KING OF THE ALASKAN SEAS

they're a product of those long sunny days when temperatures soared and Alaskans head for the beaches the sea has been generous here with its hordes of salmon halibut herring hi their name is Lowell Thomas jr. I've been coming north to this great land of ours for the last 20 years in fact it's cast such a spell over me that I've moved my family to Alaska now to make it our home we've come here not only to enjoy the outdoor living but also to take part in the development of our large estate development that's bound to come rapidly since moving north I've heard many stories of modern pioneering of new industries all playing important roles in the growth of our 49th state but I doubt if any of these stories is as interesting or as colorful as our story Adak king of Alaskan seas in our vast new state spanning a distance as greatest from New York to California and nearly touching Russia Adak the king lives in the sea surrounding Kodiak Island and along the stormy Aleutian chain our story opens in the tiny village of a fog neck with fishermen Alfred Nelson and his children typical descendants of those original inhabitants the Aleuts who are thought to have crossed over from Asia thousands of years ago some of the music you'll hear in this film is pure Aleut come on kids Alf calls time to get ready for church a Russian Orthodox Church reminding us that Russia controlled this land for more than a century looting it of furs and forcing the Aleuts into slavery today is very special in a fog neck a wedding buddy squirts off to marry Annie berestov and for us it's a rare opportunity to witness the old traditions Russian icons the finest anywhere in these islands and an Orthodox priest from nearby Kodiak father Sturmer the father once was an officer in the Czar's Navy then fled Russia after the Revolution making his way to America where he became a priest father stürmer conducts the wedding in English for the benefit of this new generation that no longer knows Russian the Crown's to remind the bride and groom that now they're the sovereigns of a new family king and queen and without a torch unto ages of Ages Oh the wedding of squirts off to berestov seems to have reminded Alfred of his sovereign responsibilities providing for his queen and family so it's down to the sea to his sturdy boat where his crewmen norm Bowen is already on board off to the fishing grounds and along the way they meet some other fishermen who also take to the sea curling themselves from the cliffs sea lion some weighing a ton the little boat plows her way into Shelikof Strait where there's always a sea running it seems to hell a mild one this compared to days of sudden violent storm and there's not another spot on the globe that can claim worse weather the birthplace of storms just ask any world war ii GI who saw duty out here man that's coffee fisherman's coffee if the Luck's good for the next few months this will be home sweet home peanuts the radio and sometimes Russian music booming in from nearby Siberia the sea calmer now Alf and norm topside again as they near the fishing grounds and the home of Adak the Alaska king crab the king is the world's largest commercial shellfish weighing up to 25 pounds with a span as much as six feet this by the way is the first time he's ever made the movies underwater tiptoeing along the bottom but watch out for those claws powerful enough to break your finger about half speed for mr. crab a crab pot a trap with stainless steel wire and inside the bait bag with a freshly caught sculpted bull head a boat like Alf's and there are hundreds fishing Alaskan waters for king crab works as many as thirty pots at depths as great as 700 feet the average being about 300 fortunately for the cameraman these Kings are in shallow water a bottom-feeder the Alaska King lives on such delicacies as clams starfish and sea urchins watch him cooperate with the fishermen and the eventual consumer you and me a one-way ticket down that chute after a day or so Alf and norm picked their pots wondering as always if they've hit one of those schools of thousands of king crabs that are known so far to graze only the depths of the northernmost Pacific the king strictly a frigid water creature the boys have done okay they've run into a school of large adults more than 20 in that pot in their way out and close to 12 pounds of piece alfe and norm wear heavy gloves taking no chances with those claws even though the tremendous change in pressure makes the crab sluggish all females are thrown back they're identified by their stomachs and the egg pouches which sometimes contain as many as a quarter of a million eggs also released young males with body diameters less than six and a half inches a fish's I do by the way they Alaska King who's weary of the pots may live to be a teenager usually he molt's sheds his shell once a year only that way can he grow along with boats like Alfred's our larger ones with crews of three and four the Jeanette F the Shelikof capable of fishing crab farther at sea and less concerned with heavy weather we're aboard the Shelikof now far out on alaska's continental shelf our skipper Barney's sir wall his crew winches in the trawl net after making a drag which is another way of harvesting the Alaska king crab the Shelikof uses both techniques the pot and the trawl that's a poor drag says Arne as the cod end of the net swings aboard the few kings are tossed into the live tank another advantage of the larger boats where as many as 5,000 crabs can be kept alive for days drawing also provides bait for the pots and sometimes a delicious halibut for the captain's table serving the larger boats is the deep-sea one of Wakefield fisheries processing ships a floating factory where the Shelikof can unload her bulging tank captain Ben journey of the deep sea weighs him up under the watchful eye of the Shelikof skipper who's already mentally ringing up the cash register looking on from above a couple of lols Lowell Wakefield on my left in a moment he'll tell us more of this new industry after the Shelikof sketches aboard the deep sea in her saltwater tanks where the crabs are held until that last trip up the conveyor Lowell Wakefield is the president of Wakefield fisheries now from one law to another Lowell and I hope you can tell which Lowell Lowell I guess you rate the title King of Kings king of King