rbarham Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Hello everyone, I'm interested in knowing if anyone has experience working as a seafood processor in Alaska? I'm hoping to work the herring and salmon seasons next year for Silver Bay, and would greatly appreciate any advice from you all. Thanks, Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imurphy907 Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Do you speak a language other then English? I used to sell to Trident and Icicle. Most plant employees are foreigners. So communicating some times can be difficult. Not sure what the hours are like anymore. But it can be alot of work. Standing for 10+ hours a day sorting fish. Bending pushing pulling lifting 5-15lbs at arms length your whole shift. Its smelly and dirty. You will likely be put up in a bunk house style dorm. Depending on if you are in Craig, Sitka or Valdez the living conditions vary ALOT. Craig is the smallest of the bunch, but an awesome little town. I have spent alot of time there. Sitka is larger, with a nice hospital a coast guard base and things to "do" other then stare at fish and drink at the bar. Valdez is the largest city. But I would say I prefer Sitka over Valdez. If I remember right Valdez plant does not do any herring. Since the Exxon spill there has not been a herring fishery in the sound(family sold their permit to the government as part of the settlements). I have a few friends in Metlakatla, but have never been there. If you are not Native they will not even allow you into the harbor. Very close minded community as a whole. But the folks I have meet from there "outside" were wonderful. If you are doing Herring they will likely put you in Naknek. This is in South West Alaska. accessible by plane and boat only. Its quite small. There is a general merchandise store called "AC" stands for Alaska Commercial. Its an outfit run out of Montana. They sell everything from groceries to ATV's and Outboard motors. You will be very busy there as that is the largest hub for Reds and herring. TV is via DirectTV or Dish, the channels at the cannery dorm suck(basics only). The internet and cell service there are slow. The company I work for just put in Fiber optics and microwave based communications network. This allows 3g but it has not be turned on yet there. still just Edge cellular. No such thing as a cable modem or dial up either. If you have other questions let me know. I was born and mostly raised in Alaska, been in every Seward port from Ketchican to Prudhoe bay. And currently work for the local statewide telecom company, and they have shipped me to just about every village there is. But if you can hack it there is awesome money in it. 2016 Road Warrior 420 2001 Volvo VNL 660 Alaska Based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbarham Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 I can speak broken Spanish. I'm not sure how useful a skill that would be in Alaska, though. Sitka is where I'm hoping to go. Silver Bay's website listed the facility there as doing both herring and salmon processing. I'm happy to hear that it's a larger town. I originally found the position elsewhere in the internet, but found a CoolWorks profile of the company for anyone else interested: http://www.coolworks.com/silver-bay-seafoods/profile Thank you for all of the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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