After watching Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel, I couldn't help but think of some ways to make crab fishing safer and more efficient in the Bering Sea.
A few ideas that came to mind:
- Blindly throwing those pot traps into the water without knowing with full certainty that crab are below is stupid. Why not have a robotic submarine that can prospect for crab? If you don't see crab below, move on!
- Can't the deck be enclosed? I'm assuming the deck can't be enclosed because of the crane and pully? If so, get rid of them. Enclose the deck fully and have a ramp on the back. The pots could be longlined over the back ramp. You could even have an elevator-conveyor machine that makes it all automatic. Press a button and the pots automatically start longlining off the back ramp. Afterwards, they are retrieved in reverse. The longline rope could even be automatically spindled by machine. Certainly there should be enough room for a longline rope in the enclosed deck. The enclosure would also be heated in order to prevent ice buildup.
- Every single person onboard should be required to have a 406 GPS PLB on their survival suit.
Basically, crab fishing could be as much of a science as it is an art -- or even more so. Turn it into pure science and you wouldn't even have to call it "crab fishing". You could call it "crab catching".
Finally, don't hire morons. I saw, on one show, that an ex convict was hired as a so-called "greenhorn". He turned out to be an arrogant a** and waste of a bunk. The only people that have any business doing this line of work need to be intelligent and also able to demonstrate a high level of perseverance. Likewise, morons that are inspired by reality TV shows (along with all the tie-in merchandise) and think it is a so-called "scene" have no business on these boats either.
Forget about the submarine and forget about having pot traps all together.
Have a 500+ foot vacuum hose with a camera and light on the end. If you see crab, turn the vacuum on.
Basically, you would be dredging for crab. If dredgers can vacuum up the ocean floor then certaintly a dredger can vacuum up crab.
A nice bonus is that as the crab gets vacuumed up it automatically goes into the holding tanks. A water displacement method can automatically calculate the pounds of crab in the tanks.
Forgot to add: Before the crab goes into the tanks, it would go through a series of filters to ensure that any dirt and debris brought up is removed.
The video from the camera would simply be on a computer screen. Based on what the camera has seen the software would be smart enough to plot the density of crab in the area.
The operator would then simply use a joystick to move the hose around. As the operator presses and holds the "fire button" on the joystick, the vacuum is powered...
Hey Eric why don't you build a robot to go catch crab...
Anyway with that said I would like to see rain gear with bladders that can inflate with a pull cord charging a co2 cartridge. If a crewman went overboard they could pull the cord and inflate the bladders to support them in the water. It would be better if the rain gear was a one piece suit that would fit like but less bulky than a "survival suit". It would take some serious consideration and design to build a suit that a man could work in that could provide this level of survival capability and comfort.
Eric, get on with that robot son, the world sure needs it.
they already have em. they're called stormy seas jackets. they have a co2 cartridge in a breast pocket that inflates a lifejacket sewn into the jacket.
I did a search for this question so I didn't post twice. I did notice one or two other comments like having a sub or camera, but no real replies to the comments.
After watching all of these seasons of this show I finally got on here to ask why don't they do that?
Combining the idea of a sub and a vacuum system would sound ideal. Of course I have thought about them using a sub and they would be too small given the cost of making one large enough to hold the crab. The idea of using more of a real time camera concept seems like a more plausible way of landing on the crab much faster. If they can get to a spot and drop a camera they could pinpoint the crab in much less time. At least no more blank pots.
Maybe, someone needs to send in a few letters for one of those Q&A spots during commercials in order for some of us to find out why they don't do something that would make their job a little less dangerous and more efficient.
At first I thought your idea was kind of silly due to the cost involved. Then I started thinking about the value of the crab catch and the cost of the boats. If it replaced several boats it might be worth it. The Discovery Channel could have the guys from Mythbusters make pro-types to see if it is really feasible. It it would work the downside would be that you would put a lot of crab fishermen out of work.
hehe I can still remember the day we came into dock from a 5 week trip an the first thing my mom said to me (I was 16 at time) was..."where is your life jacket Andrew"!!..../shakes his head
Mom you dont wear lifejackets at sea lol youc ant work in them....
she up an says....well what happens if you fall overboard, you know your accident prone....
IN FRONT OF THE SKIPPER AND CREW! she says this....
At this point all I could do was say "Mom I'm tiered I stink an I am sore as hell, I'm going home" hehe MOTHERS! youc ant kill em an sure as hell cant convince em of anything.
Safty an working practices on boats are always developing but there is a fine line that people on shore dont really get. Submersibles an vacumes sound cool, but they really dont translate into real world application I'm afraid.
Well,there's already USCG approved automatically inflating life vests for recreational and commercial boating.Maybe Stearns could use that idea if they haven't already and it's just too cost prohibitive for the show boats' budgets,even with Discovery Channel paying them for their time. As to the boats being changed to include enclosed work decks,the boats are alreay top heavy enough.A couple,Wizard and Time Bandit,are ex USN oilers which means they have already been modified from the original mission of hauling oil. Changing a vessel without doing some serious number crunching on how it changes the center of balance at various loads can lead to disaster. One of the causes blamed for the FV Andrea Gail of "Perfect Storm" fame was that she was lengthened and no one ever recalculated where the new balance points were before she was lost. [QUOTE]Originally posted by mr_green: ..... Anyway with that said I would like to see rain gear with bladders that can inflate with a pull cord charging a co2 cartridge. If a crewman went overboard they could pull the cord and inflate the bladders to support them in the water. It would be better if the rain gear was a one piece suit that would fit like but less bulky than a "survival suit". It would take some serious consideration and design to build a suit that a man could work in that could provide this level of survival capability and comfort. QUOTE]
Years ago,when working out of the Memphis harbor,I met a guy who'd been in the Navy and assigned to the same home port as I was during my time in. He was griping about how the barges didn't have lifelines around the outer edges and how dangerous it was. He thought my comment of"You don't walk around the outer edges of the tow without dang good reason.Instead,walk on the decks between barges wired together to reduce the chance of falling overboard" was too flippant for his taste and told me so.
