Question:
I have been looking into summer jobs in Alaska on fishing
trawlers...but I haven't been able to get any first hand information.
I understand that the work is hard (not a problem), but the pay is
excellent.
I would appreciate any information you have on how to find such a job
and your first hand experiences. I am interested in working from May
through August if possible. How does this overlap with the season?
Answer:
-I spent a couple of months in Alaska last summer, and while I wasn't
looking for work, I met many who were. The people that I talked to were
all looking for the fishing jobs that you mention, but most ended up
with other work. There is far more cannery and logging work than actual
fishing work, so plan on being flexible. The pay is good for each job,
with logging paying the most, fishing second and cannery work last
(cannery work still pays more than working in a local tourist shop
though).
The people that I met just hung out at the docks as boats were leaving,
and asked if anyone needed help. They spent the rest of the day looking
elsewhere. The ones that got on boats were usually out for a few days at
a time, and were asked back for the next trip. I'm not sure about the
season, but there were plenty of boats going out in the mid-May to July
time period when I was there. I don't know for sure, but I would think
the season runs well into August.
As someone else pointed out, the work is quite dangerous and the hours
are long (by mid-June it's light in parts of southeast Alaska for about
20 hours out of the day) but the logging work seemed to be the worst.
The guys that I met from logging crews were working up to 20 hours a
day! These guys were taken out to island logging camps for 2 to 3 weeks
at a time. There were few, if any, services or housing for the most
part, so they lived in tents and other self constructed shelters. They'd
be back in town for a couple of days to a week, then return to camp.
They had some real horror stories about the hazards of the job (though
some were probably exagerated a bit). Fishing crews worked 16 to 18
hours a day, but not all of that time is manual labor (transit time,
etc.). Cannery workers were working 8 to 12 hour shifts.
-You can't get a job on a fishing boat in Alaska without a US work
visa (green card) unless you are a US citizen. If you don't have
one, don't even think about trying to find work here. See
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/howdoi/ead.htm
The Alaska Department of Labor has a warning about foreigners
trying to find work in the Alaska seafood industry on its web
site at http://www.labor.state.ak.us/news/2001/news01-41.htm
The folks selling the job books are selling them overseas because
their scam was shut down in the US, and the books are nothing
but lists from telephone directories, information that you could
search on the Web for yourself.
For those that are legally qualified to work in the US,
information is available at
http://www.labor.state.ak.us/esd_alaska_jobs/ak_jobs.htm
The books selling lists of jobs "in fishing" are ripoffs. They
are not fishing jobs but fish processing jobs. That is standing
in cold water gutting fish, or working in freezers moving racks
of fish in or out. Hours are long and pay is usually around $7
per hour, and they deduct room and board.
You should know that a number of these vessels have been cited
for safety violations, and that several of them have sunk with
loss of life in the past several years. There have been several
cases where the crew struck while in port because they had not
been paid. You need to be very careful about who your employer
will be and their safety and employee pay dispute record.
You can write or phone the Alaska Dept. of Labor for more
information. They can only help resolve pay disputes when you
work *inside* the 3 mile limit. One Dept. of Labor publication
says "No federal or state government agency can help you if you
are cheated by an unscrupulous boss or company while working
outside state or Federal jurisdiction."
