I want to work on a crab boat

[ak_powder_monkey]

$30,000 in a week for braving 30 foot seas hurricane force winds working 24 hour a day baiting, dropping, pulling pots, sorting crabs, sounds like a great few weeks in October.

Anybody ever work on crab boat in the Berring Sea?

[CaddyDaddy77]

Guessing you have some decent cable up there, check your head, not a good time. Watch the Discovery Chanel.

Knew a few guys who did it, all burned their clothes and bought new ones, when they returned home. Mean work.

[Svengali]

Akpm, have you discussed this with the "rents" because I recall that sometimes it's an ordeal just to get them to allow you to drive to Alyeska-imagine what going to the Bering would be like----and have you ever heard "not to believe everything you see on TV" Crabbing is just another one of those things--Sure many a deckhand have scored it big during an opener, but all them have had many a busted season--- most who continue end up being lifers trying to make ends ----A greenhorn such as yourself would have to bust ass for atleast a bering sea year before getting a full share(thats if your lucky-not to get killed,maimed on deck,drowned or having some guy bust open your head at the unisea --- Those shows you've been watching are the very last days of an era!
thanks to Sen.Ted the quotas have been allocated to a limited few---so finding a job on the dock from now on would be around zero to nil

[ak_powder_monkey]

Akpm, have you discussed this with the "rents" because I recall that sometimes it's an ordeal just to get them to allow you to drive to Alyeska-imagine what going to the Bering would be like----and have you ever heard "not to believe everything you see on TV" Crabbing is just another one of those things--Sure many a deckhand have scored it big during an opener, but all them have had many a busted season--- most who continue end up being lifers trying to make ends ----A greenhorn such as yourself would have to bust ass for atleast a bering sea year before getting a full share(thats if your lucky-not to get killed,maimed on deck,drowned or having some guy bust open your head at the unisea --- Those shows you've been watching are the very last days of an era!
thanks to Sen.Ted the quotas have been allocated to a limited few---so finding a job on the dock from now on would be around zero to nil

I know all that, thats the allure though I could also make nothing, out in those 30 foot seas, water washing over the deck. And did mention it to the rents they don't like the idea at all, but I'll be 18 next year.

[FNG]

Crab boating has been one of the most dangerous jobs for a couple years now on the Discovery channel's list of most dangerous jobs. Just start collecting from your ho's more often if you're short on cash.

[ak_powder_monkey]

thats because ADF&G can't phase it into a limited entry permit and still uses IFQs wich means all crab is caught in about 10 days, oh and discovery channel offed a prize to the boat that catches the most crab, wich will make people push their boats harder

[Owens Never Sleeps]

[Il Eagle]

I guess this is the only way AKPM will ever catch crabs.

[lostboy505]

Ah being an "inbreaker" . No better way to learn humility than to have your coworkers decide if you are worth paying or not. If you can find a job give it a try. If not crab how about halibut? Fishing is hard work but I used to love it. Of course now I have a real job and get payed to sit on my ass and talk about how tough it was when I was a kid.

[shamrockpow]

I guess this is the only way AKPM will ever catch crabs.

you just made me spit coke all over my keyboard!

[Svengali]

I'm with Lostboy on this one and in a similiar situation-although I still head out for a trip every now and then to fool myself into thinking I'm still 25
Akpm, in reference to the allocations--the processors are allocated the quotas and they get to pick and choose from who and when and where they buy from the catcher boat--It all rather complicated(more than I want to get into here) fucked up and biased against the little guy--but then what is'nt anymore! I would recommend getting a job on a seiner first and see if you are cut out for long, hard, wet, boring hours with low pay before you spend 1000+ bucks on a plane ticket to walk the boards in Dutch!
I remember one kid who after 2days and 700 miles from Dutch decided that this job sucked and refused to work;he "quit"--well the crew made him move to the chain locker in the forepeak with a case of canned food--8Days later, he bolted the second the boat touched the dock-would have liked to have known what he had to say; I can only assume it would have been easier to shut-up work for 8days and then quit--the skipper might have felt sorry and given him a few bills.
The other thing I neglected to mention that if you want to become a hardcore Bering Sea Monkey, be prepared to give up skiing as you know it! why you ask? well skiing and fishing the Bering have basically the same season (inc. all the maintanence work:unpaid of course)here north of the equator!
Hey Owens, that brownie is missing a few legs! lunch?

[ill-advised strategy]

It's not unheard of to make 30K in a summer of wildland fire. Fire is better than that bullshit hands-down.

You have the Chena and the Midnight Suns Interagency Hotshot Crews up there.... Make good $, travel, hike and work out a lot, see some cool shit. Wayass better than crabs. No better summer job for an 18 year old skier.

[spanky]

You might want to take a look at the Dangerous way to make a living RIP thread in this forum.

[ak_powder_monkey]

It's not unheard of to make 30K in a summer of wildland fire. Fire is better than that bullshit hands-down.

You have the Chena and the Midnight Suns Interagency Hotshot Crews up there.... Make good $, travel, hike and work out a lot, see some cool shit. Wayass better than crabs. No better summer job for an 18 year old skier.

Actully I had a buddy who did that last summer and its good money, I just like fishing too much. Actully I might work salmon fishing in Main Bay a little bit this year, a teacher of mine just got a permit and may need help. I'm also gonna try to guide, but yea 20-30k in a summer is not bad at all

Owens where'd you get that one?

[Knockneed Man]

Alaska crab boat sinks, killing crewman
Three people still missing
Sunday, January 16, 2005 Posted: 8:25 AM EST (1325 GMT)



The Big Valley crab boat sank Saturday in the Bering Sea, about 750 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska.


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A crab boat carrying six crew members sank in the Bering Sea on Saturday, killing at least one, and the Coast Guard was searching for three aboard who were still missing.

The Coast Guard and Alaska State Troopers said three crewmen were recovered: One survived, one died and the condition of the third man, who remained aboard a trooper vessel, was not immediately known, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Gail Sinner.

The Coast Guard received an "emergency position-indicating radio beacon" Saturday morning from the Big Valley, a 92-foot crab boat out of Kodiak.

A patrol vessel sent to the location of the beacon found "a debris field" where the crab boat sank, Trooper Sgt. Lonnie Gonzales said.

A Coast Guard helicopter picked up two crewmen: one from the water and one from a life raft. The man in the water died but the man in the raft, Cache Seel of Kodiak, was "doing well" at a St. Paul Island hospital, Sinner said.

A third man was pulled from the water by the trooper vessel. All three crewmen recovered wore survival suits, indicating the crew knew the vessel was in distress and had time to don the bulky suits.

The Coast Guard planned to keep searching all night for the other three crewmen.

The vessel was 70 miles west of St. Paul Island, which is one of the Pribilof Islands and about 750 miles west of Anchorage. Seas were listed at 25 feet and winds were more than 40 mph in the area, Gonzales said.

The commercial crab fishing season in Kodiak and the Bering Sea opened at noon Saturday. The Big Valley was seeking snow crab.

Troopers said a second search is seeking a crewman washed overboard the Sultan, a 134-foot fishing vessel out of Seattle.