “Deadliest Catch – F/V Cornelia Marie”. It’s really easy to find – just search for “Cornelia Marie”. Join the group and you can check out the many videos, and pics we have posted there. Somehow, the F/V Northwestern’s Facebook Fan site has twice as many members than ours! We can’t let that happen – so please join now. :)
Posted on May 6, 2008 - by Morgan Howard
Article explains how Captain Phil nearly died this season
“In a scene to be shown later this season, a monster wave pummeled his boat in January, causing him to fall out of his bunk. He punctured a lung and broke his ribs. But his condition worsened after a blood clot dislodged from his leg and traveled to his heart.”
Read the full article here. I think the premiere episode debuts in the United Kingdom and Canada today. Do you folks already know what is going to happen (from the internet) or do you wait to watch the episodes as they come out?
Posted on April 15, 2008 - by Morgan Howard
Season Premiere of “Deadliest Catch” tonight!
Season 4 kicks off tonight at 9 pm on the Discovery Channel. The first episode is called “Ge ‘Em Back Safe” and TV Guide says, “In the fourth-season opener, the crab-fishing fleet prepares to sail into the Bering Sea after some crucial repairs are made on the Northwestern, two new crewmates are trained on the Wizard and Johnathan’s son Scott joins the crew of the Time Bandit.”
Posted on April 12, 2008 - by Morgan Howard
Marathon Weekend of “Deadliest Catch”!
One of our fans brought this cartoon to our attention – thanks. I thought this was especially funny as we start the Marathon weekend. Check out their website called “Player Vs. Player” or pvponline.com – funny stuff.
Now, be careful, the marathons are very addictive – before you know what’s happened you have been sucked into one episode after another:)
Posted on March 8, 2008 - by Morgan Howard
Jake Harris battles on XBOX ad
Our own deckhand, Jake Harris does some promoting for the new XBOX 360 game, Alaskan Storm. You have to admit, the other guy from the F/V Northwestern looks a little freaky. Click on more to watch video. (more…)
Posted on January 12, 2008 - by corny
Market demand for Bering Sea red king crab is solid
King crab demand going strong thanks to the popularity of “Deadliest Catch” and it’s fishing crews.
Greater domestic retail demand, owing in large part to a popular cable television series, has led to solid markets continuing for wild Alaska red king crab in the early days of 2008.
“If you are a buyer and need king crab right now, I couldn’t tell you where to go and get it,” said Dave Keen, a wholesale crab marketer with the Crab Broker, a major domestic distributor of high-end seafood.
At this point, with the king crab season all but over in Alaska waters, if you don’t have a business relationship with one trader or another, it’s certain that you will not be able to buy No. 1 red king crab, Keen said Jan. 2.
The snow crab harvest, meanwhile, was underway in earnest in January, with a number of processors posting an advance price of $1.58 a pound, compared to about $1.50 a year ago, said Greg White, a negotiator for the Inter Cooperative Exchange, which represents the bulk of Bering Sea king and snow crab harvesters.
Since the king crab harvests began in mid-October, vessels have harvested nearly all of the allowable catch of about 20 million pounds of wild king crab, according to reports compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The popularity of the domestic red king crab has been so greatly enhanced by the “Deadliest Catch” cable television series that one major restaurant chain will be adding the name of the vessel that harvested its entrees to its menu, Keen said.
After representatives of the Oceanaire chain met captains of the crab vessel Time Bandit, the Crab Broker was able to purchase for the chain crab harvested by the vessel, he said.
Oceanaire, which normally buys on a spot basis, placed a large order this year for frozen, as well as fresh king crab, Keen said, citing the contract as an example of the growing retail interest in wild Alaska king crab.
“Our business is selling crab throughout the year,” he said. “The season starts in mid-October. Last year we ran out of crab about a month and a half before the start of the new season. We are thinking that because of demand that we may run out again.”
Wholesale prices for the wild Alaska king crab are up about $1 a pound because of the higher demand.
This year buyers paid $8.95 for crab delivered to the dock in Seattle, compared to about $7.65 a pound a year ago, he said. If there had been more competition from Russian king crab from the Barent Sea, prices would have been lower for the Alaska crab.
With this year’s allowable snow crab quota at about 63 million pounds, compared to about 36 million pounds a year ago, White said he expected it to be a good season, despite diminished capacity in the processing sector.
“It will all get caught, because we got off to an early start,” he said.
Snow crab fisheries normally begin to pick up about Jan. 15, when the snow crab have good infill, and the fishing continues through May, White said.
Last year only about 17 percent of the harvest went to Japan, but White said he expected Japanese buyers to take a higher percentage this year.
“Sometimes the Japanese market is stronger; sometimes the U.S. is stronger,” he said.
While harvesters are not happy with the current posted advance price, “It’s a fair price to go fishing for,” he said.
Even with anticipated robust harvest, Alaska harvesters and processors are eager to produce as much as possible before May. The Eastern Canada snow crab fishery, which produces about 200 million pounds of snow crab, begins in April, and prices become more competitive as May approaches.
