Fisheries Foreign

I've often thought it would be great to fish around the world- actively working in various fisheries, exotic and exciting to this previously insular American, exploring similarities in fishing practices and cultures across the globe, and forging friendships in the process. The perspective gained from working on the decks of boats in regions across the globe would be invaluable.

Most any boat could use an extra hand, right? This often isn't the case, and in some ways the captain can look at an extra hand as one more liability. My recent foray in the skipper's slippers might have shown me just how valuable experienced crew is. A foreigner who doesn't speak the language, is green to the specific fishery, has never before been on the boat- how valuable is he? Good for a laugh, perhaps, but little else at first. But eventually, after a day or two, if he knows a few knots, knows how to stay out of the bight, and can learn a thing or two on deck, he may be of some meager value to the boat. This is the little niche I'd like to fill. If only plane tickets weren't also a factor.....

Thanks to an especially generous benefactor and a open-minded fellowship committee willing to take a chance on a fool like me, I'll be spended the eight months or more exploring fisheries outside of the US. I'll use the fellowship support to cover airfare, and hopefully I'll be able to swing room and board (perhaps even a beer) in exchange for fishing work. The fellowship transformed an idle dream of mine into reality, overnight.

My idea is fairly straightforward and decidedly non-academic (I'm still amazed that it garnered any support): show up in a fishing-dependent region of a particular nation at roughly the peak fishing season, and then find work on one of the active fishing boats in the area. Meet people. Work with local fishermen. Green cards be damned. After roughly a month of work, more to a different region of the world. Repeat.

For the scholars in the house: nothing particular or specific will be studied. For the others: everything will be studied, although I'm certainly no expert. I'll try to take in all my surroundings, and will no doubt make comparisions and observe trends. I'll likely report some of these on this blog, and I also plan to tinker with creating some on-air radio pieces as well (stay tuned). It'd be unjust for me not to share what I see with others back at home.

Where to go? This question has burned up considerable lamp oil. My goal isn't to see the biggest fisheries of the world, or to visit the nations which dominate world fisheries harvests. Small-scale commercial fisheries, for whatever reason, are my cup of tea. Small fisheries, it seems are abundant the world over. Here's the current list, subject and likely destined to see more revisions:

Canada (Newfoundland)
Chile (far south)
Brazil (Amazon)
Portuese Azores
Tanzania (Zanzibar)
Mauritania
Vietnam
Mongolia (yes, even Mongolia has commercial fisheries)
Finland (Saami region)
Russia (Kamchatka)

...given sufficient time and funds....
Australia
Philippines

I've received many suggestions in formulating this list, and am still open to any others. Please do speak up.

Special Fish

The ocean is a wild place, and once in a while a real gem emerges. This post is dedicated to showcasing unique, abnormal, or otherwise remarkable...

Part albino halibut...a Pacific cod with scolosis...salmon with a keen eye for literature

























More to come...

I’ve seen some creative and borderline offensive bowstem artwork, but this one strikes me as just strange. Newfoundland humor I suppose. Or evidence of the single-minded drive of fishermen…Fortune, Newfoundland 10/29/08

F/V Icky Thump: Season I

The fishing season wrapped up last week for my small-scale skiff longlining operation. This is indeed a very small-scale operation as Alaskan commericial fishing standards (or most any standards) go, as setting and hauling of longline gear for halibut is done entirely by hand, with no mechanical hauler. For those unaccustomed to longlining, I basically string a thick line (the groundline), between two anchors along the bottom, and also attached to each of these anchors is line (riser line), to the other end of which a buoy is tied. Along the groundline, as the groundline is playing out off the stern of the boat, I attach a hook/leader (gangion)/snap assembly at intervals of roughly 20'. Longliners use a unit of measure called a skate to measure groundline; a skate of gear is 1800' of line. With my skiff, space and muscle limitations limit me to a total of 5 skates, usually split between two sets.

Longlining out of a skiff, at least out of my skiff, is questionable profitable and questionably intelligent. Others have done this out of Homer, and the fishing methods used on my 22' open skiff, the F/V Icky Thump, were basically copied from my friend Kyle, who has longlined out of his skiff for several years now. He in turn learned a few tricks of the trade from others in town who had fished out of skiffs and then wisely shifted away from it, after realizing that hand pulling gear takes a good toll on certain parts of the body.

