Day 58: More Pictures

This is the pump that they put into the refrigerated saltwater tanks on the boat then the fish get pumped up though to pipe into the factory where I sit and watch them go by.



This is what I look like walking around the plant. In the process of taking this picture I realized that I had been walking around for 10 hours with my shirt misbuttoned, hence the uneven tails. Looking like this I get hit on about 3 times a day. And most girls think they have to very painful things for men to notice them (i.e. waxing, plucking) nope men really don't care is what I have learned out here, it is other women that judge you. [that last bit I learned at college :)]



More pictures of a beautiful sunrise on the harbor.

Day 58: Random Pictures

This is a really huge scary machine that carries the cargo containers around the plant. When ever I have to walk to 'town' I am always looking over my shoulder, it moves much faster than you think it would. I always feel like that movie from when I was little "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" all I remember was a huge ant that always scared me and that is what I think of every time I find it chasing me down the road. Behind the machine you can see a bit of sunrise, the sunrise this morning was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I had 20 minutes off and I could either eat breakfast or run up the road to watch sunrise and take a bunch of pictures. Lets just say that there are no pictures of breakfast.



The machine that unloads the cargo ships in Dutch Harbor..



There are Bald Eagles all over Dutch Harbor there are a bunch of nests up on the cliffs. I always thought that Bald Eagles would have a very majestic cry but they make this high pitched chirping noise. It is a good thing that the US government did not know about Hallmark talking cards when they decided to go with the Bald Eagle for our nations symbol.

Day 57:Life on Akutan Island

The entirety of the inhabited part of the island.


I am living at the processing plant on Akutan Island. The only thing on this island is the Trident Seafoods plant, and a native alaskan village of about 90 people. Native Alaskans are from an Asian and Native American background, and they don’t mind being called Eskimos unlike what most of us have heard in the lower 48.
There are several hundred people who work at the plant. I get my own
room that connects through a bathroom to the other observers room. I
have been assigned to work with a really cool lady in her mid forties.
Her name is Julie so people leave notes addressed to us as J&J.
Which I found pretty funny since I have been getting notes addressed
to me like that for my whole life :).

Instead of counting and sexing a third of each haul on the boat I was
assigned to, now I just have to watch offloads from several different
boats and then count their salmon at the end. The absolute best part
is that I don't have to put my rain gear on 4 times a day, which was
the part of the job I hate the most. If there aren't a whole lot of
boats that come in, I have a super easy shift but if there is a line
of boats I am running back and forth between buildings for 12 hours.
I only have to watch the conveyor belts for 2 hours at a time and then
the scientist who is assigned to the boat covers for me for 2 hours.
So in a big day I could end up just watching a belt full of Pollock go
past be for 6 hours. Luckily I have access to the internet and can get new podcasts.

Day 51: More on The Goose.

I got to fly in a Grumman Goose from Dutch Harbor to Akutan. It was about a 20 minute flight since it is like 2 Aleutian Islands east of Dutch Harbor/Unalaska. The Grumman Goose was designed in the 1930’s for wealthy Long Islander's commute to New York City. They used them a lot in World War II and there are only a couple left flying and I think that the Dutch Harbor goose is one of the only ones left in the United States. Akutan is getting an airport strip soon so this goose won't be flying for much longer. I was a real treat to ride shotgun in a plane like this very few observers get a flight on the goose since most of them are picked up by their boat in Dutch Harbor or another boat will take them back and forth. When I got to Alaska I made a wish list of things I was going to find a way to do, I got ride in a sea plane checked off in May and ride in the goose checked off in July. All that is left in the Aeronautics section is ride in a helicopter.

Day 50:Good thing I am flexible

As we came into port I we knew that Mary (the other scientist on the boat) was going home and I was going to get a different partner. I was assigned this 65 year old guy who didn’t notice that the 70’s were over. Right as we got into headquarters I called the scheduler and she said ‘oh I am glad you called, actually……’( I have been told that ‘actually’ with a pause always means that you are getting moved) She told me to pack up and get to the airport the goose was flying at 3 or 4. I had no idea what this meant so I walked to the airport and stood there looking helpless until a really nice lady helped me out. She said the goose was supposed to fly at 4 but because of fog they were going to go at 3, it was 1. So I jumped in a cab back to my boat packed all my clothes and sampling gear. It was probably the worst packing job I have ever done. Got it all off the boat into the boats car they drove me to the airport and I got there with 5 minutes to spare, when they told me that the fog bank was holding and they were delaying for an hour and a half. This whole job is hurry up and wait, so I waited. All the prior observers have told me that I NEED to get the copilots seat if I ever get to take the goose, I should be pushy and demanding, it is worth the view. They lady who runs the ticketing for the goose was great though, she took one look at me and told the captain that she was calling shotgun for me and then told all the men on the plane that I got to ride shotgun don’t bother asking. I still had very little clue what is going on till I heard “well girl get on the plane, you have to go first”. In total today I have been called ‘darling’ ‘girl’ ‘babydoll’ ‘baby’ apparently the message got lost somewhere between Mount Holyoke and Alaska that women have names.

Day 48: Salmon Everywhere

We are done with this trip. In the very last haul we accidentally ran into a huge school of salmon with our net. Unlike everything else salmon are federally managed by number instead of weight. This means an unbiased person has to hand count each salmon that their boat pulls up, also known as, me. There were just under 1,000 salmon that I had to ID to species (there are 5 species of pacific salmon) and count. Then take genetic samples from 35 of them. By the end I decided that salmon were not worth the effort required to manage their populations, I don’t think the higher ups at the National Marine Fisheries Service will agree with me but they have never counted salmon for 4 hours.

Day 47: Words of Wisdom

Hung: I have been fishing for 16 years, I am on this boat 300 days a year and I have been married 10 years! One wife, second wife is too expensive.

Most of the guys on the boat are on marriage number 2 or 3. Someone told me that there was a slew of divorces on the boat last year and now they are all trying to find else to marry them. When I asked the girl in the galley who is about my age why they wanted to be married when they were only home 60 days a year. We both thought there were much better things to spend their money on then a wife, divorce, child support, wife, divorce cycle.