Abalone and other fish stories.
I mentioned, in my last entry, the box building job for Al Hanson
Al was a "Jack of all trades" when it came to the ocean. He owned several enterprises that were dependent on the Pacific Ocean.
The Abalone was tightly controlled by the state of California. The demand for the shell fish was greater than it's ability to multiply. The reverse side of the issue is that the Abalone can only breed and survive in certain area's. If they aren't harvested they all die off. The taking of some makes room for others. The state in an effort to excercise control(at that time)issued only a very few permits to harvest Abalone. Al Hanson held such a permit. I don't know what the limits were on his harvest. I do know that during spring and early summer he'd take several hundred pounds of the shell fish. Might have been several ton's. At that time in life I didn't give such things a lot of thought.
The Abalone processing plant was a big white wooden structure. It sat on a little point of land that jutted out into the ocean complete with it's own boat dock. The building had windows that exposed all interior area's to good light and air movement. It took about fifteen people to run the operation.
The abalone process was pretty much like any other that dealt with taking the raw material and forming it into a desirable food source. The pay was by the day instead of the hour. The shift depended on the days catch. The average shift was six hours. The catch was first washed down in salt water. The edible portion was remove from the shell along with everything else. Abalone shell's brought a good price so they were saved. The meat was again washed. Then it was sliced because the meat itself was a big chunk shaped like the shell it came from. The slices were about one quarter inch thick. Abalone like most other shell fish have parasites that live in even healthy ones. In this case it takes the form of a small worm or worms. Each slice had to pass three inspectors before it was considered as good for the next step. The final processing step was to use a "meat" hammer to "tenderize" each piece. After all these steps the Abalone was made up into one pound portions and packed into a small wooden box and put on ice. The meat was never frozen because it turned black on thawing out and lost it's flavor. My part of the process was to build the wooden box. Al let me work anytime I wanted as long as I kept enough boxes ready. I liked working with the other people but usually worked when they weren't there. The main reason for this arrangement was that the people hammering the Abalone covered me in tiny bits of meat. Once the stuff dried it stuck like glue. It was awful if you got it in your hair. After a few days of being covered up by Abalone pieces I had to find a better way.
Al always gave me some of the Abalone shell's and let me use his acid vats to clean the shells. The cleaned shell is beautiful and was worth at least a dollar for sales to the tourist.
Any type of fishing on Catalina was great. The tourist hardly ever came to fish but the full time residents fished for fun and food. I seldom fished from a boat. Plenty of fish could be caught fishing from the piers on the island. Fish in the two to four pound range were common. Abalone and Flying Fish made the best bait. Luckily my family ate fish and the supply was plentiful. For some reason salt water fish weren't as "bony" as fresh water fish, a real bonus for fish eaters.
Red Lobster and Alaskan crab were plentiful in the waters around Catalina. Al all ways managed to catch a few while collecting the Abalone. He would have my family over for lobster almost weekly. I liked lobster but never really cared for Abalone. Al's wife Norma could prepare about any sea food you could name. She made up the best broiled Tuna and Albacore I ever ate. Hectors wife was a close second in the sea food cooking department. Being from the south we were accustomed to fried fish only. The other cooking method's were totally new to us. A pleasant surprise to say the least.
Al was a "Jack of all trades" when it came to the ocean. He owned several enterprises that were dependent on the Pacific Ocean.
The Abalone was tightly controlled by the state of California. The demand for the shell fish was greater than it's ability to multiply. The reverse side of the issue is that the Abalone can only breed and survive in certain area's. If they aren't harvested they all die off. The taking of some makes room for others. The state in an effort to excercise control(at that time)issued only a very few permits to harvest Abalone. Al Hanson held such a permit. I don't know what the limits were on his harvest. I do know that during spring and early summer he'd take several hundred pounds of the shell fish. Might have been several ton's. At that time in life I didn't give such things a lot of thought.
The Abalone processing plant was a big white wooden structure. It sat on a little point of land that jutted out into the ocean complete with it's own boat dock. The building had windows that exposed all interior area's to good light and air movement. It took about fifteen people to run the operation.
The abalone process was pretty much like any other that dealt with taking the raw material and forming it into a desirable food source. The pay was by the day instead of the hour. The shift depended on the days catch. The average shift was six hours. The catch was first washed down in salt water. The edible portion was remove from the shell along with everything else. Abalone shell's brought a good price so they were saved. The meat was again washed. Then it was sliced because the meat itself was a big chunk shaped like the shell it came from. The slices were about one quarter inch thick. Abalone like most other shell fish have parasites that live in even healthy ones. In this case it takes the form of a small worm or worms. Each slice had to pass three inspectors before it was considered as good for the next step. The final processing step was to use a "meat" hammer to "tenderize" each piece. After all these steps the Abalone was made up into one pound portions and packed into a small wooden box and put on ice. The meat was never frozen because it turned black on thawing out and lost it's flavor. My part of the process was to build the wooden box. Al let me work anytime I wanted as long as I kept enough boxes ready. I liked working with the other people but usually worked when they weren't there. The main reason for this arrangement was that the people hammering the Abalone covered me in tiny bits of meat. Once the stuff dried it stuck like glue. It was awful if you got it in your hair. After a few days of being covered up by Abalone pieces I had to find a better way.
Al always gave me some of the Abalone shell's and let me use his acid vats to clean the shells. The cleaned shell is beautiful and was worth at least a dollar for sales to the tourist.
Any type of fishing on Catalina was great. The tourist hardly ever came to fish but the full time residents fished for fun and food. I seldom fished from a boat. Plenty of fish could be caught fishing from the piers on the island. Fish in the two to four pound range were common. Abalone and Flying Fish made the best bait. Luckily my family ate fish and the supply was plentiful. For some reason salt water fish weren't as "bony" as fresh water fish, a real bonus for fish eaters.
Red Lobster and Alaskan crab were plentiful in the waters around Catalina. Al all ways managed to catch a few while collecting the Abalone. He would have my family over for lobster almost weekly. I liked lobster but never really cared for Abalone. Al's wife Norma could prepare about any sea food you could name. She made up the best broiled Tuna and Albacore I ever ate. Hectors wife was a close second in the sea food cooking department. Being from the south we were accustomed to fried fish only. The other cooking method's were totally new to us. A pleasant surprise to say the least.
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