Meet the Crew of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch at Epcot July 31 – August 2

The Norway pavilion in Epcot® is pleased to host Northwestern Captain Sig Hansen, Edgar Hansen, and Matt Bradley — three of the featured stars on the popular reality series on The Discovery Channel, Deadliest Catch – for an in-park appearance July 31 – August 02, 2009. Sig, Edgar and Matt will appear inside The Puffin’s Roost, the Norway Pavilion’s merchandise location, each day. They’ll be appearing from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm and 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm.

Fourth generation fishermen, Sig Hansen is the Captain of the Northwest, Edgar Hansen is the Deck Boss and Matt Bradley is a Deck Hand for the crab-catching vessel. Captain Sig Hansen and Edgar Hansen and Norm own and operate the Seattle, WA based Northwestern.

In addition to signing autographs and posing for photos, the Hansen’s will have Northwestern merchandise created by Helly Hansen available for purchase during their Epcot® appearances.

About Deadliest Catch:
Deadliest Catch is a documentary-style reality television series that documents the events aboard fishing boats in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and Opilio crab fishing seasons. The Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor (located in Unalaska, Alaska) is the base of operations for the fishing fleet. The show is named Deadliest Catch because the crews of those boats are at a high risk of injury or death.

Commercial fishing has long been considered one of the most dangerous jobs in America; in 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked commercial fishing as the job occupation with the highest fatality rate with 118.4 fatalities per 100,000, almost 30 times the rate of the average worker. However, Alaskan king crab fishing is considered even more dangerous than the average commercial fishing job due to the conditions of the Bering Sea during the seasons they fish. According to the pilot episode, the death rate during the main crab seasons averages out to nearly one fisherman per week, while the injury rate for crews on most crab boats in the fleet is nearly 100% due to the severe weather conditions (frigid gales, rogue waves, ice formations on and around the boat) and the danger of working with such heavy machinery on a constantly rolling boat deck. Alaskan king crab fishing reported over 300 fatalities per 100,000 as of 2005 with over 80% of those deaths caused by drowning or hypothermia.