They don't call it the Deadliest Catch for no reason. The fishermen brave some of the roughest and harshest fishing conditions out there on the hunt for crab. Deadliest Catch Jake Anderson recently opened up about braving the sea.
While Anderson is focusing on some person losses this season, he had to very much pick himself back up. As part of the season, Anderson and his fellow fishermen braved some pretty rough conditions out there. Part of the job means flowing with the punches and putting on a brave face.
Anderson said, "Typically with the winter months, February is the worst where you'll see a low-pressure system like once a week. That can be what a hurricane is on the east coast. With the super El Niño, we were seeing a couple of lows a week, so we weren't getting to fish looking forward to a nice sem-calm day. It was, 'We need to get through this as fast as we can.' There is no time for scheduling for us to go on anchor. You couldn't go on anchor because you were in the middle of the storm and halfway through before the next one. It played a huge part in the safety of life at sea."
'Deadliest Catch' Crew Braves Rough Seas
The crew faced water that stretched 35 feet high.
He continued, "You really couldn't do anything and were pinned to running the storms on 35-foot seas, which is technically 70 feet because it measures from the sea level. It doesn't measure from the bottom. People were fishing in them. I know I was. I was fishing in every storm unless I was in town offloading. You're going to see what happens on the show."
Anderson also reflected on the longevity of the Deadliest Catch. For him, it's not really a show. It's his life. He said, "For me, it's my life. It means my life. I've always been honest with the cameras and production to show my heart to accomplish the American dream. For the industry, it has raised the prices. It has created awareness for what we do. When the show started, I don't know if the American market was purchasing 20 percent of our stocks. When the show came out, we had Americans buy about 40 percent instead of it being shipped overseas. It's caught here in Alaska because it's highly regulated. It's why the foreign buyers want our product. It would go to the Eastern countries. The show has done wonders for our business and us fishermen."
