Showing 12 photographs at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council’s Gallery, Juneau Arts and Culture Center (the Old Armory). The exhibit “Dutch Harbor: Where Crab is King!” is a photo essay of king crab and king crab fishermen when they get to the dock. The series was shot in Dutch Harbor/Unalaska, Alaska in the summer and fall of 2005. Reception is on Friday, 2 November and the exhibit will be on display 2 - 30 November ‘07.

DUTCH HARBOR, the official name of Unalaska’s port, is often used as an endearing term for the city of Unalaska. To a local or a fisherman, it is “Dutch” - a wind-swept point at the neck of the Aleutian Chain, where weather changes hourly, brewing over treeless hills and open water stretching as far as the eye can see.

AS ONE of the largest fisheries ports in the US and the main port for the Bering Sea crab fishery, Unalaska’s economy is based on commercial fishing and fish processing. Pollock is the bread-and-butter of fish processors, while halibut, black cod and crab are the Belgian chocolate. With some king crab catcher-processors bringing in upwards of 300,000 pounds of slow-moving deliciously-golden king crab, and prices ranging from $4 to $5 a pound, the crab is still the king!

THIS SERIES was shot in the fall of 2005, when an opportunity to work as a fishery biologist for the International Pacific Halibut Commission took me to Dutch Harbor for seven months. I was intrigued by the vibrancy of red, yellow, orange of raingear, lines and buoy bags of crabbers getting ready to head out. They seemed focused and a bit anxious, not knowing how the season would play out… A couple of weeks later crab boats appeared, fish holds packed with a live golden-reddish carpet of moving crab legs.