How Does “Deadliest Catch” Handle Their Old Vessels? – The Truth Behind Recycling and Disposal

They call it the Deadliest Catch for a reason. It’s truly dangerous out there on those tumultuous waters, with seamen often going missing or dying. So, it’s not shocking that boats don’t often fair well over time. You can only do so many tune-ups before it’s time to admit that the old shipping vessel needs to move on to its new life.

There’s a lot of buzz from fans around what happens to those vessels. After all, mega fans would love to take home a piece of that reality television history. However, they’re not always possible to be scooped up in a purchase. Let’s take a look at the options available for those old boats.

The show typically follows most of the industry standards. After all, even with it being reality television, you’d hate to see something disastrous happen, and following safety protocol is incredibly important. When ships get really bad, the standard is to completely scrap them. According to Martide, this is the most efficient and cheapest way to handle the problem. Plus, it’s environmentally conscious to recycle the parts and materials.

The materials can be used to make all sorts of things, with one of the most common behind household appliances. That’s right: Your dishwasher, washing machine, and more could potentially be sourced from an old shipping vessel. Most of the ships are sent internationally for this process, including places like Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, and Turkey.

Another option for the ships is to allow their erosion to happen organically over time. This happens at “ship graveyards” where the vessels, essentially, go to die. However, sometimes, rather than let the boats just sit there like an eye sore, they’ll intentionally sink them, turning them into an artificial reef. Of course, they remove any hazardous materials first, but this is generally beneficial for sea life.

Most ships, though, end up just abandoned on beaches, especially in Asia. Many wrecked ships serve as a tourist attraction since people love to imagine a pirate-like life. They can also be used for filming purposes for Hollywood productions if they can find a boat on the beach that matches their vision.

What fans might be excited to know, though, is sometimes you can get your hands on an old ship. Depending on the condition of the boat, they can be passed on to individuals or companies that are willing to pay. In fact, an observant Reddit user noticed that F/V North American is on sale through Dock Street brokers after being salvaged.

It doesn’t appear to be listed on their website anymore, though, which could indicate that it has since sold. According to the Reddit user, it was listed at $100,000. However, they said that there would likely be more money to sink into for it to become operational again … potentially up to $1.5 million more. They speculate that it’s more likely that she’ll be scrapped and sold for parts rather than refurbished.