The Dungeness crab season opened late in the Northwest, starting last Friday, January 4th. The weather was terrible, with high winds and waves. Conditions were especially challenging on river bars, where the river’s current opposing the ocean waves can raise monstrous breakers. 

Of the crab boats setting out to fish this season from Yaquina Bay in Newport, Ore., one never made it back. The Mary B II, a wooden 42-foot fishing vessel, capsized as it was returning across the Yaquina Bay bar — the point at which at the Yaquina River meets the Pacific Ocean. The Coast Guard had been called out to help escort the Mary B II across the bar, where the breaking waves were reported to be 20 feet high. Before the Coast Guard could reach the fishing boat, it abruptly capsized.

The Coast Guard immediately began searching the darkened seas with lifeboats and a helicopter but were no survivors were found.  Of the three men aboard, the body of James Lacey, 48, was found floating in the Pacific. The body of the boat’s skipper, Joshua Porter, 50, was found on washed up on the beach. 50-year-old Stephen Biernacki’s body was found on the capsized fishing boat which washed ashore on Wednesday. Since 2016, eleven people have died attempting to cross the Yaquina Bay bar, including the three fishermen on the Mary B II.

The skipper, Joshua Porter, was reported to on his last trip aboard the Mary B II. To friends, he described his crew as inexperienced. 

The Washington Post notes that “fishing for Dungeness crabs, which fetch premium prices at seafood markets, is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. In addition to the long work hours and freezing temperatures, crab fishermen must contend with the harsh and unpredictable storms that relentlessly batter the coast of the Pacific Northwest in winter. Commercial fishing has one of the highest fatality rates of any occupation, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. A 2016 Oregon State University study analyzing Coast Guard data found the fatality rate for Dungeness crab fishermen was even higher. The extreme conditions were perhaps most famously highlighted in “Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove,” a 2016 reality show for the Discovery Channel that followed Yaquina Bay crab fishermen. (A slew of headlines initially claimed that the Mary B II had appeared on “Deadliest Catch,” but the network has said that neither the boat nor its crew were ever on the show.)”

The Discovery Channel which produced “Deadliest Catch” is a separate organization from the Discovery Channel — Canada, which co-produced the series “Disaster at Sea” which we posted about on Tuesday. 

3 Crabbers killed after boat capsizes off Oregon

Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.