crabs at least I understand that this industry which you pioneered has played a vital role in the development of our new state Alaska all I think you're being entirely too kind it is true that the large scale commercial exploitation of the Alaska King grab dates back to the launching of this good old ship deep sea in 1947 by the way Lowell what does the future hold for this industry Lowell this I'm sure is one of the bright spots of our great state of Alaska I think that the king crab industry has a terrific future and a lot of special meaning because most of our traditional fisheries the big ones for salmon and for halibut our summertime fisheries this one is a wintertime fishery bringing in dollars to Alaska fishermen processing workers and business people at the time of year when we needed the most processing like we see it going on today here on the deep sea yes that's right the processing of course isn't always going on like it is today because all fishing has its ups and downs whether one is casting fly in a trout stream in northern Minnesota or fishing for king crabs along the rugged Aleutians you mean some days the crabs just don't bite is that it and some days the weather doesn't let us answer their bite oh yes we've all heard about other nations fishing these waters Lowell does it pose any sort of a problem to you yes though it does the Japanese and the Russians both have big fleets far bigger than ours operating on the king crab grounds off the Alaska coast the Japanese have been there for some years we have a treaty with them and it's possible to talk these things over and work out solutions as they replicated so far we have no way of talking to the Russians and that is Alaska's big fishery problem in international affairs thing part of each season the deep-sea operates in the midst of the big Japanese fleet and we have operated amongst the Russian vessels also we've been born in an attempt as one fishermen to another to find answers to some of these problems that we have been discussing from that Russian fleet in the pack ice of the Bering Sea we fly to raspberry island near Kodiak and down below Port Wakefield Lowell's headquarters and one of his onshore processing plants it's the destination now of our fisherman friends Alfred and norm with their load of Terrell authorities Kamchatka king crabs that is which must be brought in while still alive and what kind of a welcome to the boys get just a scolding for not coming sooner from the hungry goes in a good year a little boat like Alps can gross as much as $30,000 in this new Alaskan fishery the processing and freezing of king crab meat which is taken only from the legs and claws is done swiftly and with great care to ensure its sea fresh quality some of the basic steps cooking in seawater for 25 to 30 minutes at 212 degrees the meat then is cooled quickly and taken in steel baskets to a room where the legs are sorted trimmed and scrubbed clean of any barnacles or dirt Jonnie shanigan the scrubber well his allyl ancestors would have been flabbergasted to see this many of the legs and claws which may yield up to four pounds of meat per crab are wrapped in aluminum foil and packed in cartons others are sent to the blowers where the long strips of meat are blown cleanly and in one piece from the shell by means of a saltwater air jet now the women take over don't they always inspection and packing on the left su moon from South Korea he and one of the ladies make a final inspection topping off the pans and adjusting their weights to 15 pounds before they're taken to the quick deep freeze freezing of the whole eggs and meat by the way until they reach the dinner table is one key to the huge success of this business where consumer demand is always running ahead of supplying clothes watch is kept by Howard Wakefield Lowell's brother Howard Superintendent of Port Wakefield each pan eventually is broken down and repacked and smaller retail packages like this one the company laboratory where biologists work on quality control and product research guy pal here at the moment marine biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game guys specializes in the king he's studying a tagged crab brought in by our fishermen one of thousands that have been tagged in order to study their growth in migratory habits all part of Alaska's scientific approach to its fishing industry barnacles tell guy that the crab hasn't molted this year the tag threaded through a muscle so it won't be lost during a molt and it stays with the crab for life this tag three years old a one-room schoolhouse with its schoolmarm mrs. King suggests that Port Wakefield is far more than a processing plant or a headquarters it may well become a future Alaskan city the second flag is Alaska's blue for northern skies gold stars for what's in them thar hills and how do the fellows spend their time when school's out bother these fishermen who take over the streams during the salmon runs Lowell Wakefield cedar home and what could make a better climax to our story about Alaska king-crab than a feast with the pioneers of this growing industry you guessed it a crab feast our host specialty charcoal-broiled legs the legs split down the middle there always seems to be a commit sir at a time like this and ours is Ralph Jones vice-president of Wakefield Fisheries mrs. Howard Wakefield passes hubby a little teaser a crabmeat cocktail man that's seafood our hostess mrs. Lowell Wakefield has her own favorite dish a casserole crabmeat and mushroom and cheese sauce on rice crab claws with mayonnaise how does all this taste well you'll just have to make a trip to market look for Wakefield's fresh frozen alaska king crab in the frozen food cabinet and find out for yourself but no question how Danny Wakefield feels about it or his puppet malarkey a pretty fancy diet for a wire-haired dachshund one he seldom has a chance to enjoy so there's the story of a new industry highly significant to the development of our new state Alaska an industry based on the world's largest commercial shellfish the alaska king crab it's bringing new jobs new income and even a new way of life to the descendants of those earliest inhabitants of these rugged islands the Aleuts and doing the same for hundreds of other Alaskans - an industry that is meeting the demands of those Americans everywhere who loved the best in seafood so long