Posted on November 16, 2007 - by Morgan Howard
Alaska Official calls for Investigation into Russian Crab Advertising
“Alaska’s speaker of the House wants an investigation of Wal-Mart sales of Russian crab that’s packaged in a box featuring a vessel that catches U.S. crab in the Bering Sea.
The sales promotion attempts to ride the fame of the F/V Northwestern and its skipper, Sig Hansen, who is featured in “Deadliest Catch,” the reality series broadcast on the Discovery Channel.” This was the report today from the Seattle Times.
This reaction from the Alaska Speaker of the house stems from an exclusive story published in the Seattle Times on Tuesday, November 15, 2007.
For fans of this site, the real surprise was the story of Captain Sig Hansen also reported in the Seattle Times. Our boats captain, Phil Harris was quoted in this story.
Phil Harris, owner of the F/V Cornelia Marie of Kodiak, Alaska, also turned down the Global Fishing marketing pitch. (more…)
Posted on October 21, 2007 - by corny
Capt. Phil on EW
Since Captain Phil is currently out at sea and hauling gear and crab as we speak, we thought it might be a good time to review some of the events and interviews that have taken place over the summer.
(photo courtesy of Justin Stephens)EW.com had an interesting article, The EW 100–Stars We Love Right Now Capt. Phil was right there with Mike Rowe, Les Stroud, and Sig Hansen. Why them? EW responds, Whether it’s Stroud coping with the world’s harshest environments on Survivorman, Rowe tackling Dirty Jobs, or Alaskan king crab fishermen Hansen and Harris going after The Deadliest Catch, the quartet risk life, limb, and personal hygiene for our edutainment. (We’d have included Man vs. Wild’s Bear Grylls in the photo, too, if he weren’t climbing Everest!)
Posted on June 15, 2007 - by Morgan Howard
Capt. Phil at Global Food Show
Captain Phil attended the Global Food Show in Alaska to speak about the Alaska crab industry.
“It’s important to have people aware of what is going on with catching crab in the Bering Sea,” said Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie.”
Supply meets demand at Global Food Alaska
By JOSEPH ROBERTIA
Peninsula ClarionThere’s nothing fishy about the Global Food Alaska 2007 conference and trade show that began Wednesday and continues today at the Soldotna Sports Center.
“This is not a typical trade show. This is a completely different animal,” said Robin Richardson, member manager of Global Food Collaborative LLC, one of sponsors of the event.
Rather than consumers buying small amounts of a product as with other trade shows, Richardson said the purpose of this event was to get those involved with Alaska’s supply chain of food, beverage and bio-products to connect, communicate and collaborate with each other.
“We don’t have vendors looking to sell salsa. Our vendors are looking to find a buyer that wants to use their salsa as a base ingredient in a recipe. They’re looking for a buyer to form a long-term, sustainable business relationship with,” she said.
The event brought together roughly 320 vendors and buyers, some small, local family-owned business, others huge, multinational entities. There were fishermen, seafood processors, ice packers, transporters, importers and exporters, sellers and buyers, and government organizations, to name just a few groups in attendance.
“It runs the gamut,” said Rick Roeske, program manager for Cook Inlet Salmon Brand, another sponsor of the event.
Roeske added that having so many varied, but interrelated entities under one roof served as a valuable opportunity to learn from each other and collaborate on ways to maximize generating sustainable business and economic developments from Alaska’s bounty.
“People Outside are kind of removed from the food source, but this gives national and international buyers a chance to visit Alaska, sit down and ask questions about the process from harvest to market. And, with it being closed to the public, sellers and buyers can — in a non-stress environment — discuss what is done, negotiate prices and strike deals,” he said.
Sean Crosby, of Kenai River Seafoods, said attending the event was beneficial to his organization.
“It’s a great deal for us as producers and sellers, because there are a lot of buyers, packagers and transporting companies here, so we’re getting exposure to all the people we need to talk to in order to do business,” Crosby said.
While some came looking to forge business deals, some participating in the event — such as the crab boat captains of the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” — said they came to discuss their roles working in the seafood industry.
“It’s important to have people aware of what is going on with catching crab in the Bering Sea,” said Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie.
Harris said viewers of the show may learn a lot about crab fishing, but they’re only getting half the story.
“They don’t get to see the politics and they’re are a lot of politics to crab fishing,” he said.
Larry Hendricks, captain of the Sea Star in season one of the reality show, said he was also interested in informing people that crab fishing is a sustainable and renewable industry that is being challenged by crab from other countries, caught by fishermen that may not abide by the same standards as American fishermen.
“We follow regulations, we use methods to better target select species, and we harvest responsibly so the product will stay sustainable for generations to come. But, foreign importers are selling back to America crab caught by fishermen from other places — such as Russia — that aren’t held to the same standards, so we’d like to see crab become a certified fish product, similar to the way Angus beef is a certified beef
Rick Roeske said based on the success of the event, he was hoping it would become a regular occurrence.
“We’d like to do this every two years,” Roeske said.
The Global Food Alaska 2007 conference and tradeshow continues today beginning at 10 a.m. The public will be admitted from 3 to 5 p.m. for a $10 admission.
Joseph Robertia can be reached at [email protected]
