Deadliest Catch is paying tribute to the fishermen lost at sea off the Oregon coast in January.
The Discovery docuseries kicked off the Season 15 premiere with a special moment to honor the three Mary B. II crew members who died in a tragedy that shocked the commercial fishing industry in 2019.
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“Crab fishing remains one of the world’s most dangerous professions,” narrator Mike Rowe said solemnly at the start of the season premiere. “We pay tribute to all the fishermen and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice, including those lost this January off the Oregon coast.”
It was then that the names of Stephen Biernacki, James Lacey and Joshua Porter, who lost their lives in the incident at sea flashed on the screen for a moment of silence.
The Mary B II capsized in Newport, Oregon’s Yaquina Bay Bar on Jan. 8 2019 around 10 p.m., with a report from the U.S. Coast Guard on the incident stating, “Air Facility Newport and Station Yaquina Bay boat crews responding to 3 fishermen in the water after commercial fishing vessel Mary B II capsizes while crossing Yaquina Bay Bar. Crews battling 12 to 14-foot seas.”
While the ship never appeared on the Deadliest Catch franchise, many members of the fleet did make an effort to pass on their condolences.
“My sincerest condolences go out to the family and friends of the Mary B II,” Wizard Captain Keith Colburn wrote on Twitter soon after news broke.
The Deadliest Catch family has seen its share of loss over the years, with the Destination’s tragic sinking in 2017 taking with it the lives of Charles Glenn Jones, Larry O’Grady, Raymond Vincler, Darrik Seibold, Kai Hamik and Captain Jeff Hathaway.
Ahead of the 2017 king crab season, Saga Captain Jake Anderson opened up to PopCulture.com about what the loss had meant to him personally.
“The funny thing is that everyone calls me a screamer, but my hero was ‘Hollering Jeff Hathaway,’ who was the captain of the Destination,” he said at the time. “So it was a big hit for the fleet; it was a big hit for me personally, along with [the loss of] my good friend Larry.”
“It’s really hard, because Hollering Hathaway … he was the first person to ever offer me a real job as a captain,” he added. “So I miss him dearly, and the whole fleet does.”
Deadliest Catch airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery.
Photo credit: USCG Pacific Northwest/Twitter
