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By Ryan Vagabundo
By Ryan Vagabundo
'Atsa lotta salmon
In Alaska, the high fishing season runs from around mid-June to early September, when the weather is at its most mild and the salmon are running. There is commercial fishing all through the state all year long, but things really ramp up during the warm months, to the point that there simply aren't enough hands available locally to staff the canneries and fishing boats.
There's such a great need during these months that the fishing industry will hire just about anybody who can handle long hours of heavy physical labor, doesn't have an equally heavy criminal record, and can get themselves to Seattle. The need is so great that if you get the job, they'll not only pay for you to fly in and out of Seattle, they pay wages that start at $10/hr and increase as you accumulate hours with each particular company, with those hours and pay rates rolling over from year to year if you choose to return.
But can't you roll out to New York or California and get $10/hr for a fast food job now? And why are we even talking about summer work in the dead of January anyway? To answer the first question, it's the overtime. 12 to 16-hour shifts are generally the norm in the fishing industry during the summer, and you do get paid 1.5x for all those overtime hours. $200 a day and $1000 a week pre-tax for newbies at a cannery is definitely not unheard of, and you can easily triple that on a boat. Good luck even getting 35 hours at that San Jose Del Taco job. And as far as the second question goes, now is the time to start planning and applying -- interviews usually start in March. These jobs do fill up eventually, and if you wait until April to get started you may very well find yourself ass-out for the year.
Before we get started with the particulars, a quick disclaimer: though I've lived in Alaska, I've never worked for the fishing industry. The information in this post comes primarily from one of my oldest vagabond friends, RD, who I met while I was up there and who has done two seasons at the canneries and one on a fishing boat. I've also talked to a few other hobos about it over the years here and there, and recent info has been filled in from some forums and the websites of the main companies in the industry that do seasonal hiring. Corrections and updates in the comments section are always appreciated ... let's get fishing!
CANNERY VS FISHING BOAT
The first decision you should probably make is, which job am I shooting for?
Salmon processing at an Icicle Seafoods cannery
Cannery work is the more "basic" job and pays less, but is easier to get into. You also don't have to go out to sea, if that's not your thing -- it's land-based in a factory setting. Canneries also don't really care about your age, gender, or work history. They just care that you can stay on your feet for a 12 to 16 hour shift, won't get overwhelmed by the smell and feel of dead fish, can sleep in a dorm-style situation (usually with three other people in a room with two bunk beds), and are mobile enough to keep the pace over the course of your shift.
Fishing boats pay more, but they're a little more choosy about who they take on and there are fewer total jobs available (though still enough that they need mainlanders to come up for the season). The labor on a fishing boat is actually less intense, since there are long stretches of inactivity and nobody cares if you sit down whenever you don't need to be standing up. But there is more risk since you're out at sea most of the time; while shows like Deadliest Catch are edited for dramatic purposes, this is still the second-deadliest occupation in the country, as there are a variety of ways that boats can sink and people can wind up going overboard in rough seas. You're also still subject to long shifts, sometimes even longer than at the canneries. And you'll need to pay about $200 for a fishing license to legally work on a boat, which may or may not be reimbursed by your employer.
If you're up for the challenge of a fishing boat, doing one summer at a cannery first is often good enough to get your foot in the door. They're often willing to train on the job, but they want to see that you're serious about sticking out a full season; once you're out on the boat it's real hard to drop you off and replace you if things don't work out. You might be able to skip the cannery year entirely if you've got experience in a labor position on a boat, though; something like serving in the Navy or Coast Guard, or working on decks as a merchant marine.
EXPENSES AND LIVING SITUATION
As mentioned, when you get hired on with these companies, you can expect them to pay your air transit from Seattle to Alaska. They handle it in different ways, though -- ideally they'll just pay for your tickets in advance, but some might reimburse when you get there, and some might not reimburse until you stick out the full season.
It's almost always up to you to get to Seattle on your own dime. You might assume Greyhound is the cheapest option, but Amtrak is usually comparable if there aren't a bunch of bus transfers involved. For example, let's say you need to get to Seattle from LA. Greyhound is usually charging anywhere from $95 to $115 on that route for a lengthy trip with a bunch of transfers. By paying $120, however, you can take the awesome Amtrak Coast Starlight the full distance.
Cannery housing is dorm style, with at least four people to a room, a shared common area with TV and computers, and usually some sort of kitchen facilities. Your bunk and basic hygiene needs are usually free, BUT that might be with the caveat of a daily fee of a few bucks deducted from your pay, and then paid back as a bonus when you leave ONLY if you stick out the whole season. There's almost always some sort of a cafeteria on site, and you are charged for food, but it's at way below cost -- you just pay a daily fee of three or four bucks and can eat as much as you want. A bunch of the canneries do have basic groceries nearby, but expect everything to cost more than it does back home if you want to cook for yourself, and not much in the way of restaurant options outside of places like Anchorage and Ketchikan.
Now, if you're on a boat, the housing arrangement is a nicer bunk with a little more privacy, and you usually aren't charged for your bed or your food. The ship's captain basically stocks up the fridge and freezers with a variety of food before going out, based on input from the crew, and you just make what you want in the kitchen when it's meal time.
THE WORK
So how about the day-to-day work? In a cannery, it can be summed up with two words - FISH GUTS. Seriously, you need a high tolerance for both handling and smelling dead fish. Some people can hack standing up for a 16 hour shift but can't take the smell for that long, day after day. The whole day is handling incoming fish; they come in from the boats in big mixed bins, and the first job is to hand-sort them according to species, and then basically carve them up and load them up on trays for further processing.
Photo courtesy of Hernan Piñera
Fishing boats are an ebb and flow of extreme action and inaction. Basically, fishing season rules in Alaska specify that certain zones are only open for certain times, sometimes as little as a few hours. So there's a mad competitive scramble when a zone is open, followed by a lull as you travel to the next area. An inexperienced deckhand will most likely be working with the nets, and sorting fish is actually a big job here too, though the goal is to pick out illegal species that can cause the entire catch to be lost if authorities find them in the mix. While the nets are down in the water being filled, you're often sitting around doing nothing, sometimes for a couple of hours at a time, though you're still on the clock and being paid.
In both cases, expect to work 2.5 to 3 months to do a full season. Things usually come to an end promptly on August 31, but your start date may vary. Expect to work six to seven days a week, 12 to 16 hours each day, depending on how busy that particular season is - it's a lot to handle, but also keep in mind every hour over 8 a day and 40 total for the week is time-and-a-half, which is where the real earnings potential of this gig comes in.
CANNERIES - HIRING INFORMATION
The links below go to big canneries that reliably hire every year, most of them have detailed instructional pages for people who want to apply.
BOATS - HIRING INFORMATION
It's a lot tougher to secure a job remotely in advance and have it waiting for you on a boat. RD reports that boats usually recruit closer to when they are about to launch (May/June) and just look for guys who are already on the docks. He suggests maybe lining up a cannery job in advance, getting there early sometime in May when the weather is favorable so you can camp out, and then just hanging out at your dock of choice talking to people who look like they're associated with fishing boats until something pops. Then you've got the cannery job to fall back on if the boat thing doesn't work out.
You'll need a commercial fishing license too, which you can get at sporting goods stores and various other places up there just by basically walking in and paying the $200 fee.
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