As the cable is lowered, the fish drops lower and lower in the water. Deck hands are hired by Edison Chouest Offshore. All seven of the deck hands on the Nathaniel B. Palmer happen to live in the Philippines. Many of them have been to a Maritime School in the Philippines to learn how to work on a ship. Some of the deck hands have even earned their Mate's license.
Deck hands do a lot of general purpose work around the ship.
Basically, they work under the direction of the Mates. They operate all the winches, move cargo, and help keep up the general cleanliness and sanitation of the ship. If something has to be painted, a deck hand will do the work. They also do a lot of the general maintenance that's required. The deck hands work very hard at a large variety of jobs both inside and outside the ship.