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Copyright 2006 David Maillie
No it isn t Bill Gates. It isn t the diamond merchants of South Africa or the
oil barons of Saudi Arabia either. The world s highest paid job is crab fishing
in Alaska. The frigid waters off the Alaskan shoreline house a veritable fishing
goldmine and crab fishing in Alaska has been aptly dubbed the last great gold
rushes on earth.
Crab fishing is the most significant of the Alaskan commercial shellfish
industries. The waters of Alaska, notably the Bering Sea, Bristol Bay, Dutch
Harbor and the Kodiak and Aleutian Islands are home to rich bounties of crabs:
tanner, Dungeness and the famed Alaskan King crab.
The different varieties of the Alaskan crabs possess immense commercial value
and the Alaskan King crab in particular is a prized dish in the culinary world,
valued as highly as caviar or vintage French wine. US and Japanese restaurants
are the primary importers of Alaskan King crab in the world.
An idea of the valuation of crab fishing in Alaska can be garnered from the fact
that a seasoned fisherman can hope to rope in US$50000 worth of catch in an
eight-week period.
The commercial crab fishing industry in Alaska had its beginning way back in
1950. The returns were promising from the very start and the region quickly
attracted hundreds of US fishing boats. The 1980s were the heydays of crab
fishing in Alaska. During this period of king crab boom, the fishing boat
captains regularly earned US$150000 in a season and the crab fishing boats
boasted of saunas, music systems and microwaves.
But by 1983, the Alaskan King crab industry crashed for no apparent reason. The
worst slump in fishing history, it forced fishermen to look into alternative
fishing sources. Thus Alaskan commercial fishing branched out either to salmon
and halibut or bairdi and opilio, two types of tanner crabs.
Since then the Alaskan crab fishing trade has looked up a little with the year
2001 bringing in 23.2-million pounds of fishing stock worth US$36-million. But
crab fishing in Alaska still continues to command the highest pay packet in the
world.
But this is only the rosy side to the job. Crab fishing in Alaska is one of the
most perilous of all jobs in the world. To fish for crabs in the glacial waters
of the Arctic Ocean in sub-zero temperatures, with pounding waves thrashing on
the deck and tossing the fishing boat treacherously and icy winds howling
continuously, needs a stout heart and an able body. Furthermore, your work will
involve negotiating the enormous crab pots and coils of line along the slippery
deck.
Each and every muscle and sinew of the body is stretched to the hilt and
exhaustion to the point of breakdown is common. Crippled limbs, crushed fingers
and ribs, broken legs are the staple fare in the grueling 20-21 hour daily
schedules, while men toppling overboard are not uncommon incidents either. In
fact, every year there are some casualties in these fishing trips.
However, in spite of all the hardships, there is no dearth of men seeking
employment in this fishing trade. Crab fishing in Alaska remains a haloed job to
land.
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David Maillie is an alumni of Cornell University and specializes in biochemical
synthesis for public, private, and governmental interests. He holds numerous
patents and awards for his research. For more interesting and useful products
and ideas please visit
www.mdwholesale.com and
www.bestskinpeel.com .
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