King Crab Fishing — On The Fishing Grounds
King crabs are caught by the pot method when in search of food. Each pot
is baited as a hire. Above is the JUNO with a supply of bait.
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Of the several methods used in fishing for crab in the Kodiak area, the use
of crab pots has proved the most successful, and are used mainly except dur
ing the moulting season. Pots as pictured above are lifted into the boat after
several hours in the water.
Each crab has to be handled individually, so as to ensure
against breaking off the legs, etc. Crabs from this huge pile
are being transferred to the live tanks aboard the tender.
Handling each crab lowers the mortality rate of the crab, and
putting them into a live tank assures their arriving at the
cannery in the best of condition.
L
In the foreground are Cory Kaldestad and Lloyd Cannon
supervising the transfer of live crab from one boat to the
ther. Fishermen generally work together, and one boat rushes
the crab to the cannery while the other continues f ailing.
*v. ~ -w-TKg
Another scene wherein crab are transferred to the tender to
be put in live boxes.
Live boxes anchored in bays are used to keep the crab in good condition
after they are caught, and there is no tender nearby. Crab are then trans
ferred from the live boxes aboard the boat to speed them on their way to the^
cannery.