Life at a Plant

After the frigid Sunset Bay, I had another couple days off in Dutch which included a racquetball tournament and more snowboarding. Following this short reprieve I was assigned to a processing plant in town. As an observer this is a coveted position because you remain on land and have a fairly light work load. I had the 4 pm to 4 am shift and shared an apartment at the plant with the lead plant observer. Our main duties as plant observers was to give breaks to boat observer monitoring there delivery and to sample deliveries made by boats without observers. We also had some paperwork regarding daily deliveries to complete. While most of the boats had upwards of 15 hour offloads of pollock there were a few small boats towards the end that were delivering live sablefish (also known as black cod). The first black cod delivery was quite a challenge as the other observer and I learned how to knock the fish out (so they would stop flopping around) and make the correct decapitating cut in order to best preserve product. Retrieving black cod otoliths(ear bones) was also a bit tricky because they are tiny compared to other species. I was able to finish out the last couple weeks of my contract at the plant and felt quite spoiled compared to vessel observing. In spite of catching a fever for a week, I was able to get in time at the rec center, a few hikes, and a lot of roller hockey. A young couple originally from Minnesota were my ride each Tuesday and Saturday to hockey and patiently coached me along until I felt as though I was actually a part of the game instead of just skating in circles.