Mike goes fishing
Monday, August 11 2008 | Comments (0)
Mike travels to Alaska to help the crew of the Legacy catch cod. Then he heads back to a camp he stayed at in a previous episode to burn poo.
Despite a new episode for shark week, this Monday viewers were disappointed to be left Dirty Jobs free. Not only was there no new episode, there wasn't an episode at all. Not to fear, Sunday night Discovery gave us a repeat.
Mike traveled to Alaska to join a fishing crew in the Bearing Sea. He joined the crew, led by skipper Bill, for a four-day trip - 18 hours out, 18 hours back and about two and a half days fishing.
The trip started at the end of the crew's previous journey, unloading the bags of frozen fish. Mike observed for a few minutes and chatted with the crane operator, Jason, for a few minutes. Then he climbed into the hold and helped stack the 45-pound bags onto the lift. The fish were then lifted out and onto a tramper, a holding ship for the fish, used to take them to shore.
It takes between 12 and 24 hours to unload the ship, then they head back out to sea, with Mike in tow.
His first job on the ship was to help clean up from the last trip. All the guts, heads and other pieces left over from cleaning the fish are thrown into a grinder and pumped back out to sea. Some of the gunk doesn't make it into the machine and this can clog the pump. The crew, often after being awake for 30 hours or more, have to scoop out the gunk. Mike had the pleasure of helping. Besides the heads and guts, Mike found a unique glob of gunk, about the size of a softball.
"Frozen cod sperm," Mike said. "That's a new one. . . this is awful, dude, awful."
Several of the cameramen got seasick and even Mike, who never does, spent a good portion of the trip out running between his bed and the toilet. He had thrown up six times when the cameraman approached him.
"Seven if you stick around a little longer," Mike told him.
Once Mike was feeling well enough to move around, he headed on deck to catch fish. The crew drop a net into the water, then lower a two-ton gate into the water, which herds the fish into the net. The fish can't swim out because the boat is moving faster than they can swim.
Once the skipper says the net is full, they pull it in - a full load weighs about 12 tons.
"They look surprised," Mike said, observing the bug-eyed, open-mouthed fish. When the fish are brought up from the deep their stomachs fill with air and it causes their eyes to bug out.
The fish were then taken out of the net and dumped onto a conveyor belt. They traveled down the belt to the processing section of the ship and onto Mike's next job.
Mike traveled below deck to help clean the fish. Everyone on the crew rotates between the deck and the factory. Mike explained that it is below deck where the money is made - the more they process, the more they make.
"I'm sorry you can't smell this," Mike said. "I really am."
The first step in the cleaning process is to bleed the fish. This is basically just cutting open their necks to let the blood out. Mike was warned, however, that this could be a messy process. Sometimes the blood splashes the men in the face or eyes. Later in the show, Mike approached one of the men to help with another job and there was blood splatter all over his face.
After the fish are bled, they were put on another belt and carried to the gutting room. In this section, the fish were, um, gutted. The sperm and stomachs were put in separate containers because they are considered delicacies in some countries. In Japan, for example, they either boil the stomach to make soup or stuff them like a sausage.
After two days, Mike finally got his appetite back, but he only had five minutes to eat before heading back to the bleed station to shovel out fish. When the live-tank gets low, the fish stop coming down the chute, so someone from the crew has to climb into the tank and shovel them toward the opening - in this case it was Mike and the bloody-faced crew member. They started at the back of the tank and literally shoveled the fish forward. A majority of the fish in the live tank are dead.
"Thereby giving the tank a somewhat ironic title," Mike pointed out.
Shortly after finishing this job, Mike found out the skipper had received a call from another ship that had caught fire. The Legacy, along with several other ships in the area, rushed to its aid. The crew of the other ship were forced to abandon ship, but no one was hurt.
Once the fire was under control, it was back to business as usual. There is little time for rest on the open sea.
Mike's next job was to bag and freeze the fish. Each back has to weigh exactly 21.50 pounds. They placed the fish in a tray until it weighed 21 pounds, then fill it up the rest of the way with water.
"This is like a horrible, blood-soaked tetris game," Mike said.
Once the bags were filled, they freeze them. The frozen fish was then sent down another chute to be stacked in the same holding tank Mike started in. The temperature in the tank is 20 to 25 degrees below zero, but the crew was still sweating. Once they fill the tank, it's back to shore to unload and start all over again.
The crew continues this cycle for several months strait - long hours and hard, dirty work.
To pay tribute to the hard working men on the ship, Mike decided to end by eating several of the odd pieces he gathered on the ship - octopus, cod eyes, cod stomach and cod sperm.
"They may seem unusual, but they're considered delicacies in other parts of the world," Mike said in an effort to justify his decision.
He had the ship's cook whip up the parts. He said the cook made some amazing meals with what he had to work with, so it was time to test his skills. The cook makes six meals a day for the crew, so he too is up for 18 hours or more a day.
Even though Mike tried everything, he spit most of it back out onto a plate. Cameraman Dave, however, swallowed it all . . . except the sperm - insert inappropriate joke here.
After his fishing adventure, Mike had time for one quick response to a viewer letter from Cory, 9. Cory said one of his favorite episodes was when Mike traveled to Alaska to wipe geese butts. Mike was quick to explain that this job was to test for avian Flu.
"And we used Q-tips," Mike said. "We did it to keep you safe."
In the vein of this, Mike decided to share what happens to the human waste left behind in the frozen north. In the camp, they use outhouses. The waste is captured in garbage bags. It used to be dumped into the streams, but now it is incinerated.
The incinerator looked like a giant grill. They opened the door, pulled out a tray, stacked the bags on it, slid it back in and fastened the door. His guide told Mike to make sure it was tight.
"Think they'll try to get out?" Mike asked.
The incinerator used fuel to heat it to around 1200 degrees.
"You could cook a pancake on that," Mike said.
His guide said they could try, so they did. They placed a skillet on top of incinerator and made pancakes, which Mike then fed to cameraman Dave. After biting into the pancake, Dave realize Mike was still wearing the gloves he was when he took out the poo-filled bags. . . nice, Mike.
With that the episode ended. Although there isn't another episode scheduled for tomorrow night, Dirty Job's regular night, stay tuned for an update on Wednesday. Hopefully, we'll be back on schedule soon. Until then, remember, you have to get brown before you can get green.
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