Tag Archives: Capt. Mark Casto
Crabbers seek solutions as harvest closures impact business
An amount of emergency relief is being sent to help crabbers affected by the historic closure of the Bering Sea snow crab fishing and the Bristol Bay red crab harvest in Alaska. However, the Washington-based fisherman says more long-term care, research and action is needed to preserve the industry as a sustainable way of life for small businesses for generations. Mark Casto owns the fishing boat Pinnacle and says he’s been fishing since graduating from high school in 1986. “I grew up in it, when I was a kid, I used to do it when I was growing up, it was in my blood and it was just my way of life,” said Casto. He’s been grappling with the same teammates for years – some decades – and they’ve become a team that can predict each other’s next move. When the Bering Sea snow crabs were cancelled, they were scattered – all forced to find other ways to make a living during the season. >click to read< 16:50
Into the ice: A crab boat’s quest for snow crab in a Bering Sea upended by climate change
Aboard the F/V Pinnacle in the Bering Sea. Through the wheelhouse window, Capt. Mark Casto spotted a white line on the horizon. The edge of an ice floe was illuminated by bow lights piercing the morning darkness of the Bering Sea. He throttled back the engines. Soon, the Seattle-based crab boat began to nose through closely packed pancake-like pieces and bigger craggy chunks, some the size of boulders, which bobbed about in the currents and clanged against the hull. Casto grabbed a microphone to relay a change in plans to the deck crew. Pull the pots up and stack them aboard. They would search for crab somewhere else. “Where the hell did that ice floe come from? … We’re retreating. It’s a hard word to say,” Casto declared. photos, video, charts and grafs, >click to read< 17:50
