And In Keeping With That Theme AGAIN!

i guess i just can't get enough of these pseudo-reality/documentary shows about the outdoors. last night i watched a show on the national geographic channel called "cowboys of the sea". COTS is clearly nat geo's attempt at a deadliest catch ripoff show. the filming style is the same, as are some of the sound effects and storytelling devices the show's producers and directors use. the one difference between COTS and deadliest catch is that COTS features a different kind of fisherman every week, whereas deadliest catch just focuses on the bering sea crab boats.

i saw one previous episode of COTS about the herring (i think it was herring) runs in SE alaska outside valdez. it was very interesting to see how that fishery operates. last night's episode was about halibut and black cod (aka sable fish) fishing off the kenai. the show featured two boats: one was a modern boat equipped with automated fishing gear (baiting of the hooks, setting the lines, reeling in the lines, taking the fish off the hooks, etc..) and an on-board processor, and the other boat was a little more old-school where the crew had to bait and set the lines by hand, as well as taking the fish off the hooks when they came on board. the second boat did not have a processor on-board; they had to pack their fish in ice and deliver it to a processor on the mainland.

one of the interesting things about the show last night was a scene where they were talking to a crewman aboard the modern boat (the crewman looked suspiciously like matt bradley of the northwestern but had a different surname). he was commenting on the automated fishing process aboard the boat. he said something to the effect of how wonderful technology was that they have a machine that baits hooks, and that "who would have thought" there was someone sitting around inventing this technology for them. he couldn't get over the fact that someone would invent this machine.

i thought it was interesting that this guy could feel like that. people invent things all the time. what is that old saying? necessity is the mother of invention? why should fishing be any different? in fact, i thought about this very issue a while back and wrote about it here. if some jewish kid from philadelphia who won't even step foot on a boat in the ocean anymore (i get HORRIBLE sea sickness) has been thinking about this, then someone else closer to the situation certainly has as well.