I don’t remember Mike Rowe ever explaining how the quotas work.
If a boat has a quota of 250,000 pounds, does that mean they are forbidden from catching more than 250,000 lbs.?
Or they have to catch at least 250,000 lbs.?
It’s the former (i.e., they can catch no more than their quota). The industry used to operate under a “derby” system, where the boats were only allowed to fish for certain species in very limited time periods (the first season or two of “Deadliest Catch” took place under the derby format, IIRC).
The industry changed over to the quota system after the 2005 fishing season, with safety being the primary reason for the change, as, under the old system, you had crews working nonstop to catch as many crabs as they could during the limited time window.
Ah! Thanks, Kenobi. Do you know if there is any kind of “grace period” – meaning you catch your quota and the gov’t will let you slide if you catch a little more because you can’t know the exact weight of all those thousands of crabs?
Or is the rule: your quota and not a single ounce more?
And how do they know the weight? Just an educated guess of the typical weight per crab times however many crab they count going into the tank? I’d like to hope there’s plenty of tolerance in those quota numbers if that’s how it works.
I found a site online that covers some of this. The short answer is that they’re estimating based on counts.
If a boat is a little over quota when they arrive to offload, it’s generally over-looked. If they are way over, they can be fined. Captains in that situation have been known to work out a deal with another captain who is under quota. The other captain takes the crab, and presumably some sort of remuneration is made back to the first captain.
In some cases, the excess crab is just dumped. The crabs are generally alive at this point, so it’s not as bad as it could be, but it’s not great either.
The site is here with more information.