Nick Mavar, deckhand on Discovery Channel’s extreme fishing reality series “Deadliest Catch,” died Thursday of natural causes, the Bristol Bay Borough Police Department in Alaska told Variety. He was 59.
Police found Mavar dead Thursday in a boat yard in Naknek, Ala. His family has been notified.
Mavar starred in 98 episodes of seasons one through 17 of “Deadliest Catch” working as a deck hand on the “Northwestern” fishing boat. Mavar also appeared in several “Deadliest Catch” spin-offs, such as “Deadliest Catch: Legends Born & Broken” and “Deadliest Catch: Evolution of Danger.”
Mavar exited the show in December 2020 after his appendix ruptured while filming, which revealed a cancerous tumor. He would eventually sue the boat’s owner Sig Hansen for $1 million over “failure to have an adequate plan in place” for a medical emergency while strict Covid restrictions were in place.
The lawsuit would later be re-aimed at “Deadliest Catch’s” production company after Hansen claimed Original Productions Inc. was to blame for implementing the protocols that delayed Mavar’s care.
Lawyers for the defendants denied the claims in court filings that said Mavar and third parties were responsible for actions that led up to his injuries and that the defendants never agreed to protect him from loss or calamity.
Nine years before, Mavar was a victim of another incident while filming “Deadliest Catch.” During an aggressive storm, a hook came loose and struck Mavar in the face, leaving him with a broken nose. Like the appendix scare, this moment would be documented on Discovery Channel’s YouTube channel.
After working on the reality TV show for over 15 years, Mavar spent his last days in Bristol Bay captaining his own salmon boat. Fans of the series have turned to social media to mourn his death.
Mavar is survived by his wife, Julie.
Dennis Romero and Jean Lee contributed.
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