Remember that terrible, evil, no-good, very bad company I shipped salmon for this summer? The company whose grounds I swore never to set foot upon again lest my soul be crushed and stolen?
Well as it turns out, quick money can be a subtle and effective bargaining tool. It’s almost as good as an apology for all the shit that went down last summer.
Thus I find myself again in Sitka, AK this time shipping herring to Canada, Japan and China.
The herring fishery is ca-razy. Fish and Game regulates fishing using “openings” or times when fishing is allowed. This herring season sounds like it will have four openings, each lasting less than a couple of hours and in restricted areas. This means vessels will be setting their nets and zooming all around – perhaps bumping into one another. Rumor has it National Geographic representatives are out filming/photographing/writing about Sitka’s sac roe herring fishery.
An amigo (Jason) off the fishing vessel Pillar Bay shot and edited this video which gives a glimpse of the herring mania.
When those boats dump their catch at the processing plant, it will go through a brine and a quick freezing process. The little frozen herring will then plop off a conveyer belt into fiber totes which a forklift driver will load into a container van to be barged to Seattle. I will close and seal those vans and complete each bill of lading. 50,000 pounds an hour.
My shift? 6 PM to 6 AM every day until the end of those four openings are over. My flight back to Portland is scheduled for April 10th I think.
Anyway…shit will be busy, but I hope to pick up a quick cool couple thousand dollars for working no more than two weeks. Until then…I stink real bad.
Pictures and maybe video clips to come.
*No, I have not tried to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with any of the product.
You’ve got the right indirect object but the wrong preposition. It should be “I’m hard for herring” instead.
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