It’s Springtime In The Aleutians
(Ed. note: The folowing article
was written by A. K. Larssen, and
is a description of the Aleutian
Islands with an evaluation of the
Islands to the Westward. The writ
er is aboard the M/V Commander,
which is currently conducting a
research on the habits and migra
tions of salmon in adjacent waters.
Larssen is on the editorial staff o?
the Fishermen’s News, a monthly
publication devoted to the fisher
men of the West Coast and
Alaska.)
A. K. Larssen
And now it’s springtime in the
Aleutians. Now that’s perhaps a
statement which would be hard to
prove by the thermometer — the
Aleutian Island temperature being
what it is—but, there are other,
and more conclusive, signs of
spring: the snowbanks are getting
smaller, skinnier, more forlorn
looking day by day; here and there
along the seashore, and along the
creeks, the grass is beginning to
get that lucious green color; eider
ducks, and other denizens of the
seashore are busy building nests
(the sea gull, that individualist, fin
ished his nest weeks ago, and the
ptarmigans chatter merrily in the
dead grass of yesteryear. Far up in
the hills the foxes bark their stac
cato mating call; sure enough,
‘spring has sprung’, as the saying
goes ... in the Aleutian Islands,
And today is the third day of the
month of June. . . .
Now; just what are the Aleutian
Islands?
Well, geographically speaking,
the Aleutian Islands is, merely, a
chain of islands, composed of big
ones and little ones, stretching
some 900 miles from the Alaska
Peninsula in a (roughly) south
western direction; a chain of rough
and rugged islands, mountainous,
volcanic, sparcely populated, inhos
pitable, barren—with nary a bush
—let alone a tree—to their name.
Rugged country, indeed. (But —
once, and not too many years ago,
these same islands were called,
proudly, ‘The Bridge to Victory’).
Be that as it may, the Aleutian
Islands have something not men
tioned in the geography books,
much more. And I am not now
speaking of their peculiar, and fas
cinating, beauty — that’s another
story — I am speaking of their
riches.
Yes, riches. For, it is in the cold
and turbulent waters adjacent to
the Aleutian Islands that the bulk
of the Alaska salmon—particularly
the Alaska Red salmon—grow up,
from ‘minnowhood’ to ‘fishhood,’
if you please. Therefore, these
same cold and turbulent and all
too often dangerous waters are
teeming with young salmon, untold
millions of salmon; which is an
other word for riches.
Millions of salmon, you ask? Yes,
indeed; remember that the Japa
nese gillnet fleet, operating in
these same waters, has caught
somewhere between 50 and 70 mil
lion salmon, year by year, these
last seven or eight years. And when
salmon is caught by the million,
that spells riches.
Now, don t ever think that the
salmon is the only source of wealtn
in the Aleutian Islands. Far from
it; the kingly King Crab, also, is a
resident of these islands and the
shrimp is plentiful in many a deep
bay. Smelt, Atka mackerell, hali
but, clams—they are all here, al
though we do not know in what
numbers. What is needed—and the
sooner the better—is investigation,
research, an inventory of sorts, a
listing of our properties.
When we speak of riches, or
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SAILING FROM SEATTLE
June 20, 1962
MS TANANA
Womens Bay, Kodiak,
Port Williams, Seldovia, Homer
■ iTTnl.•a^JtTflrrawX -
merely of resources, let’s not for
get the whale; the Aleutian waters
is blessed with whales in great
numbers—to the happiness (and
profit) of the Japanese whale hun
ter, who is ‘johnny-on-the-spot’
here as elsewhere.
And, let it be said, the modern
Japanese whale-hunter (killing
boat) is a thing of beauty, a hyper
modern ship, fast, efficient, dead
ly. There are many of these op
erating in the Aleutian Island area
at this writing—some of them not
any too far off shore.
The weather has been particu
larly bad this year, even for the
Aleutian Islands, one storm follow
ing close on the heels of another,
week after dreary week, from
every point of the compass.
—Still, the eider ducks build
nests, the ptarmigan chatter in the
faroff hills, the foxes bark, hap
pily. It is, still and all, spring in
the Aleutians.
CAP News
Two Senior members of the Ko
diak Squadron were awarded areo
nautical ratings.
S.M. Robert Heikes was awarded
CAP Pilot rating and S.M. Charles
B. Hamilton was awarded Senior
Pilot rating.
It has been announced that the.
Alaska Wing will be host for the
female Cadet Exchange which will
take place from July 9 througn
July 20, 1962. Two girls will be se
lected from each of the six Wings
of the Pacific Region. This includes
Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada,
Oregon and Washington.
These girls, plus five escorts arc
expected to be in Kodiak July 11
and 12 for a tour of the city. Final
details will be announced at a later
date.
CAMPAIGN
COMMENTS
During the past four years,
Alaska has seen a shameless
spectacle of boondogling, waste,
inefficiency and enforcement of
illegal administrative regula
tions by the Egan administra
tion.
Many of the regulations or
dered enforced by Mr. Egan’s
administration were improperly
prepared and were in direct vi
olation of the state constitution.
This is just an example to point
to the dire need for a governor
qualified to administer the com
plex organization of state gov
ernment.
During the last legislature
the Democratic administration
attempted to slip through an
amendment to the pinball ma
chine bill, which was so innocu
ous and misleading that it would
have opened wide the gates to
legalized gambling with slot ma
chines. Democratic Senators
George B. McNabb of Fairbanks
and A1 Owen of Uganik Bay
were sponsors of the amend
ment.
I immediately attacked the
bill in this column pointing out
the dangers. Shortly thereafter
Senator McNabb made a speech
on the floor of the Senate and
withdrew the bill, stating that
it was because I had attacked
him in this campaign column.
And so I affirm again, I do not
wish to see Alaska become a
honkytonk state. Alaska is a
clean state. Let’s keep it that
way.
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