Few King Crabbers Will Switch To
Halibut Skipper Oscar Dyson Says
By Karl Armstrong
"This is my third boat... each
one was successively larger than
the one before it,” rugged-looking,
sunburned, ruddy-faced Skipper
Oscar Dyson commented as he
vigorously slapped another brush
ful of white paint against the hull
of his 74-foot boat Robbie.
“That’s my partner Seldon Nel
son. We have been partners for
about 20 years now,” he added,
nodding up towards the tall, slen
der and silent man daubing paint
on the prow of the ship.
“We can haul about 40,000
pounds of crab,” he said, adding
glibly, “Grab a brush.”
Not hearing the latter part of
his reply, I continued to throw
questions at this obviously com
petent and ably articulate but
jolly-humored fisherman.
“Oh, I been fishing about 12
years now. I started in 1950 in
Cook Inlet. I’ve fished for hali
but. for salmon, for crab... in
about that order in fact. And I
know a bit about shrimp too I
guess. I think it is going to be
one of the biggest things for Ko
diak. However, Alaska shrimp
needs to be better advertised than
it is.
“There’s no doubt that there is
lots of shrimp in our waters.
We’ve gotten as high as 45,000
pounds in 24 hours fishing!” he
exclaimed expansively, offering a
paint brush to me.
Scribbing notes furiously into
my pad, I was able to pointedly
ignore his generous offer to share
his paint bucket and continued
shooting questions at him and he
continued firing back answers
faster than I could write them
down.
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“Nope, I don’t really believe
many King Crab fishermen will
switch to halibut. I know the
price for halibut is the highest
it’s ever been right now, but the
boys have done pretty good with
the King Crab, which is more
steady and reliable than halibut.
“I agree with the boys that the
boat harbor should be bigger. And
definitely there exists a need for
a grid large enough to handle
boats like this one. The present
grid sits only about two feet over
at even tide. We need a grid
about 2 to 3 feet lower. Then we
could check our boat bottoms, do
emergency repairs, check wheels
and steering gear.
“I came to Kodiak in 1953. My
wife Florence and I used to live
in Anchorage. I used to be in the
Army Engineers over there years
ago. And we had an interior dec
orating business which we sold to
buy our first boat. I don’t let
just anybody help paint the Rob
bie you know,” he said enthusi
astically trying to make it sound
like it was great fun.
Blandly ignoring his attempt to
be a modern 47-year old Tom
Sawyer, I continued the question
ing.
“The crab fleet has probably
doubled itself in efficency. Boats
are gettng larger as a rule and
most of the larger boats coming
into the fishery are tenders or
from outeide states.
“What we need is to find some
method, some way, some defini
tion, to determine what a bona
fide fisherman is. It is becoming
a problem and needs to be clari
fied. I understand the Canadians
are also working on this problem
of defining just what constitutes
a bona fide fisherman. Being a
member of the Alaska Fish and
Game Board, as well as being a
fisherman, makes it necessary for
me to be concerned about such
matters,” he concluded, adding
energetically, “I got lots of paint.”
But by then I had already de
cided I had all the material I
needed and so was completely out
of earshot. And besides I was
rather smugly satisfied with my
self on two scores: I had success
fully gotten my interview without
being conned into lifting that
paint brush and satisfied myself
that Kodiak fishermen were fortu
nate in having a man of the cali
bre and experience of Oscar Dy
son to represent their interests on
the ADFG Board.
ARSON CHARGE
FOR DUMP FIRES
A charge of Arson will be
brought against persons setting
fire to the city garbage dumps, ac
cording to a warning issued today
by Police Chief R. E. Vickery.
“The department would like to
call the attention of those persons
who set fire to the old city dump,
as well as the new one, that if we
find out who does this, we will
bring you into court with a charge
of Arson against you.” the chief
advised.
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