Any and every “hur dur we’re in Alaska” show on tv. They all seem incredibly staged. They’re filled with people who are either playing a character or must live in rural Alaska because they would be social outcasts in civilization.
Every one of those reality shows have some stupid manufactured drama that simultaneously makes the protagonist look like a genius and a fucking idiot.
I remember when Deadliest Catch was JUST about them catching crabs and trying not to die. Then it gradually turned into family drama, weird feuds, employees acting in ways that would get them fired at any normal job, let alone one where what you do could get others hurt/killed.
So the deadliest catch was so deadly bc of how the fisheries were managed. There was a total catch quota - so each boat would works as long as possible and disregard any danger to get as much of the total catch as they could. They changed the system to individual transferable quotas (ITQs) were fishermen are allowed a set amount to catch individually based on previous fishing history. This is slightly controversial since it “picks winners” - but stopped the fishing seasons from shrinking from months to days or even hours, helped fish populations, reduced risk (no need to work 48 hours in terrible weather), increased revenues and improved the product for the consumer.
Another side effect of ITQs is deadliest catch got boring so they had to mix in some bullshit drama to keep the ratings up
There’s no reason that you, me or anyone should really know that. I just took a class that spent half the term on it and have never been able to use the knowledge. Biological economics for the win. Last point that no one cares about - it’s a prime example of “free markets” fucking over everyone involved as well as the planet. Have a great day brotendo
the moving away from the "race to catch" to "Quotas" was extensively covered on the show though when it happened. a lot of the captains were flipping their shit
I mean let's also be real, it's one of the most stale sports outside of that, and without any of the "holy shit they are at peak human condition, so fucking impressive" of the olympics.
It's just a series of drafting and then eventually someone wins. It's just holding onto second for as long as you can then trying to pass at the last possible second.
I haven't watched it in a long time I will admit, but I can't imagine it being anything more than that these days.
I have seen a couple videos that argue that there is no competitive racing anymore. It's never close because everyone is just trying to safely get enough points to make the playoffs.
Upside no longer 24 hour openers, weather be damned, free-for-all. I did a 24 hour halibut opener when I was a freshman in high school, it sucked. Spend a week getting the boat and long lines ready, then 24 hours trying to catch all the fish we could - which was hardily any. Would have made more money working minimum wage job for the same hours.
Downside, consolidated all the IFQs into a few companies hands - limiting entry to new people and having more of the money leave Alaska.
Really interesting you were an Alaskan fisherman or woman (or NB)! If you had a time machine, would you do it again? It always seemed like a really shitty job but an awesome life experience.
I agree that the ITQs are far from perfect. A funny story - my prof convinced others in his department to go in on a sunken boat. They thought if they bought a cheap - because it was literally underwater - boat with fishing history then they would get the fishing rights and then the ITQs. Turns out the legislation took a while to pass and the window for fishing rights allocations passed when their sunken boat was still fishing. (To clarify that awful sentence - rights were calculated on how much you catch in the last 5 years and by the time the laws passed the boat had been sunken for six - picked random time frames to illustrate what happened, not sure what the actual window was). So they bought a sunken boat and couldn’t do anything with it.
An upside of ITQs - they are also allocated to indigenous populations and are a major source of wealth for some groups that had essentially no income and their traditional food sources depleted.
Another negative - the canneries. Since it used to be a 24 hour rush, there needed to be a lot of canneries to handle the high volume. After the ITQs a lot of them weren’t needed anymore and you could argue that it was wasted infrastructure.
Overall though - it helped the fishies keep living instead of being depleted. So id say that they are a good solution with a flawed allocation procedure. But finding a better one is difficult.
Only did the one opener, so would not call myself a fishermen, but have had many friends who were or still are. I had one friend make 15k in a summer, (mid 90s) real good money, while still in high school - he doesn't regret it.
Yeah I'd do it again, just for the experience. It was hard and dangerous work but knowing I could do it and keep up was satisfying. The guy, also a greenhorn, coiling the line as it came up, got his finger hooked and gashed it really bad. He got patched up, and I got his job. We were in the middle of an opener, and at least 12 hours from town - had to keep working. Now if I had made 5 grand for the week, instead of $400, i would have kept doing it.
I agree there are positives to IFQs, over fishing is a real problem, the reckless behavior of openers, 'reliable' revenue for boats - but it definitely had downsides. Say you crewed a boat for years, you didn't get an IFQs, the capt/owner did was that fair? It was messy and bitter fight when the change came, but people have adjusted.
In the end, we needed to limit fishing and this seemed like the best - it just wasn't a panacea.
The first season with King Crab had derby style, then I am pretty sure it switched for the second half of season 1 with Opies. Season 2 definitely had quotas.
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u/MephistosGhost 27d ago
Any and every “hur dur we’re in Alaska” show on tv. They all seem incredibly staged. They’re filled with people who are either playing a character or must live in rural Alaska because they would be social outcasts in civilization.
Every one of those reality shows have some stupid manufactured drama that simultaneously makes the protagonist look like a genius and a fucking idiot.