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Production Line
Here, near the tail-end of the APA production line the fingers of
Dorothy White (foreground) and Georgia Edwards deftly fly at the
task of filling cans with crab. Similar scenes of expert workmanship
are to be seen at our two other local canneries—King Crab, Inc., and
Alaska King Crab. A fourth plant, Martin’s Fresh King Crab, ships
fresh, cooked, whole crabs to all parts of the nation daily.
Cartload Of Crabs
Standing beside a heaping cartload of King Crab he has just taken
from a live tank is Joe Tarazoo who also assists in unloading the
huge tender Heron and fishing vessels which deliver directly
to the cannery. He delivers the cartloads of crabs to the butchers
after which they are immediately cooked and placed on the “blow
line” where the tender crab meat is extracted from the shell.
Can Catcher
Perhaps one of the busiest jobs in any cannery is the “can catcher,”
who at APA is now Gary Abston. Gary, whose wife, Virginia, works
on the production line just a few yards away, is no newcomer to
Kodiak having been born here some 20 years ago. During the salmon
season his wife (originally from Homer) tends a gill net while he
is busy seining.
King Crab - Big Business With Record Pack
A.P.A. Seeks Goal
Of 125,000 Cases
For New Record
A milestone in the King Crab in
dustry was marked in Kodiak, Fri
day afternoon, shortly before 3
p.m. when Alaska Packers Associ
ation announced via plant and
boat whistles that it had packed its
100,000th case of crab this season
with a goal of 125,000 cases set be
fore the season ends late in March
or early in May.
Vernon Hilliker, area superin
tendent for the organization, called
this step as placing “King Crab in
the big business category.”
A celebration was held at the
canning plant at which time con
gratulatory telegrams were read
from Sen. Boh Bartlett and Sen.
Ernest Gruening, Rep. Ralph Riv
ers and Gov. William Egan—all
praising the progress of the indus
try. Persiding over the ceremony
was Ralph Jones, the plant super
intendent.
Alaska Packers first began pack
ing King Crab in February of 1961
and the firm employs between 60
and 120 workers in the cannery de
pending on the amount of raw pro
duct delivered.
INDUSTRY GROWTH
Based on Market News Letter
dated Jan. 25, 1963, the value of
100,000 cases is $1,700,000.
On a basis of 24 %-pound cans
here is how the King Crab industry
has advanced in the past 10 years.
Along
The
Waterfront
(Continued From Page 1)
much about it ’cepting the first
hour and nobody else recalls much
either! And as for Big Les com
plaining his name ain’t in the pa
per enough . . . Big Les, Big Les,
Big Les, Big Les, Big Les, Big Les.
How’s that?
While we’re at it we wanna ex
tend our heartiest ‘Welcome Home’
to Lou at the Breakers, who re
minds all fishermen and cannery
workers that “Work is the curse
of the drinking class.”
&
ADF&G’s District Supervisor
Bob Simon was in Anchorage thi«>
week attending a special ADF&G
meet there.
£
Normal operations are reported
by Cold Storage Manager Bix Bon
ney. We understand the Reefer II
is moored alongside the cold stor
age plant and will operate there
for the next several months.
VP
Last Friday morning the APA
tender Heron took a number of lo
cal dignitaries out for a tour of
the nearby crab fishing fleet. We
missed out, although invited, due
to it being our publication day, but
figured from the strong winds
blowing that it might be a rough
ride . . . which it was (just ask Art
Brooks whom we understand spent
much time suspiciously clinging to
the deck railings “studying the
water.”) APA’s Vern Hilliker sed
he went to the galley to see how
chow was coming along, and, “the
cook had more pots on the stove
than hands ... he said he had the
roast in the oven and the dooi
shut, but . . . didn’t know if the
roast was in the pan or the par
was on the roast-” Anyway every
Year Cases Value
1951 . 112 $1,344
1952 . 12,586 $264,533
1953 . 12,958 $210,845
1954 . 70,034 $1,104,753
1955 . 35,972 $483,320
1956 . 74,600 $1,002,251
1957 . 90,392 $1,169,483
1958 . 90,083 $1,079,019
1959 . 110,632 $1,437,890
1960 . 200,000 $2,800,000
1961 . 308,458 $4,935,328
Before the Friday afternoon cer
emony, a group of Kodiak business
men and officials from the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game
were taken on a crab-fishing expe
dition a short distance from Ko
diak. The trip typical of a crab
fishing expedition. The weather
and waters were calm when the
Heron started out but when they
one got a small taste of just what
sort of life our rugged crab fisher
men go through making a living.
