Reality TV crab boat Captains above the law?

Yeah and it seems as if he’s one if the only ones who is sober majority of the time

I don’t think so, his daughter is supposedly going to CMA I was told

[QUOTE=tugsailor;140562]The TV show is mostly fictionalized drama set on Bering Sea crab boats.

They are fishermen and actors. They are NOT merchant mariners. 99 percent of fishermen are NOT required to have USCG licenses or take any drug tests.

The medications that you see them taking come from the ship’s medicine chest. The captain can lawfully prescribe those medications.[/QUOTE]

I am familiar with the ship’s medicine chest.

The Captain can only dish out the dope upon a shoreside doctor’s orders.

That type of medicine chest is usually only found on boat sailing Internationally.

Perhaps they do have a medicine chest but in any trauma I have ever seen take place on the episodes the Captain has never been under the direction of a shoreside Doc unless the CG was involved.

Additionally I did not see any morphine being doled out when deckhands were badly injured in other episodes.

All the aforementioned is beside the point.

Are these “unlicensed” hands required to at least have an OS or an STCW?

We see them in gumby suits and using liferafts.

Licensed or not, operating a vessel under the influence of narcotics is no different than a DUI.
That doesn’t matter whether you are rowing your canoe down the creek or driving a fishing boat.

Going out on deck messed up on dope or whatever is also a no no whether you are licensed or not.

The Elliot fella says he is driving a boat financed by a bank.
The bank is going to require insurance.
The insurance company is going to require suitable crewmen usually meaning the captain is licensed and the deckhands at least have an OS to go past the Line of Demarcation.

I saw some nasty posts in regards to my thread.

Stow it.

This is a real thread with a real question posed to the people that are supposed to be protecting us from dummy’s like these guys or anyone else that should not be in a Safety Sensitive Position.

Someone said Sig was licensed.
He should then know it is a Violation to work more than 12 hours in a 24 hour period (excluding emergencies).
Fishing or not.

I started as an unlicensed deckhand on the rivers. We were still not allowed to smoke dope or whatever.
We got drug tested all the time and if you popped positive you were lucky to get a bus ticket home.
End of story.

A lot of us deal with the shrimpers in the GOM. We all know they don’t know squat about the Rules of the Road or anything else for that matter.

Maybe if you are running your own shrimp boat you can sort shrimp with one hand and keep a frosty Bud in the other but seems to me if you were running a brand new shrimp boat owned by a corporation or a bank that there would be some type of vetting.

That is all…

If u had any real experience in the com.industry, u would have a much better idea and appreciation for those guys.
sounds to me like someone might even be a bit jealous that these guys are not nit picked by the companies and cg as bad as he is?
bringing up the 12 hr. crap explains how clueless u really are to the commercial industry imo.
and…when picking shrimp…u should put the cold frosty one down so that u can use both hands to cull. Nobody would keep a job on a shrimp boat picking with only one hand.

Don’t watch it!

Very little useful information and a lot of sea chicken crap in replies.

I don’t understand why guys on here are always trying to stir the pot or get some kind of forum pissin match going.

Not going to work with me fellas.

The last guy that got my blood pressure up turned out to be a used car salesman that never sailed a day in his life.

I am not “jealous” of anyone.

I do fear for the safety of the crewmen and others that may be in the way of anyone under the influence.

I am laid up right now taking pain pills for a back surgery just like the Captain on this show had.

I know better than to try to come back to work messed up.
I would never be able to live with myself if I hurt someone because I was jacked up on pain meds while running the boat.

Everyone makes excuses for these guys like fishermen have an exemption to safety because “that’s the way it has always been”.

We used to keep our towboat fridges crammed full of beer and you didn’t come back to the boat with less than an ounce of dope for fear the Captain might run you off.
The industry has changed…a long time ago.

Sounds to me like it might be time for some changes in the fish boat industry.

Maybe if they shut down unsafe boats there wouldn’t be so much competition to survive.

I can tell the difference between “reality” TV played up for the camera and “reality” that accidentally makes the final cut.

Really is scary how many guys on here defend these unsafe work practices.

No I am not “jealous” but yes I do think the seamen on this show should have to pass the same fit for duty standards as any other seamen in any branch of the marine industry.

“DONT WATCH IT!” is not an option when there is one TV on the boat and the majority votes yea.
When you are starved for some TV and have read every book on the boat 3 times over you will watch the home shopping network.

When I am home I don’t watch it. I get enough drama on the boat why would I want to watch it on my home time?

This thread has played out and no one from the CG ever chimed in.

That is all…