The port of Dutch Harbour on Amiknak Island in the Aleutian Chain consistently ranks as the largest fishery by volume in the United States. Each year the large fleet bring in tons of cod, pollock, king crab and snow crab. It has been the base of operations for the Baring sea since the mid 1980s. In recent years it has become more renowned as the starting point for for many episodes of the Discovery Channels reality series of the Deadliest Catch. The Shows name derives from the high risk of injury or death associated with the work aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea. Commercial fishing has always been considered one of the most dangerous jobs in America. The Alaskan King Crab is considered even more dangerous due to the conditions of the Bering sea during the fishing seasons. In a typical year more than 30 fishermen are killed gambling death for wealth every year.
Leisure Fishermen fishing for Salmon in a small inlet at Dutch harbour.
It was good to see that even though the salmon numbers are plentiful in this region, they still have to adhere to quotas. Many of them were catching and releasing.
The Aleutian Hotel where we enjoyed dinner on Sunday evening. Beautiful fresh seafood as you would expect but the meals were HUGE and could have fed three people. HIDEOUS quantities. Guessing they must have been designed to feed hungry fishermen. It was well supported by locals.
The road that leads to the fish processing plant. In the foreground is the accommodation for the workers that are bought in each summer to process the seafood and work in the tourist industry which has become more popular after the Deadliest Catch documentary starting screening.
This was the main store on the island which sold everything. There were very few other shops.
I found these cactus leaves in the chiller section of the fruit and vegetables and asked an assistant how you eat them and what they taste like but he wasn't very helpful other than to tell me you can boil them and remove the skin. He had no idea what they tasted like or what you would use them in but I gathered that they weren't very popular because another person I asked didn't know either.
These mushrooms were rather unusual too and Im sure if I saw them growing in a field I would have thought that maybe they would not be for human consumption. So you just never know.
It was a surprise to find NZ Greenshell Mussels in the section of frozen foods . With all the fabulous seafood they have here they import our mussels. Terrific.
The Norwegian Rat Saloon looked too interesting to pass by and we popped in for a look. Although there only a few locals sitting around the Bar we decided to to take a seat and have a bite to eat as the atmosphere was pretty good. Our table had a great view and the food was nice. Apparently The Rat is the current popular place for the younger and wilder bar patrons and can get very unruly at nights. We were quite happy being there in the middle of the day when it was peaceful. (below ) The Bars in Dutch harbour have now 'cleaned up their acts' over the last few years. A previous bar called the Elbow Room was closed down after being voted by Playboy Magazine as being the roughest bar in the USA.
Its the end of the fishing season now (King Crab starts early October ) and the fishermen were checking and repairing their ropes and chains. A huge task as there were hundreds of metres all methodically laid out.
The Dutch harbour mall was in a bit of a sad state with only two businesses left in operation. Not sure what the reason was for that.
Some of the smaller fishing boats.
There were at least 300 metres of processing sheds along this road. The smell was terrible. The business is run by a temperature controlled logistics company who opened the facility in 2010. It provides processing, storage and logistics to the fishing industry.
The view looking across from Dutch Harbour to Unalaska which is connected by a bridge. The harbour is surrounded by hills and is so beautifully green.
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