I am a deck student at a Maritime Academy and I am going on an internship this summer. I wanted to know overall job satisfaction of mariners working on OSVs and Unlimmited Tonnage Fishing Trawlers. I have not seen anything on the boards here in regards to larger catcher/processors like American Seafoods fleet. Are there any Mates/Masters out there who could tell me their overall job satisfaction and some details of their work schedule (particularly trawlers). I am debating between Edison Chouest Offshore and American Seafoods. I’m looking for a good steady career where I can just stay at one company and not jump around.
This is a great question, I’m glad you asked it. ECO has a factory trawler/MPSV working in the pacific north west. It the F/V vandersex. It’s a state of the art DP5 boat , you will love it. And it’s a double whammy for you. Fishing and oil field work. We pump barite, then trawl for cod. It’s amazing. Last night we MTed the liquid mud tanks and filled them with king crab. Fucking killer. As for job satisfaction, its hands down the best job ever. The boat is DP12, and super SOLAS so it’s just like you are sleeping at home. All the kids at this camp are super nice, the captain even holds taps and reads a bedtime story’s. Smiles, sun shine and lolly pops all day. I’d tell you more, but it’s time to hit the spa on the poop deck. (I’m not jumping around, this the best). Hope I helped.
Doesn’t the F/V Vandersex have a soft serve ice cream machine and a slurpee machine? I’ve been trying to get on that thing since it was under construction.
[QUOTE=Burtleman;134688]I am a deck student at a Maritime Academy and I am going on an internship this summer. I wanted to know overall job satisfaction of mariners working on OSVs and Unlimmited Tonnage Fishing Trawlers. I have not seen anything on the boards here in regards to larger catcher/processors like American Seafoods fleet. Are there any Mates/Masters out there who could tell me their overall job satisfaction and some details of their work schedule (particularly trawlers). I am debating between Edison Chouest Offshore and American Seafoods. I’m looking for a good steady career where I can just stay at one company and not jump around.[/QUOTE]
Mariners are a generically miserable lot, or at least predisposed to misery.
It is not dependent on the company or boat.
For cadets, ECO for hard and demeaning work at bottom of shit pile.
A/S for incredibly hard and demeaning work at bottom of shit pile.
Either way, keep mouth closed, eyes open and ears tuned, without further comment.
If you are young and have a strong back, and mouth is glued shut, either will suit fine.
That is a no brainer. Go to American Seafoods. Just about everybody gets the opportunity to sail on OSVs. So what. Relatively few people have the opportunity to get experience as a cadet or officer on a factory trawler. Even fewer get the opportunity to sail on the most successful factory trawlers in the world. Jump on it.
Don’t worry you will always have an opportunity to try OSVs too. Then you can compare the two and see what suits you best. One or the other may suit you better at different stages of your career.
First off I want to thank you tugsailor. I believe you are right on and I ended up choosing American Seafoods, I’m planning on working hard and not being a barney and keeping my mouth shut. As for seadonkey, dude you are hilarious. Thanks everyone for responding to this post I really appreciate it.
Good luck, work hard and keep an open mind you will do fine. Get as much experience as you can, you will find what’s right for you.