10 Cast Net: Alaskan Crab Boats For Sale

Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Alaskan Crab Boats For Sale

Seventeen years later, in 2002, the future of crab fishing in the Bering Sea was again at a crossroads. The derby style fishery was being replaced by a quota based fishery. Its implementation was in its final stages. It appeared at the time that vessel ownership would be the main criteria for individual fishing quota (IFQ) allocations. Late in 2002, I flew to Homer, Alaska to survey a 100” vessel that was for sale. Tied up for over 18 months, and maintained poorly during her last few years fishing crab, the F/V Dr. K was a sight for sore eyes: dark, dank, moldy, rusty, and reeking of Freon from a leaky refrigeration system. I climbed aboard with a flashlight late my first night in Homer, and between visions of horror film creatures jumping out of the shadows of dark compartments, I realized that this was probably the last real opportunity to buy into the crab fishery.