Dan Penix spent this summer and last pulling 1,000-pound racks of salmon around an isolated Alaskan fishery in 16-hour shifts.
Ideal, he says, for a college student like himself.
‘It’s seasonal, good pay, and even better because of the overtime,? he said. ‘Sixteen hour days, seven days a week, 100 hours a week and anything over 40 is time and a half.?
Penix, a 2011 Brandon High School graduate and a senior majoring in mathematics at Cedarville University in Ohio, was told by a friend about the job working at Leader Creek Fisheries in Naknek, Alaska. He applied online last year and in a phone interview was quizzed about his ability to endure long hours of physically grueling work. Penix told the interviewer that he is a member of the ROTC and as such, did field training for 17 hours a day. Additionally, he has run two marathons and is training for a third. They hired him, with not only the promise of a good salary, but provisions of room and board during his employment, and roundtrip airfare from Seattle to King Salmon, Alaska. From there, he and his fellow seasonal workers, many also college students, were rounded up by bus and drove down the only connecting road to Naknek.
Naknek, a town of about 500 according to the 2010 Census, is only accessible to the rest of the world by plane or boat. Penix has never been anywhere else that is as remote as this place he stayed from June 16 to July 30 this year, and roughly the same timeframe last year. The time is dictated by when the sockeye salmon run, and Leader Creek employs about 400 processors during the salmon season. Penix worked from noon to 4:30 a.m. in the packing department, pulling 600-pound racks, 6.5 feet tall and 3-feet wide stacked with 400 pounds of salmon filets from a freezer. He would then take them to a ‘dumper,? where the fish would be put into a hydraulic system that takes them to a conveyor system and flips the filets upside down to rid them of excess ice build-up. From there, he took the racks to a washer.
‘It’s an exhausting job, but a lot more wear and tear on body than on your mind,? said Penix. ‘A lot of the other work doesn’t do wear and tear on the body, but it’s really tedious and messes with your head… I stayed a little warmer and drier than the other departments. I thought it was fun. My personal opinion, being a freezer guy in the packing department is the best job in the plant.?
The work at Leader Creek starts when boats bring in the wild caught Alaskan Sockeye salmon, which are then put into tanks and go through the fish house department. Employees there cut off heads and tails of the fish, and gut them, separating eggs which are processed into caviar. The rest of the fish goes into totes and ice relaxes the fish, which then go through the filet department, in which employees cut spines and scales off the fish and place finished salmon filets on to the racks to go in freezers. Penix and his co-workers take out the racks of frozen fish and after the hydraulic/conveyor system rids the filets of ice build-up, the fish is graded based on appearance and color. Chum grade is given to softer fish, and while it is more palatable, it is less profitable and is therefore usually used for pet food. Firmer salmon receives a higher grade and is packaged for human consumption.
Penix, however, has no interest in eating what he helped process for several weeks.
‘After working with it for 16 hours a day, it didn’t seem appealing,? he said. ‘I’ve never been a huge salmon fan.?
Last year, Leader Creek processed 12 million pounds of sockeye salmon. This year, they upped that total by a million pounds.
Although the majority of his time once the salmon began their run was spent working, Penix had a bit of time to explore the area, seeing a grizzly bear with her cub about a quarter-mile away last year and also saw bald eagles flying around the area regularly. He notes that Naknek only has a couple restaurants and a general store, which made it easier to save money. His meals were provided by Leader Creek and he and his co-workers had free board in the company’s bunkhouses. Many of his colleagues were college students or just out of college. Others were people who work there every year and follow fisheries around the state, according to when the different fish make their runs. Leader Creek also employs migrant workers from the Philippines.
Penix said whether he will return for a third summer of working at the fishery depends on when the Air Force needs him to report for the beginning of a six-year commitment. After he graduates with his bachelor’s degree next year, he will enter the Air Force as a second lieutenant and a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilot. Regardless of where that career takes him, he is glad he had the experience of working at an Alaskan fishery the past two years.
‘It’s a test of your character and shows what you are capable of,? he said. ‘They are looking for people who have determination and the work ethic to last for 16-hour days for a specific period of time. There is a certain point that everyone burns out, but it’s mind over matter and you power through.?