Renn Tolman, a legendary Homer boatbuilder, originally built my boat back in 1984. His ability to design and build great skiffs out of common, inexpensive materials is surpassed only by his skill at artfully linking cuss words. You can check out a bunch of Renn's boats, and boats built according to his specs, at www.fishyfish.com.

This season the first time wearing the boots of what you could very loosely call a skipper. This meant that I took all credit for catching fish and did my best at blaming others/inanimate objects for any hangups, break-downs, or lack of fish. Fishing out of the skiff is a two person operation, and the friends I suckered into coming out deserve the real credit for the boat bringing in any halibut to market. Mistakes were made and lessons (hopefully) learned, and a few thousand pounds of feisty halibut were proudly delivered to the market. You couldn't get much fresher fish.

Lessons learned:
1. Setting in kelp beds makes for lots of extra work.
2. Skates (think manta rays, ancient cartilagenous fish) are heavy, especially coming up from over 300'.
3. Dogfish are indeed a schooling fish, meaning that when you catch one, you often catch hundreds.
4. It really doesn't make sense to fight against tides or weather. These are massive forces, and unsentimental ones.
5. Straddling a lively 100 lb. halibut may have painful consequences.
6. Nasty weather is a relative term, and nasty can come quickly for a flat-bottomed plywood skiff in Alaskan waters.
7. Sometimes, if you ignore outboard problems but wish good thoughts to the outboard, the problems fix themselves miraculously. But don't try this too often.

Thanks again to the valiant crew, the folks who let me lease their halibut quota, and those who came and fished their quota with me. I'm looking forward to next season when the Icky Thump once again licks the waters of Kachemak Bay.

The Blunderin' Background

Fish, fishing, and fisheries have always fascinated me, and for better or worse I've spent much of my life around fish and fishermen (this of course also includes women who fish, but I choose to use this word in place of 'fishers'...no harm intended...) In my early years, enticing fish for fun and for food with rod and reel- or with ice fishing traps in the winter- comprised most of my fishing endeavors. In recent years, my fishing energy has mostly been put towards commercial fishing- catching fish for a livelihood. In most cases, fun and food were also included as part of the deal. For the most part, due to the common use of the word up here in Alaska, when I refer to "fishing" in postings I'll mean commercial fishing.

While fish themselves have always attracted me, so too has the social network which is also a part of all fisheries. I don't mean to make this sound overly academic- I like fishing culture. It's a dynamic world, and while the romance of it all dies off quickly with swollen fingers, lack of sleep, a sore back, and especially salty skippers, there are some great attractions to the work. Don't listen to the Hollywood narrator of The Deadliest Catch - fishing for a living is no way to make quick or easy money. I do think that fishing is integral to life in many coastal communities (especially rural ones), and in this sense, fishing is serious business.

The desire to jump head-first into a thriving, healthy fishery led me from my home state of Maine to Homer, Alaska. From here I've been lucky enough to take part in a number of fisheries in southcentral and western Alaska. I've tried to explore different regions of the state and different modes of catching fish, and so instead of working for a long period on a single boat I've worked for relatively short periods on several different boats. To all the tough-guy fishermen out there: in no way am I trying to brag about my experience or to try to sum up an entire fishery just based on what I've seen or heard. There are far more experienced hands in all of the fisheries I've worked in. This is just one view, although hopefully others will feel free to contribute.

In a nutshell, I think many fisheries can be seen as living entities, having a pulse of their own, and being directly related to the health of coastal communities in which they have direct contact (in addition to catching and distributing valuable, healthy protein worldwide). I am especially motivated to encourage sustainable small-scale fisheries and promote local fisheries jobs and healthy food sources. No doubt I'll occassionally rant and get off-topic, but I intend this blog to be used as a forum to discuss and celebrate fisheries of Alaska, the US, and the world (especially small-scale ones). Feel free to post comments, relevant links, comments, or observations of your own.