The rest of the story… Small-scale gillnetter plays a big role

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NORTHERN LIGHTS
Small-scale gillnetter plays a big role
Katie Sechrist is the
Division of Commercial
Fisheries Information
Officer with the
Alaska Department
of Fish and Game.
W
e don’t just like salmon here in
Alaska, we love them. Alaska’s
commercial fisheries are diverse, valuable and of tremendous economic importance to the state and nation. These
resources are self-renewing when properly managed, and the mission of the
Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s
Division of Commercial Fisheries is
to maximize commercial harvest and
economic benefits through sustainable
management practices for generations
to come.
Yet many Alaskans lack understanding both of our commercial fisheries and
of salmon management — and their importance to all Alaskans.
The Commercial Fisheries Division
staff is working to fill this information
gap with the help of an innovative new
tool named the Sustainability, a quarterscale model of a Bristol Bay drift-gillnet
fishing boat.
The idea arose November 2012 at Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle. Armstrong
Marine had built an 8-foot-long replica
of a gillnetter on display in its booth.
Crowds of Expo visitors, intrigued by
the model’s small size and its level of detail, were drawn to the display like fish
to a shiny lure.
Immediately the Commercial Fisheries Division staff began dreaming of the
possibilities of using this little boat as a
tool to educate Alaskans about the commercial fisheries in their backyard. With
help from Icicle Seafoods, Don Norton
of the Viekoda Bay and Slim Morstad,
VIEWS
from
Alaska
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
By Katie Sechrist
The Sustainability on display at Pacific
Marine Expo in Seattle, November 2012.
Search of
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SIMPLE LIFE
The rest of the story…
By Roger Fitzgerald
Roger Fitzgerald has
been covering the
Alaska fishing industry
since 1976.
A
n early run of sockeye, that’s what
we were targeting, the first of the
season, even earlier than the Copper
River. “Coghill reds!” That was our
8 NATIONAL FISHERMAN • DECEMBER 2014
battle cry, but we weren’t catching
enough to fill our fish hold, much less
open a new market. Dreamers we were.
It was a test fishery in a remote area of
Prince William Sound. Hard to find,
especially crossing Valdez Arm, wending our way through a seemingly endless
parade of oil tankers stacked up so tight
we couldn’t see through them to the
other side, like ghostly apparitions in the
fog… a catastrophe waiting to happen,
everyone said so, and they were right.
retired Bristol Bay area management biologist, the department was able to acquire the Sustainability from Armstrong
Marine in spring 2013.
The Sustainability debuted at the
Governor’s Picnic in Anchorage and
became an instant celebrity. She has
since attended events throughout Alaska communities, including sportsman
shows, fishing festivals, regulatory meetings, the Alaska State Fair and Fish and
Game’s own Salmon Celebration events
with school children.
The model gillnetter has been an
overwhelming success, generating an
inspiring amount of positive public
awareness for Alaska’s commercial fisheries. She’s been flagged down for roadtrip photo shoots and has spurred questions from excited youngsters and the
young at heart. I have yet to meet an
Alaskan, regardless of where they stand
on fisheries issues, who doesn’t smile
when they see her.
The Sustainability illustrates such
processes as how the net is set out and
retrieved, how fish quality is preserved
through chilling and the use of slush ice
bags and what a vessel license looks like.
Showing people one method of how
Alaska salmon are sustainably harvested
engages them to ask questions and start
conversations about topics such as fishContinued on page 30
That was in the summer of 1978. Me
and the kid and my partner Joe Kompkoff (aka Sea Lion Murphy) and his son.
I had the boat, and Joe had the jitney
and the seine. The boat was the Perry, an
old style wooden seiner built on nearby
Perry Island of native fir.
The season started out strong, a couple
of good sets, but it went flat as a pancake
after that. Our Neptune stove burned
out, leaving us cold and hungry, nothing
to eat but a baby seal that Joe shot while
it was nursing on an ice floe. Lucky for
us he missed the mother or we’d have
had to eat her, too. Anyway, Sea Lion
invited us to partake in the feast. We had
no choice but to accept.
It was served raw, Aleut style, neatly
For updated news, visit www.nationalfisherman.com
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Continued from page 8
eries management, the health
fisheries and conservation.
The Sustainability provides
introduction to commercial
Many people have never seen
of our
a great
fishing.
a com-
mercial boat or fishing gear up close,
nor do they know how either operates,
which is what makes the boat such a
great educational tool. It’s hands-on
and interactive.
Features of the Sustainability include
a moving deck reel, a nonfunctional inboard jet and a travel trailer that converts for display. Future plans include
adding fish holds for custom scale-tosize slush ice and brailer bags (courtesy
of Homer-based fisheries gear manufac-
turer and supplier Nomar) and a threeshackle gillnet.
The Commercial Fisheries Entry
Commission has even issued her a very
special vessel license, ADF&G 01959, or
1959 for short, in honor of the year of
Alaska’s statehood.
The goal of the CFD’s education
program is to foster and promote a
sense of culture and sustainability of
Alaska’s commercial fisheries. Knowledge gained through interactive tools
such as the Sustainability helps inform,
empower and engage Alaskans as future stakeholders.
The Alaska Department of Fish and
Game is committed to fostering stewardship in Alaska communities that are
connected by common threads — fisheries, sustainability, science and the
amazing wild salmon that weave them
all together.
swboatworks@gmail.com
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Olympic Nordic
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Randall visits the
Sustainability at
the Alaska State
Fair Seafood
Throwdown.
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Search of
❯ InTHE
SIMPLE LIFE
Continued from page 9
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30 NATIONAL FISHERMAN • DECEMBER 2014
ter of some fame, but a strategic location
for the military at a time when the Cold
War was heating up. The memory of the
Japanese occupying the Aleutians wasn’t
that far off.
As for us, we were ready to go back
fishing. The Neptune stove was working. We had some groceries aboard. We
spent a very pleasant few days camping
out with some of Sea Lion’s clan, smaller
family boats, most of them wood, lots
of moms and kids… and everyone had
a dead seal they were eager to share or
give away. The best part was the steam
house. The women had their hours, the
men theirs. It was always full.
But it was time for us to go. Maybe
head back toward the Copper River?
The season was just getting started. For updated news, visit www.nationalfisherman.com
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
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