processor

maintenance technician

human resources manager

operator

office manager

Silver Bay Seafoods

Interesting group of employees -- around June, mostly East European college students work there as processors, and there's a lot of them, with a few in management positions. Nice male/female residence facilities for those younger college-age people, & for the fulltime staff, too. Things can seem claustrophobic though during the full-on 24/7 processing weeks though because of all the people everywhere, & so room-sharing is part of the plan.
GREAT food though, and a lot of it. All living needs are right there at the plant -- food, laundry, wireless internet, satellite TV, etc, so no real need to go into town except for maybe a change of scenery or if you're a drinker, for Saturday night pub crawls.
The plant is a fairly new facility (about 4 yrs old as of 2012), and is only about a mile from the tiny hamlet town of Craig, which can be walked in 20 minutes or so. In Craig is a Wells-Fargo bank (it's the only bank in town but there's a small Alaska-based credit union there, too), 1 main grocery store, I think 3 or 4 bars around town, several churches of course to balance out the bars, lots of souvenir types of stores, a couple outdoors equipment-oriented stores, and a good-sized name-brand high quality outdoors-clothing store, too.
And of course, beautiful views, everywhere.
SBS Craig is a great place to work, meet new friends, save up some money since unless you're a hard partier, there's hardly anyplace to drop any really big bucks or the need to, since again, SBS Craig supplies all living needs & expenses, a big 3-meal chow hall/TV room that's open after hours for snacks & drinks, and several other amenities to make your stay there not at all unpleasant but rather, enjoyable & fun.

First couple weeks can explore the area, not much around but thats kind of the point ay?  try not to get addicted to cigs out there because its the biggest past time.  dont work too hard or they will make you do extra without any room for advancement lol just work an even pace and dont try to do too much because they mainly promote family connections and the best you'll get is a 25/50 cent raise for being the lead.  Its all political.  I had fun and learned a lot.  Sometimes, if your the last shift to go on break, they dont set aside any food for you so all the good stuff is gone and your stuck with whatever is left.  Then have to go back to work on whatever is left.  people quit every season and they expect you to pick up the slack for no extra pay so ike i said, dont work too hard because youll be doing 16 hour shifts for a month or two and dont need to waste your energy trying to get a 25/50 cent raise they will throw to their lazy cousin if available.  This is a company making billions and they will pay you minimum wage lol they brought us out to celebrate setting a record for most fish caught and processed, round of applause then back to work lol no bonus not even a celebretory snack.  just a pat on the back and told to go back to work as they just wasted your 15 minute break, patting you on the back.  often times they try to cut yourr 15 minute break short, at even 10 minutes sometimes, as they all snicker to eachother about how funny it is to cut every1s brake short. 

Only worked a two weeks herring season. 16 hour days non stop. Hardest thing i've ever done, was more sore by far than i've ever been. You will lose a few brain cells from the repetitiveness and lack of sleep. A good 25-35% of the employees quit, had to pay their way back, and went home in the negative. A friend that I went up there with left, I almost left. But I survived, and the money helped get me on my feet.
Stuff you should bring:
-A ton of good socks, 10+ pairs of moisture wicking socks, those boots aren't fancy and it's a swamp in there
-Sturdy waterproof shoes or boots, if you want to walk around at all on your off time. sturdy warm clothes
-flip flops for showers
-more hygiene stuff than you need, you'll be stinky
-icey hot and painkillers
-vitamins, especially vitamin c, caffeine pills or instant coffee, electrolyte packets, stuff like that.
-carton or two of cigarettes, to kill time, barter, sell, or gain influence with haha
-first aid kit
-deck of cards, handheld games, books, download music to your phone ahead of time!

Have no expectations, lower your standards, forget about comfort and joy for awhile. Like buddha said, there's no suffering without desire. Mind your business, remember what you're there for, keep away from the whiners cause it's contagious, eat all you can, sleep all you can, you don't need to spend a dime so don't, watch out for that general store.

Going up again for salmon so I can finally get some wheels, see ya'll up in Naknek probably!

At the beginning and before start to work, the company display at all monitors where all personal working place for all departments and them offer and give a plant tours for those never work in any plant or with Silver Bay Seafoods. Atypical day we work organize and with friendship. When you work with Silver Bay Seafoods you always learn something new and something to share with us and others too. Silver Bay Seafoods are so grateful and special about the our political of Management door open, you can have access to speak in public or private with all administrative or Management personal.

The working place in Silver Bay Seafoods with exciting and have much fun. Th hardest part of the job if working 16 hrs, but at the same part it's fun time too.

The most important or enjoyable part of the job its after working 16 hrs, you gonna eat and sleep for the next day that you wake up and you check the monitors and see that your Department or all plant are free the entire day, for do whatever you want, You can said Yesssss!!! YUPPIE!!!!

