No fish guts, no glory: What it’s like to be a Deadliest Catch deckhand for the day

Before I arrived in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, I was warned plenty about getting seasick. I was not, however, warned about the potential for nausea from something else entirely – a dead herring in my mouth.

And yet here I find myself decked out in boots and a bright yellow bib while holding the frozen fish with a rubber glove as the crewmen of Captain Keith Colburn’s Wizard, the massive fishing boat made recognizable in households across the world by The Deadliest Catch, count down from three. My goal when they hit “one” is to rip its head clean off… with my teeth. Keith has assured me that I should be grateful the herring is frozen – otherwise, I’d have blood dripping down my chin – but it’s a little tougher than I expected (and honestly, it doesn’t taste too bad; kind of reminds me of eating tinned fish). I’m successful in my quest, though the rip isn’t quite as clean as Keith would like. Naturally, he has to show me how it’s done himself, to cheers from the crew.

I’m here in Captain’s Bay on a cold (but thankfully dry) January morning among towers and towers of crab pots to celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary (season 20 premieres June 11 on Discovery Channel) by learning firsthand what it takes to be a deckhand on an Alaskan crabbing vessel. So for two days, I’m getting put through the paces as a greenhorn, a.k.a. the freshest meat onboard. Hence the herring, every greenhorn’s rite of passage on the Wizard.

For the past two decades since it debuted on April 12, 2005, The Deadliest Catch has taken viewers inside what’s touted as the deadliest job on Earth: crab fishing in the Bering Sea. Almost every channel surfer has seen at least an episode, and many credit the series with launching the “dirty jobs” genre of reality TV.

While much of the series’ format has remained the same, a lot has changed since Keith arrived in Dutch Harbor with nothing but a backpack nearly 40 years ago. “The biggest thing is, it used to be just a wide-open derby, and then it went to a quota base system,” he says as we sit in the Wizard’s control room. He’s talking about the Alaskan crab industry’s switch in 2005 (just after the Deadliest Catch’s inaugural season). “There were too many boats, too many fatalities” in the derby, which led to more regulations when it comes to fishing in the Bering Sea. Under the derby, boats were essentially in a free-for-all to catch as much as they could during a small fishing window. Under the quota system, boats are given a maximum they’re allowed to catch within a longer time frame.

A low crab population caused fisheries to close for two years. (Deadliest Catch fans will know this well, and remember that it led Sig Hansen to Norway for a time to see if he could have better luck there.) When crab fisheries reopened in 2023, regulations included a caveat: Boats were allowed to catch more crab if another boat didn’t meet its quota – rules reminiscent of the old derby days. “That’s really unique about this year,” showrunner Arom Starr-Paul jumps in from across the room while I’m sitting with Keith. “It’s like season 1 again.”

Or as Keith puts it, “The race for crab is back.”