FV Kimberly aground in Portage Bay, Alaska
The Coast Guard rescued 11 fishermen from two different vessles in less than 24 hours in extreme weather conditions Wednesday, January 24th including the FV Kimberly pictured above. The entire of state of Alaska has been experiencing brutal weather conditions this winter. From record snowfalls in Valdez and Cordova to growing sea ice in the Bering Sea. Now, the Deadliest Catch fleet is threatened by the approaching ice pack.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, “Sea ice is encroaching unusually early on the central Bering Sea, threatening to grind Alaska’s economically important snow crab fishery to a halt at the peak of the season, leaving crabbers facing major losses.
Earlier-than-expected ice is moving south over prime crabbing grounds, forcing boats away from their catch and putting millions of dollars of equipment in jeopardy.
These kind of “mother nature effects” are part of the fishing business everywhere, said Karen Gillis, the executive director of the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association.
But this fishery, which was expected to net 80 million pounds this year, hasn’t seen a natural event like this in 20 years, she said, and it could have a devastating economic impact on crabbers and their families.” Read much more on the story here.
According to Channel 2 news in Anchorage, “The NWS is fielding dozens of phone calls a day from crab fishermen, who are looking for an update on where the sea ice is at.
“Most people are picking their pots up and getting them out of harm’s way,” said Jim Stone, president of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.
Crab pots can cost over $1,000.
This year’s quota is 90 million pounds, which is a lot more than previous years.
Mid-January is the peak of the snow crab season in Alaska, but it opens in mid-October, and ends May 31.
Fishermen plan on waiting out the weather at local ports.
“A lot of wait and see, and realizing that things can change at any time,” Heather Fitch, the Dutch Harbor area biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.” Watch a video newscast of the story here.
Apparently, a person walking the docks in St. Paul Harbor looking for a deckhand job captured this video of the FV Northwestern entering the harbor recently.
On Tuesday, the crew of the FV Cornelia Marie and the rest of the Deadliest Catch fleet gave our skipper a final farewell. I thought it would be appropriate for me to honor him as well. For the past year, I have received a lot of emails and comments from folks expressing their sadness about [...]
Tonight, April 12th is the season premiere of the 7th season of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch. This will be the 6th season in a row that our fishing boat has been featured on the show. (We played a very small part in season one). Tonight’s premiere episode is two hours long starting at 9 pm. [...]
For those of you lucky enough to get tickets – CatchCon 2011 is this Saturday, April 9th. If you want to meet other folks going, check out the Deadliest Catch Group – CatchCon 2011. However, if you can’t make it, you can still check it out! The entire event will be webcast from 12:30 pm [...]
Thom Beers, creator of Deadliest Catch, has provided some interesting information about the upcoming season of Deadliest Catch Season 7, which starts April 12th. According to an EW article by Mandi Bierly, the first episode of the season “begins with a moving tribute to the late Capt. Phil Harris, whose ashes are released into the [...]
The F/V Cornelia Marie has returned home to its resting place in Kodiak, Alaska. The Captain and crew have all returned safely from a successful Opilio crab fishing season. I will leave it up to the “Deadliest Catch” editors in regard to what you’ll see this year. But… it wasn’t a boring year. It was [...]
It was one year ago today that we lost the skipper of the FV Cornelia Marie. Capt. Phil harris passed away on February 9th, 2010. I think it is appropriate to mark this date on this website today and every year this site exists. Capt. Phil was a big reason why “Deadliest Catch” grew in [...]
The FV Cornelia Marie will start its 2011 Opilio season in just a couple more days. Here’s a picture of the gang from yesterday getting together before they all head out into the Bering Sea. You can see Jake and Josh in the yellow and orange rain gear having a laugh. Thanks to Cindy Harmer [...]
A new year brings new changes on the FV Cornelia Marie. I wrote about our King Crab season here, where you can read about our past crew which included skipper Derrick Ray. Now, the Cornelia Marie has a new captain – Tony Lara. But, Tony is not new to the Cornelia Marie. He fished on [...]
We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from the Cornelia Marie family. The FV Cornelia Marie is tied up in Dutch Harbor and the crew is home with their families. We are planning to fish Opilios in January. Our King Crab season was short, but we anticipate having a good Opilio season. Most likely [...]
In this unedited interview available only on the Pat and Tom Show, KNCI website, Producer/Cameraman (and Coloma resident) Todd Stanley talks about the heart wrenching season finale of Deadliest Catch, and remembers his friend, Captain Phil Harris. _____________________________________________________________ [Pat] Yeah, and it was really tough to watch, but at the same time, I’ve told you [...]
Discovery Channel hosted a memorial service for Capt. Phil’s family and friends today. It was an event most agreed Phil would have loved. F/V Cornelia Marie crew members flew in from the Bering Sea to join former crew members and other Bering Sea captains. Many of the “Deadliest Catch” boat captains were in attendance to [...]
Seas 2/Epi 13: “We cheated death one more time. I feel like a one legged man in an ass Kicking contest!” Seas 3/Epi 2: “This ain’t a hamburger stand out here, y’know? This is the real deal and people really die.” Seas 3/Epi 5: “You’re not a man ’til you’ve pulled a tooth out [...]
The following is a Discovery Channel transcript from a live internet chat with Capt. Phil and Josh on May 22, 2007 Discovery: Welcome to this week’s Deadliest Catch chat. Our guests tonight are Phil Harris, Captain of the Cornelia Maria, and his son Josh Harris. Jake Harris isn’t able to be with us tonight, as [...]
