Halibut
fishing along the North Pacific Coast began more than one hundred years ago,
when the schooners Oscar and Hattie, Edward E. Webster and Molly Adams sailed
’round the horn from Massachusetts in search of the bounty of the last frontier.
Amazingly, vessels built near the Turn of the Century remain viable competitors
in the contemporary race for profits, and the fishing style, called longlining,
is little changed since its inception more than fifty years ago.
Now, hear the
story from the lips of the longline pioneers.
If you were lucky, like I
was you found your destiny. If you were unlucky you found your fate.”
That’s how one veteran fisherman described the remarkable Alaska king
crab fishery that made millionaires out of men who had no particular
qualifications other than a willingness to work ’round the clock
whenever they were on the crab, and to risk their lives in one of the
most dangerous occupations on earth. See first-hand the efforts of the
original pioneers who explored the Bering Sea...the boom era when
fortunes were made and boats and shore plants paid off within a single
season... and the crash that killed the golden crab. For all those who
fish, or simply love adventure.
In the Alaska territory, where
frontier capitalism was utterly unfettered, the salmon cartel used its
size, its capital and its Great Star Fleet to subdue the competition.
Sign on with the APA and board the last square-rigged ships to work the
Pacific Coast, travel to the remotest corner of American industry, brail
the traps and haul the gillnets as you enjoy Sockeye and the Age of
Sail.
Produced in conjunction
with the Cape Fox Native Corporation.
During the latter half of the 19th Century, square-rigged sailing ships
propelled by the wind and the strength of men's arms left the Seattle
waterfront, bound for the Alaska fishing grounds. At the dawn of the
21st Century, factory ships armed with technology worthy of the Starship
Enterprise leave the Seattle waterfront, bound for fishing grounds
throughout the North Pacific. For well over 100 years, this Northwest
city has been arguably the world's greatest fishing port and the hub of
an industry that has played a surprisingly important role in shaping the
culture and economy of the Pacific Northwest region.
Centuries of Fish is a documentary videotape that tells the story of
an industry that operates largely out of sight and out of the minds of
those engaged in shoreside pursuits. For those who know the sea,
however, this industry, the last enterprise in the modern world in which
men and women hunt a product in the wild, is an enduring source of
sustenance and fascination.
Sail to Alaska aboard a windjammer! Fish salmon aboard the Bristol
Bay sailboats that operated at the mercy of wind and tide! Climb aboard
a fish trap! This is a program history buffs, maritime enthusiasts and
fishermen will definitely want to add to their collections.
When Seattle-based Pacific American Fisheries Company
threatened to shut down the town’s largest cannery in the Nineteen
Sixties, the local fishermen bought the facility and went into business
for themselves.
Today, this community situated among the glaciers and fjords of
Southeast Alaska is not only remarkably prosperous but
uncharacteristically independent.
Listen to
the last of the trap men as they tell their tales. Watch historic film
footage of the traps that proliferated throughout Puget Sound and Alaska
waters. Step inside the tiny shacks where trap watchmen contended with
the ever-changing moods of the sea and the lurking presence of the fish
pirates. Marvel at the bygone age.
Produced in conjunction with the
Whatcom County Parks Museum at Semiahmoo.
Juneau-land of primeval seascapes and
towering peaks, of magnificent glaciers, of gold and greed, of forests
and fish, of totems and tourists, of government as practiced by rugged
individualists.
Juneau: lush land of contradictions. Juneau is surely
the most unique of America's capital cities, and this videotape brings
the community to life in all its dimensions: its people, its wildlife,
its spectacular scenery, its recreational and cultural amenities, its
transportation and communications systems, its history, its industry,
its role in Alaska politics.
The program depicts the region's native
cultures, the era of European discovery, the defining moment when Joe
Juneau and Richard Harris discovered gold in Silver Bow Basin, the first
half of the 20th Century when Juneau was the hard rock mining capital of
the world, and its modern incarnation as a hub of tourism and
government. This is a must-see program for Alaska history buffs.
There are few regions and
few industries as mutually-dependent as Southeast Alaska and salmon. In
the remote Alaska panhandle, pristine habitat and remarkably successful
conservation efforts have produced an enormous wild salmon resource that
promises to sustain jobs and nourish consumers for generations to come.
Each summer, sleepy Southeast Alaska villages like Ketchikan,
Petersburg and Sitka are transformed into throbbing industrial arenas
where tens of thousands of men and women toil in the harvesting,
processing, distribution and support sectors of the salmon industry.
This thirty minute documentary videotape takes you aboard the boats,
into the processing plants and around the communities where the business
of salmon is a way of life.
Neets Bay: An Alaska Salmon Ranch
It’s August on Revillagigedo Island north of
Ketchikan, and the salmon are running in Neets Bay Creek. These fish are
about to spawn and die. It’s the end of their life cycle, but many other
cycles are in evidence here.
When the salmon come, the harbor seals come with them, looking for a
meal. The eagles are watching, even if they lack the motivation to hunt
right now. The gulls feed voraciously on fish carcasses that litter the
stream banks. The carcasses come courtesy of the bears that fish here.
With so many fish, the bear population is large and the animals are
getting fat. Even the sows and cubs get plenty to eat.
The fishermen are here. Their incentive is profit rather than
nourishment. So are the tourists, hungry for an experience of nature
that no longer exists in urban America. In the vast wilderness that is
Southeast Alaska, every one covets the salmon.
