FV Northwestern

F/V Northwestern is an Alaskan crab, Pacific cod, and salmon tendering fishing vessel featured in the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch. The vessel is owned and operated by the Hansen family of the State of Washington; the current captain is Sig Hansen and his brothers, Edgar and Norman, are both deckhands/engineers on the ship.

History

The Northwestern, a western rigged boat, was constructed in 1977 at Marco Shipyards in Seattle for the sole purpose of fishing King and Tanner Crab off of the coast of Alaska. It was christened Northwestern on November 5, 1977 by Snefrid Hansen, wife of then-captain Sverre Hansen and mother of the current owner/operators, Sig, Norman, and Edgar Hansen.

In the 1980s the boat was one of the first to fish Opilio crab. Throughout the 1980s the Northwestern kept very busy year round fishing Opilio crab, Blue King crab, Red King crab, and Brown King crab at different times of the year.

To keep up with the increasing demand for crab in the late 1980s and early 1990s, boats needed to carry more pots (steel box shaped traps that are used to fish crab). Rather than buying a new boat, the Hansen family decided to have the Northwestern extended twice. Originally built at 108 feet (32.9 m) with the ability to carry 156 pots, the Northwestern was extended to 118 feet (36.0 m) in 1987 to allow for 200 pots. In 1991, when the maximum crab pots a boat could carry was raised to 250, the Hansens again had the Northwestern lengthened, this time to 125 feet (38 m). Today, in the IFQ system, they usually carry no more than 195 pots.