Alaska's Ports.

• Author: ESS, CHARLIE

A look at some of Alaska's busy and not-so-busy ports.

From Naknek to Nome and beyond Alaska's coastline looks windblown and dark about now. But come late May, when the sea ice moves the offshore, and the breezes run heavy with budding alder the first tugboats appear on the horizon, their barges laden with trucks, groceries, fuel, construction materials and other supplies. Thus begins the seasonal surge of some of Alaska's ports.

Naknek/King Salmon

In October Peggy Saia, Naknek's port director, watched the last of the summer's come-back catch of 26 million sockeye salmon pull out of town en route to Seattle. Some of the fish departed in cans packed tightly into container vans, which had been secured to the barge in tall stacks. The canned sockeyes will ultimately be distributed to East Coast markets in time for Lent, while the frozen versions will be either consumed through domestic sales or transshipped to Japan.

With catches running at a respective 13 million and 10.7 million fish in the two preceding years, bankers sat on the edge of their ergonomically correct chairs while the City of Naknek, which derives nearly all of its income from tariffs on the freight moving across the docks, also had much at stake. Many of the area's salmon packers (there are about a dozen companies), meanwhile, discontinued shipments of freezing and canning supplies because they had leftovers from the runs of `97 and `98.

This summer the fish hit with such vigor that they left processors shorthanded on labor and canning supplies. When it was over, revenues were on par with years past, said Saia. "At least there were fish here again," she said, her voice jubilant. "It was fun and chaotic. We're back to pre-'97 thinking."

That means barges will return with canning and construction supplies next spring. The sentiments of the town, meanwhile, have also been restored to the years when you could bet on fish, says Saia. "You've got to plan for the bad and go for the good," she says.

Naknek and nearby King Salmon (12 miles inland by road) are the hubs for many in the salmon fishery. Air services keep their planes dotting the skies during the long daylight hours of summer as they haul the transient population of diesel mechanics, electronic communication and refrigeration specialists, seafood company heads and cannery workers from point to point. Or to floating processors anchored off the "Y" of the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers.

Local roads are also abuzz with vendors...