INTERVIEW: Sig Hansen takes to the ocean during a global pandemic
Photo: Deadliest Catch, starring Sig Hansen, returns April 20 with new episodes. Photo courtesy of Discovery / Provided by press rep with permission.
During a normal fishing season, Sig Hansen, one of the captains featured on Discovery’s Deadliest Catch, has numerous setbacks, challenges and lost opportunities. He also has a lot of success. This past year, with the COVID-19 pandemic turning the world upside down, Hansen faced many extra obstacles on his quest to find the best and biggest catch off the coast of Alaska.
Hansen and his ocean-faring colleagues’ adventures are the subject of a new season of the hit reality series, which returns tonight, April 20, at 8 p.m.
“Well, honestly being out there was pretty difficult with our fisheries,” Hansen said in a recent phone interview. “The weather had a lot of precipitation, so the weather was awkward, to say the least. I think the more typical part is just getting started. That was the tough part for us because of government regulations and a potential shutdown, not having a survey done prior to the season. Those are typically done in the summer months so that we know how much crab is out there and what we can catch. Because of COVID, they did not have a summer survey, so basically we were fortunate that the state of Alaska and the feds let us fish at all. In doing so, we kind of had to get our own game plan going so that we could set that bar, set that precedent for the next years. So we’re very lucky, I think.”
Hansen and his crew had to quarantine once they arrived in Alaska. There was testing prior to and during their travels on the ship, and they sought to follow each and every rule laid out in front of them. “Even the canneries had some COVID where it spread, and they had to shut their doors,” Hansen said. “So not only were we trying to get the season started and to start fishing, then we had to deal with delivering the products, the crab, because there was no guarantee we could get it to market. We have these short windows of opportunity for our marketplace, so it was very difficult, to say the least. COVID absolutely affected our industry traumatically. A lot of expenses were incurred.”
This season of Deadliest Catch will have cutthroat competition, for sure, like the many seasons that came before, but it will also that have rare TV occurrence: cooperation amongst the competitors. Yes, the fishers are out to capture the largest catch, but during the pandemic, the captains realized they needed to collaborate and share information.
“We kind of did that on the fly, so to speak,” reported Hansen, who heads the F/V Northwestern. “We worked together this year, which I don’t think has ever been done. A lot of the fishermen, we shared information and really tried to target crab together. Where normally you’re so competitive against each other, now we had to work toward a common goal. And at the end of the day, it worked out, but that’s an evil thing for fishermen, right. Nobody likes to work together. You want to do it yourself and create your own path. It’s just instilled in us.”
When Hansen is looking for a crew member — a so-called greenhorn — he has certain stipulations. First of all, and most importantly, he is after people who have a great deal of passion. “If you have passion and drive, that’s going to get you through,” he said. “I hear it all the time: ‘I could never do what you guys do.’ I hear that all the time from fans across the world. That being said, if a man or a woman has that passion and drive, if you can see it in their eyes, they’re going to make it.”
But Hansen was quick to point out: “They’re never going to have the passion I have. [laughs] That’s just my own bragging rights.”
The fisherman has been on the open seas looking for crabs since 1978, and with each new year, there is more hardship and fear. Hansen doesn’t want to hurt anybody on his crew, and he feels the weight of leadership each time he leaves the harbor.
“We have a very good safety record, which I’m very proud of,” Hansen said. “I don’t want to be in that situation. I have a lot of family on board. For me, it’s getting very difficult because of fear. I know what can happen. I’ve had a lot of friends missing now. Most of them have gone down. There’s nothing heroic about it. When you get to a certain age, you think you’ve been there, you’ve done it. But I still enjoy doing it, and I want to continue doing it. I just try to do it a little more cautiously these days. It’s hard. … Once you start fishing, then everything is forgotten, and then you’re right back in the saddle, so to speak. It’s this love-hate relationship.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Deadliest Catch returns to Discovery Tuesday, April 20 at 8 p.m. Episodes are also available on discovery+, the new streaming service from Discovery. Click here for more information.
