‘Deadliest Catch’ Fans Concerned About Shrinking Pots
Deadliest Catch fans have seen crew members face dangerous waters to collect crabs. However, fans recently noticed something about the catches made on the show. As some fans pointed out, this could be part of a much larger issue.
On Deadliest Catch, Crew Members Face High Wind & Water All For A Good Haul
Since 2005, Deadliest Catch has followed crab fisherman risk all sorts of danger, all for the sake of a good haul. Often, crew members have to handle hundreds of pounds of crabs on deck.
However, fans have recently grown concerned about recent hauls on the series. As one fan pointed out, the pot sizes seem to be going down since the show first started.
As the fan shared on Reddit, “I’ve watched every season for nearly 15 yrs. I swear what they now call a ‘successful large pot’ is much smaller than earlier seasons. Obviously, it’s heavily edited but I distinctly remember full pots for opies and 1/3 to 1/2 full for king crab with numbers being in the hundreds constantly.”
“Now it seems 30/50 opies is a cause for celebration and 10/15 king crab is the same. Anyone else notice this?”
Many fans took to the comments, sharing that this could reflect a bigger issue: shrinking crab populations. As one fan wrote, “The past 5ish or so years have been really hard on crabs due to increasing water temps. Along the Aleutian Islands there used to be a big cold water barrier that dramatically dropped temps. The various forms of king crab and snow crab evolved to live in that colder environment. So when the water warmed up it caused their metabolism to also increase, which required more food and made them more susceptible to various diseases.”
Some Fans Suspect There Are Simply Less Crabs To Catch
“It also allowed predators (such as cod) to venture further north and eat more crab than usual. This was felt hardest in the snow crab population as they lived in the coldest temps that cod cannot tolerate.”
“Combined with over crabbing (due to how valuable the fishery is), habitat destruction (bottom trawlers) and by catch (bottom trawlers again) has resulted in a low population that needs time to rebound. Crabbing can be very sustainable, look at the golden king crab fishery, but it requires lower harvest numbers and other actions that mean lower economic output of the region.”
Other fans shared similar sentiments. Some highlighted that this is actually an issue that’s been going on for years. Similar comments included:
- “The entire planet is being fished out. We can catch them and eat them faster than they can make them.”
- “It’s called overfishing.”
- “They throw back all the females and juveniles. The crab fish industry is pretty eco friendly.”
- “Search for pot size images in the 1980’s for a way more depressing perspective.”
- “Yeah they’re happier with less these days.”
- “I’ve been saying this for a few years now, also! It’s dramatic, the difference in the number of crab they call a good pot.”
