‘Deadliest Catch’ Captain Phil Harris Told His Son to ‘Get Out of Fishing’ Before His Death
Fishing is a family business for many of the people who appear on Deadliest Catch. But carrying on that legacy can be difficult and dangerous. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Captain Phil Harris, who appeared on the Discovery Channel reality series until his death in 2010, urged his son to give up crabbing.
Captain Phil Harris died in 2010
Deadliest Catch premiered in 2005, and Phil Harris was a breakout star of the show’s early seasons. Viewers were transfixed as they followed him and his crew on the F/V Cornelia Marie out into the treacherous waters of the Bering Sea to hunt for crab.
Fishing is one of the riskiest occupations out there, and the threat of serious injury or even death is ever-present. However, it wasn’t an on-ship accident that ended Harris’s life, but rather a stroke, which took place while filming the sixth season of Deadliest Catch in early 2010.
After collapsing on his boat, Harris was air-lifted to a hospital in Anchorage, where he was in a medically induced coma, according to a report in People. After coming out of the coma, he initially seemed to be making a good recovery. But on Feb. 9, his health took a turn for the worse, and he died. He was 53.
The ‘Deadliest Catch’ captain urged his son Josh Harris to ‘do something better’
In the days between his stroke and his death, Harris was able to talk with many of his friends and loved ones.
“We talked in detail, and he had regrets, and he shared them with me and he probably shared them with his sons,” Harris’s close friend Dan Mittman said. “He accomplished what he needed to get done so he could be at peace.”
Phil Harris’s son Josh Harris shed some light on those conversations, revealing that his father urged him to leave the family business behind. (The late captain’s father was also a fisherman.)
“He told me to get out of fishing,” Josh told People. “I do love fishing, don’t get me wrong, but it was one of those deals where he wanted to see me do something better. He gave me the encouragement. My life goal was to show him I could be a man, you know, and I could fish, and I did the best job that I could, and he recognized that as being a good job and gave me kudos.”
Josh Harris continued to appear on ‘Deadliest Catch’
Despite his father’s recommendation to leave fishing behind, Josh continued in the family business. He took over the Cornelia Marie after his dad’s death, co-captaining the vessel with Casey McManus. Together, they continued to appear on Deadliest Catch. Josh and Casey also starred in the three-season spinoff Deadliest Catch: Bloodline, which saw the pair head to Hawaii after discovering some of Phil Harris’s old fishing charts.
Josh has admitted that he sometimes questioned his decision to continue in the family business, particularly after his father’s death.
“I resented fishing for quite some time,” he told Fox News in 2022. “And the money’s different. It’s not the same as it used to be. We have to actually work really hard for everything we’ve got, and there’s no room for air.”
While Josh decided to continue fishing after his father’s death, his time on Deadliest Catch has come to an end. He will not appear in the show’s upcoming 19th season. Discovery Channel cut ties with him in 2022 after allegations that he’d sexually assaulted a child more than two decades ago resurfaced.
Deadliest Catch Season 19 premieres Tuesday, April 18 at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.
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