processed meat. 



Personal skill is not the only factor 

 in daily production. The women say that 

 female crabs, whose bodies are built to 

 protect the eggs, are harder to pick than 

 the males. The big "jimmy" crabs are 

 preferable to the small crabs found early 

 and late in the season. 



Machines have not yet been able to 

 adjust for individual crabs the way these 

 women can. As the crabs go through the 

 molting stages, the shells can be espe- 



cially delicate, crumbling easily into the 

 meat if the picker is not careful. 



For a beginner, the picking speed 

 tends to be hours per pound of crab 

 meat, rather than pounds per hour. 



The slow start is just too frustrating 

 for some new workers. Miss Lue recalls 

 one new picker a few years ago who 

 went to get a soda on her first morning 

 break — and never came back. 



But others who may have started at 

 only 4 or 5 pounds per day have stuck it 



out. Now they not only pick the 22 or so 

 pounds needed to meet minimum wage 

 for an eight-hour day, but many can 

 pick 30 or more pounds. 



Of the local pickers left, many are 

 well past traditional retirement age, and 

 their pace may be slowed by arthritis. At 

 the Lewis plant, the remaining workers 

 are ages 73, 75 and 83. 



"It isn't hard work or old people 

 couldn't do it," says Miss Lue, who 

 plans to keep on picking. □ 



COASTWATCH 1 1 



