Traxan

Deadliest Catch fans have seen the Bering Sea crab-fishing fleet go through a lot over the years, as Capt. Sig Hansen’s 90-second summary above can attest. But when the Emmy-winning show returns April 11 for its 13th season on Discovery, there’s a new kind of situation to deal with: the crabs in all the captains’ traditional hot spots seemed to have vanished.

According to Discovery’s release with the new season’s details, temperatures in the Bering Sea have risen around four degrees in the last year — 50 times the global average. “The fleet is going to need to go further and deeper,” Hansen says. “Nobody is going to take away a fisherman’s way of life. I can guarantee you that this fleet will not quit… But we’re always fearful that this will be our last year.”

Of course, whether this will be Hansen’s last year in the Northwestern wheelhouse is a very real question after he suffered a heart attack in 2016. Also weighing on his decision about whether the job is worth the potential cost, something the fleet feels again when the crew of the Destination are tragically lost at sea: the news that he’s going to be a grandfather.

Capt. Johnathan Hillstrand, meanwhile, has decided this will be his final season on the Time Bandit, but it won’t go according to plan: he’ll get stuck in Seattle with repairs before heading out and struggling to find the crab with the rest of the fleet.

Over on the Saga, the pressure mounts on Capt. Jake Anderson, who has the most quota in the fleet. If he doesn’t catch it in time, he’ll lose it to another captain. So he isn’t exactly happy when his crew isn’t ready to leave Dutch Harbor when he is.

Capt. Will Bill Wichrowski also has a lot riding on the season now that he’s a boat owner. Reports of the missing crab combined with equipment failure on his new Summer Bay make conditions right for another legendary outburst.

Capt. Sean Dwyer struggles to find quota for the Brenna A and keep his family business afloat, while Capt. Keith Colburn places the pressure on himself for the Wizard to be the top dog in the fleet to prove his head is fully back in the game.

And, as always, Mother Nature is her own character on the show, with 40-foot rogue waves, hurricane force winds, and massive icebergs.

Phodg

Looking forward to it.

jjcool

I look forward to this each year. I am real interested to see how they handle the Destination, as well as life creeping up on these guys. Sad that we aren't going to get to see the Cornelia this year.

Traxan

The show lost a lot with Phil's death. Sig and Jonathan leaving would really kill it.

Noonan

Is Cornelia out for both fishing seasons of the show?

Traxan

Holy shit.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...ed-as-a-child/

Estranged daughter sues ‘Deadliest Catch’ star Sig Hansen, alleging she was molested as a child

The estranged daughter of celebrity Alaskan crab boat captain and cable TV star Sig Hansen claims her father sexually abused her as a toddler, while her parents were divorcing nearly three decades ago, according to interviews and court records.

As a result of the alleged abuse, Melissa Eckstrom, now a 28-year-old family law attorney in Seattle, contends in a lawsuit that she battled depression, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts and other trauma throughout her childhood. She also claims that she still harbors memories of her father’s abuse of her as a 2-year-old in 1990.

“I have memories … of being in a room alone with my father and crying out in pain,” Eckstrom stated in a court declaration.

Her lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court last year, includes medical findings, a therapist’s evaluation and a state Child Protective Services supervising caseworker’s findings from the time of the alleged abuse, among various records to support her claims. A Snohomish County deputy prosecutor’s letter, written in 1990 to Eckstrom’s mother, also shows prosecutors declined to file charges because they doubted they could prove the case “beyond a reasonable doubt” — even though they believed Hansen had sexually abused his daughter.

Hansen — who has gained fame as the hard-charging Norwegian-American skipper of the Seattle-based fishing vessel The Northwestern on the cable TV series “The Deadliest Catch” — adamantly denies Eckstrom’s allegations.

“This is nothing more than an old-fashioned shakedown,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s a completely frivolous lawsuit full of lies that my ex-wife made up to take away my daughter, and still uses to try to extort money from me. It’s blackmail.”

Bill Needle

Surprised they waited this long to try and shake him down. I guess with his heart attack and talk about retirement they realized they were running low on time to try and put the squeeze on him. Anyone want to bet they offered to settle "out of the public eye" for a sizable amount of money first?

GoldenJCJ

Is it even possible for a person to have memories when they were 2 years old? Certainly nothing credible.

Bill Needle

Perhaps it is if your mother is a bitter hag going through a nasty divorce and willing to say or do anything to get even...or a pile of cash.

Just a theory.

LurkerDan

nothing credible for sure.

wmansir

I stopped watching within a year or two of Phil's death. When was the last time Jake was on the show? How did they end things with him?

Noonan

The captain who took over the next season kicked him off for drugs, IIRC.

What's up with Josh and the Cornelia this year? Is the boat docked? Sold?

jjcool

Jake just cant get out of his own way it seems. A while back he was beaten and left for dead on the side of a highway, and now this. Seems like the drugs have their hooks into him pretty deep, sadly. It really sucks that Josh cant get him off the drugs, as it really would be great seeing the brothers working the Cornelia again.

Noonan

Bumping this rather than starting a new thread since the show doesn't get much discussion here. Nick McGlashan, who was a deck boss on multiple boats during the show's run passed away on Sunday. He was in Nashville; no cause of death has been reported.

Noonan

Sad but not surprising, his death was an OD caused by a mix of meth, cocaine, and fentanyl.