In 2021, federal authorities severely limited the allowable catch. Then came the massive, unexpected drop in the crab population-a crash scientists linked to record-warm ocean temperatures and less ice formation, both associated with climate change. In a normal year, taxes on crab and local investments in crab fishing could bring St. People filled the town’s lone tavern in the evenings, and the plant cafeteria, the only restaurant in town, opened to locals. Boats full of crab rode into the harbor at all hours, sometimes motoring through swells so perilous they’ve become the subject of a popular collection of YouTube videos. Not that long ago, at the peak of crab season in late winter, temporary workers at the plant would double the population of the town, butchering, cooking, freezing, and boxing 100,000 pounds of snow crab per day, along with processing halibut from a small fleet of local fishers. In a regular year, a good portion of the snow crab America eats comes from the plant, owned by the multibillion-dollar company Trident Seafoods. A plate of crimson legs with drawn butter there will cost you $32.99. You’re probably familiar with sweet, briny snow crab- Chionoecetes opilio-which is commonly found on the menus of chain restaurants like Red Lobster. A darkened processing plant, the largest in the world for snow crabs, rose above the quiet harbor. The grocery store, school, and clinic sat in between them, with a 100-year-old Russian Orthodox church named for Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of the day in June 1786 when Russian explorer Gavril Pribylov landed on the island. It stretched across a saddle of land, with rows of brightly painted houses-magentas, yellows, teals-stacked on either hillside. Town appeared beyond a rise, framed by towers of rusty crab pots. The sandy road from the airport in late March led across wide, empty grassland, bleached sepia by the winter season. In my notebook, tucked into my backpack, I’d written a single question: “What does this place preserve?” Paul, there was no wildfire-only fat raindrops on my windshield as I loaded into a truck at the airport.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |