Item F1980:254 - Fresh from the deep

The item is a documentary film. "A man waving beside three stretched halibut skins. Map of B.C. showing coast to Kodiak Island in Alaska. Aboard a fishboat, men clean and gut a halibut, dress it for packing and salt it away for shipment. Fishboats alongside a cannery or processor's wharf at Prince Rupert. Halibut being lifted out onto the wharf. Men in hold loading halibut into net. In more southerly waters, a small halibut boat at sea and description of how to catch the fish. Fisherman chucks a barrel-buoy overboard, followed by a coil of line, and he makes ready to feed out the long-line. The long-line is paid out slowly, with bundles of hooks, or 'skates' being baited before they slip under the sea. [Long shot] and [close-up] of halibut being pulled in over the side. Halibut in the hold. In northern waters, small boats are taken to the fishing ground by larger boats on their decks, then lowered into the sea where they hoist sail and row to their area. A Large boat from Seattle arrives, lowers its boats onto the ocean, and they row away with two men in each. The Line is let out by hand over the stern, then hauled in by hand. The mother ship picks up the small boats, their crews and their catch, and sails away. [Long shot of] Prince Rupert from the sea. Crowded wharfside scene with many fishboats. Halibut being lifted by net onto a wharf. Men on deck unloading the fish. Halibut being received in interior of packing shed, and being placed in fresh ice in crates. The lids are nailed securely and the crates are wheeled away to the Prince Rupert railway station, where the crates are loaded into a refrigerator car. A fifteen-car train, "The Fish Express", leaves Prince Rupert hauled by Grand Trunk Pacific Locomotive #603. In immediate [background] is a sign reading: "Kelly Douglas and Co. Ltd. -- Player's Navy Cut Cigarettes." The train approaches, then cut to caboose moving away." (Colin Browne)