At one point, I stood alongside a captain in the wheelhouse of a purse seiner as inspectors conducted their sweep. The captain’s clothes reeked of cigarette smoke, his breath was stale, and empty cans of Red Bull littered the floor around his feet. In front of the wheel were five human skulls, which the captain said he kept for good luck, having pulled them up in nets. The story seemed dubious to me. Quietly, I surmised that the skulls were more likely meant as a reminder of the consequences of insubordination.
