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malvakai: What is the strangest thing you ever saw floating in the sea out there?
Blake Painter: One time I nearly ran into a huge cargo container floating with just one corner showing about a foot above the water, on a tuna boat that I was captain of. Aside from that, I'd have to say a 2000 pound dead walrus is one of the chart toppers.
protege: Do you hate chipping ice? And what's your favorite method?
Blake Painter: There's nothing worse on a crab boat than having to chip ice every few hours. But I have to say, my personal preference of methods is using a fire ax. It works the best, but generally boat owners and captains, myself included, don't like to see it used, being as it generally destroys the paint and dents the metal.
dietzboy: I saw that on the boat there were two cranes on it what is the smaller, straighter crane for?
Blake Painter: What you may be referring to is the picking boom. It's actually a straight piece of pipe with the end of it directly over the rail where the pots come aboard. It is 100% stationary and is there solely for that purpose, to pull the pots on board.
FantasyJB: Do you enjoy other types of recreational boating such as speed boats?
Blake Painter: One of my personal favorite pastimes is wake boarding. I have never been on a speed boat, but it sounds like a lot of fun.
dc_fan: Are there any strict rules on the Maverick, like what you absolutely can't do?
Blake Painter: As far as very strict rules on the Maverick are concerned, there's no drugs or alcohol at all. Any crew members found fist fighting each other on the boat are both fired on sight. Aside from those two there is a laundry list of rules, but they always seem to one way or another bend slightly. There are of course certain laws that we are required to conform to.
pettywhite3: Do think the crabs will ever be closed a season for fear of not enough population?
Blake Painter: Crab population over history have gone in cycles. Some people seem to think it's 7 years, all the way out to 12 years depending on the species. For example, the Bristol Bay Red king crab season was in fact closed not too many years ago due to lack of population. Not necessarily over- fishing but from natural causes. It has since rebounded currently so every year our new established quota has been going up, if not at least staying the same.
malvakai: Do you watch the season unfold with the rest of us? Or have you had enough of the season by then?
Blake Painter: I'm always curious to see what comes out on TV, whether I agree how it's portrayed or not. It is interesting to see what makes it and I would love to see every season, there's so many situations that don't get aired.
coachtmc: Who operates the boat while you sleep?
Blake Painter: Generally, while I'm sleeping it is because we're running in between streams and/or we have shut down for a certain amount of hours to allow our gear adequate soak time. So, when we are traveling between streams, one of the other guys on deck will come up and do a wheel watch.
Zed: Is the fishing better when the weather is bad?
Blake Painter: Some people would believe weather plays a factor in how the fishing is. It seems to me that theory is more prevalent in actual fish rather than crab. I think when you haul your pots dictates how many crab you have as opposed to the weather. The weather may have been nice when you set the pots as opposed to bad when you hauled them, so it's really hard to tell when the crabs came in aside from analyzing the dates.
