10 Cast Net: Alaska Crab Fishing Season

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Alaska Crab Fishing Season

Many people think I’m crazy for making a living by catching crabs in Alaska. Battling 20-foot waves in icy conditions and hauling heavy equipment is part of the job description. My dad, a lifelong fisherman, tried to get me to pick a safer career. A fireman once came up to me and told me he wouldn’t want my job, which was hard for me to believe. Catching crab in the Bering Sea can be treacherous. But most people don’t realize that it’s become a lot less deadly since 2005, when fishing regulations for Bering Sea crab changed dramatically. The old regulations forced fishermen to race against the clock. To control overfishing, the government set a cap on how much crab fishermen could collectively catch, and we all had to stop when that limit was reached. Some years that meant we had seasons as short as three days. As in a car race, boats used to line up for the minute the season began.