$
Fred Brechan is now sole owner
of the power barge Lex, having re
cently bought out Dale Kramer’s
interest. Coogan Peterson is skip
pering the crab fisher now. Kramer
has his eye out for another vessel
we understand but definitely re
stricts his interest to “very large”
vessels.
&
Arrival of the new ferry boat
Malaspina released the M/V Chil
kat which has been operating as a
ferry between Juneau and Haines
. . . and this in turn has brought
about a hassle over where the
Chilkat would be used. Cordova
wants it for the Cordova-Valdez
run and Metlakatla demands it for
the Ketchikan-Metlakatla run. The
decision will have to be made in
Juneau.
Our good friend at ADF&G
Management Biologist Dexter Lall,
tells us he will be able to give us
monthly totals of landings of crab
which many have told us they are
interested in knowing. We have
explained it is not possible to car
ry individual landings for very
practical reasons . . . and also it
would be an impossibility in terms
of time and space alone to carry
individual vessel landings with so
many boats now engaged in our
crab fishery.
&
In a separate story this issue we
carry Dali’s report on King Crab
but thought you might be inter
ested in his figures on other fish
eries also:
DUNGENESS: A total of 865,725
Dungeness crabs with a total
weight of 1,850,601 lbs. was taken
in Kodiak waters during 1962. This
is an impressive figure when you
realize that it was the first year
of effort here and consisted of
mainly prospecting and explora
tory fishing and the crabs were
taken in highly diversified areas
with not over a dozen vessels par
reached the fishing grounds the
visitors were treated to a situation
of rough and choppy waters under
which conditions crab-fishing is
carried on.
In addition to Hilliker, the area
superintendent and Jones, th*
plant superintendent, other super
visory officials include P. J. Mar
inkovich, plant superintendent at
Larsen Bay, Mel Vega, fisheries
technologist and Graham Fisher,
area accountant.
ticipating . . . some on a part-time
basis. Over in Prince William
Sound (Cordova) where they have
fished Dungeness over many years
now the total poundage from 3 to
4 million lbs. Dexter explained
that the Dungeness effort is re
flective on price and market con
ditions to a large extent, and, from
catch figures in the lower 48 it is
pretty clear that Dungeness will
be scarce down there again. The
price is up to twenty-five cents a
pound already. So it is likely there
will be an increased effort here
again this year.
-9
SHRIMP: The shrimp catch in
Kodiak waters exceeds the com
bined total of the rest of the Pa
cific Coast States! 12,553,000
pounds in all were taken here in
1962, Dexter tells us. There is an
other small shrimp fishery in Cook
Inlet and Ketchikan should ac
count for from 5 to 6 million lbs.
And for those who have told us
that we do not have the large
prawn-size type shrimp, we got
news . . . Dexter tells us that we
certainly do have them. “They are
in our more rocky areas,” he sez,
adding, “and if you want to see
their size, come down and we’ll
show you one that we could barely
fit into a display bottle!” The ex
plained that it will take a pot type
fishery to get these and that it is
(Continued On Page 4)
/ Radiator 7
/ CU4«W6 I
I and I
/ Repairing /
/ GUARANTEED /
/ WORK /
/ "'MUn* |
/ *«£«» ®.«.rreC,gne /
/ Jerry’s B&J /
I Oarage I
(See us for Service
SAILING FROM SEATTLE
FEB. 21, 1963
MS TANANA
Womens Bay, Kodiak
Port Williams,