‘Deadliest Catch’: What happened to the Cornelia Marie?

The reality television series Deadliest Catch has aired on the Discovery Channel since 2005. It chronicles the adventures of crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels throughout the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons in the Northern Pacific Ocean’s Bering Sea. Season 20 premiered on the network on June 11, 2024.

One of the most prominent vessels on Deadliest Catch is the Cornelia Marie. First commissioned in 1989 and named after Cornelia Collins, the wife of captain Ralph Collins, it first appeared on the show in 2006’s season 2 and regularly appeared thereafter (although it was missing from season 13) and last featured in 2022’s season 18.

Although it was briefly seen in the background of the season 19 premiere, as a Redditor called avidindoorswoman21 has specified, fans have noted its absence as a featured vessel. So where has it gone, and why is it no longer appearing on the show?

Where did the Cornelia Marie go?

Josh Harris, one of the captains aboard the Cornelia Marie, had previously explained the vessel’s absence from season 13 was a creative decision on the part of the producers, telling Country Living:

“We do not have a camera crew aboard this king crab season. This was not our decision, and it was not made by the owners nor the captains of the Cornelia. This was not a dispute over money; this was simply a decision made by production [at] Discovery. They have creative control over pretty much everything that airs in Deadliest Catch, and we respect that. We are fishermen, and we will be doing what we love to do this king crab season, but we’ll be doing it alone. The film crew has been like a family to us, and their absence will weigh heavy on our hearts.”

Its current absence is for a more nefarious reason. In 2022, as first reported by Radar Online, Harris was fired from the show after information was unearthed suggesting he sexually assaulted a 4-year-old girl — the daughter of a neighbor who worked as a deckhand — in 1998 when he was 15 or 16. His DNA was found at the crime scene.

A show representative told Radar, “We’ve been made aware of this issue. Josh will not appear in future episodes of this series.” As a result of Harris’ firing, his vessel no longer appears on Deadliest Catch.

If you wish to, there’s a reliable way to keep tabs on the Cornelia Maria — or any other vessel of its kind — online. VesselFinder states it was recently en route to the port of Naknek, United States, and was due to arrive there on June 19, 2024.