EP#299 Scalloping with Rob
January 6, 2025 · 1h 22m · 169 views · North Carolina
What this video covers
Rob, a boatyard worker at TJ's in North Carolina who spent years as a commercial scalloper on the East Coast, describes the industry from the inside across several decades.1:07 He started at age 13 in 1988 aboard a 97-foot steel-hulled processor capable of holding 1,000 bags (roughly 40,000 pounds), flash-freezing catch at sea.8:22 He details the physical brutality of working the scallop deck — standing aft at the cutting station while dredges cycle, managing wire gear in winter storms — and contrasts it with crab fishing as depicted on *Deadliest Catch*, which he dismisses as mild by comparison.15:30 Fishing grounds covered include Hudson Canyon, George's Bank, Nantucket Lightship, and the edges of shipping lanes off Long Island.13:57 Rob describes a rogue wave incident at age 16 that washed the deck, whale encounters close enough to dwarf the vessel, and a mid-trip medical evacuation 60 miles offshore off Delmarva.15:57 He traces the evolution of navigation from a 300-pound paper plotter to AIS, and discusses scallop permit economics — permits that once cost $35,000 now exceed $1 million, with fishing days capped at 60 per year counted from the D-mark line.40:11 Jerome Rand interweaves his own solo-sailing experience, including AIS use for watch-keeping and stabilization problems in Southern Ocean swells that popped rivets from the mast track on Into Oblivion.39:17
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