They treat their processors like cattle! We were literally yelled at every single break to get back to work! You don’t get a full length break. They include your changing time into your breaks. Little to no training, you only get to know your position by getting thrown into the job and yelled at when you do something wrong until you correct it. My supervisors spoke little English and didn’t communicate with me at all. Not worth the money!!!! Go work for a different plant and actually get treated like a human being. It’s a huge bait and switch situation. I told HR that there was so much about this job that “wasn’t on the flyer” and their response was “if we disclosed all of that do you think people would actually come?” On top of that they drive people so hard especially the foreigners from less developed countries because they know that those people don’t have a choice and have to work and silverbay takes advantage of that!! Don’t work here!!! Not worth it!!!! Only a 30 lunch for a 16 hour shift and even at 20 minutes they are yelling at everyone to get back to work. I was so looking forward to this experience in Alaska and they totally destroyed that! I wish I was exaggerating! I’m not. I had to leave due to being overworked I hurt my shoulder and just a hint: 9 people left the same day I did. It’s very common for a high number of people leaving that job due to work conditions.

I leaned the ins and outs of a production company floor from my supervisor, who had been with the company for quite some time. I enjoyed learning from him, and i enjoyed the people i lived, and worked with. The plant i had worked at however had hired one third the usual amount for a skeleton crew, but when boat after boat of fresh caught Alaskan salmon were poring into the harbor the skeleton crew quickly assumed all responsibilities. Most of us were working anywhere from 14-20 hours a day. I left silver bay seafood's after several work place injuries occurred (a man had his arm crushed by a block of ice, and a girl nearly had her arm ripped of when her arm got stuck in an elevator shaft and the operator wasn't paying attention), due to what i believe was a combination of sleep deprivation and rushed training. At the time i was awake for 60 hours strait, and suffering from sleep deprivation myself, i decided to call it quits. I had family who needed me back home, and 7.75 isn't worth life or limb. A month or so after being back in Washington my friend who had remained in Alaska informed me that the production manager himself was fired for how poorly that season had been handled.

Work is hectic the first couple of weeks if you're not used to this kind of work environment. It gets better as the days go by. Just remember to always pack warm clothes and water resistant clothes since it rains a lot and most importantly, the right foot gear. I recommend to get yourself a pair of Xtra Tuff brand boots. You can find them on Amazon or just go to the Xtra Tuff website, they range from $80 to $150 but they're totally worth it. And get you some insoles too. Met some great people, hours vary depending on how much fish there is to process. SAVE YOUR MONEY!! Don't go out crazy spending. Everything in Alaska is expensive. And last but not least if you're a married person with kids, this job may not be for you if you're the type that gets homesick. Don't be afraid to speak up! if you have a problem talk to your supervisor or if you're having personal issues there's always someone there that will help you out and give you some pep talk. It's worth it in my opinion not just money wise but the experience! Do your research through some YouTube videos (How to survive Silver Bay) or look at the reviews. This job is not for everyone but once you get used to it your days will go by quicker.

I lasted 3 1/2 week's I worked 16 to 18 hrs everyday! i noticed as people quit no one was there to replace you! so that means you stay working infill someone can take your place! at $9.50/hr it is not worth it. If it was $13 it would be! The food was great. they did feed us well. But the management was not good. The housing smelled so bad! And a lot of people where on Drugs or drinking on the off hours which there is not even time to sleep. and to this day after working there only 3 1/2 week i have a scare on my finger's from Gutting right out of the Butcher Machine. So when i started on the machine i would do about 20 fish a min.. They would Turn UP trace Music so loud in the plant so we would fall in to a trace as we worked and with in an hour or 2 i was doing about 60+ fish a min. But if you really need the money and have no where to go i guess thats where you will go! OH do not think about quoting or getting fired! the will mail your check to your home state! If you have no money. Looks like you may be homeless in Alaska till your family gets you checks and can get it to you!! Shower's did not stay hot for long! Head space for top bunk!

My experience at the Naknek plant was horrible. I was there for the herring season and got an experience I will not forget. 

Management does not care about the employees at all. I got sick while I was there, the answer was take some DayQuil and go back to work. DayQuil or not, when you have a cold along with flu like symptoms working in a wet and cold environment for sixteen hours isn't going to help, it will make it worse. Bed rest is the key, but all they care about is the fish. Once I got home it took me over a week to recover from my sickness and dehydration because the water was not drinkable half the time. Also, for whatever reason management has a hard time giving a straight forward answer about questions you may have or no answer at all. It is not alright to question at Silver Bay Seafoods, you need to be unintelligent and just take in anything they tell you with no questions asked. 

My advice is stay away from this company! If for whatever reason you can not get employment else where or you want a job that does not require you to think for yourself, then join the ranks at Silver Bay.

Silverbay is constantly gowing, and changing. From my first year to now, I have seen the IT department slowly grow and start to meet standards that I initially felt they were behind on. Security was a big issue I noticed and they seem to be taking it more seriously now. The nature of the work is a little out of scope for standard IT roles, but that is just an aspect of the remote location.. Everyone exepects IT to resolve any issue for any technical matter, which just forces you to learn more. It can be tough doing long hours with no days off for months at a time, but your efforts are rewarded over time, especially if you keep coming back. They could use more of a MSP approach and have better interdepartmental communication and clearer goals from upper IT management to the separate plants. I believe they are working on that. The constant changing of IT helpers and leads makes documentation a nightmare.. a lot of times you have to start from 0 and create your own diagrams/mappings...

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Processor 10 salaries reported	$14.57 per hour
Maintenance technician 12 salaries reported	$34.00 per hour
Human resources manager 1 salary reported	$137,900 per year
Operator 2 salaries reported	$24.75 per hour
Office manager 6 salaries reported	$80,000 per year

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