Péril en haute mer

In Dutch Harbor, Alaska, 1,500 fishermen converge for the start of the Alaskan king crab season. The 251 captains have crews made up of experienced deckhands and novices known as greenhorns.

After a long night of baiting and setting crab pots, the first pot pulled for the season sets the mood. The early losers agonize over strategy as they hope to make up for a lost catch.

It's hour 42 of the season and every captain feels the pressure. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announces an early closure to the season, so each boat has only 24 hours to pull out the pots they have in the water, and every last one counts.

With half a day left in the Alaskan king crab season, the crews race against the clock to get as much crab as possible. As the race to unload begins, minutes can mean the difference between unloading immediately or waiting in the harbor for days.

It's the dead of winter in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where daylight lasts a mere six hours. The forecast for crab fishing is cold and dangerous, but opilio crab season is about to begin, with 171 boats setting out on the long journey north to find them.

The 2005 opilio crab season got off to a tragic start. The Big Valley sunk and the crew are still missing in the frigid Bering Sea. Good Samaritan boats assist the search for survivors, but tragedy soon strikes again.

It's been a little over 12 hours since opilio crab season opened and the Bering Sea has already claimed six lives. Despite these losses, the rest of the fleet begins to pull the pots and hopes are high. For the first time this season, the seas are calm.

It's the third day of opilio crab season on the Bering Sea, and unseasonably warm weather and calm seas have contributed to record catches for the fleet. The captains speculate about early closure and when the quota will be met.

Opilio crab season is open and the hunt for crab is intensifying. Rumors of a possible closure prompt the crews to push even harder. It's the last time they'll fish in a derby-style competition, and everyone wants to make their final run a memorable one.

Beginning with the deaths of the Big Valley crew, this opilio crab season has been a rough one. As the final hours of the season tick down, the race back to port begins. Captains strategize and compete for the best spot in line to off-load.