The latest from Coastlines: a trip to Eastport, Maine to learn more about the elver fishery, which has been making headlines with prices reaching more than $2,000 a pound.
Click image to read a story by Tele Aadsen, who is part of the crew who discovered Ryan Harris, a survivor of an Alaska fishing boat sinking.
Take a look at our latest Crew Shots pages and see if you can spot some familiar faces!
The photo on the left was sent to us by Myron McLellan, of Boothbay, Maine. His grandson Dustin is shown in the hold of his father's boat, The Adventurer, in 1988. Myron was featured in an NF article on herring fishing in 1968. Click image to read it.
In the January 1979 issue of NF, we ran a story about the survival of Gerard Bourgeois, who spent 12 days on a deserted island in Alaska after his boat sank. Click image to read the article.
Holding this huge lobster is Joe Snow, of the F/V Snowballed, out of Spruce Head Island, ME. "Been on lots of boats and never seen one this big. Too big to fit in the trap he was hanging off. Obviously he went back over after pictures," Joe said.
Chris Pruitt, Stephen Miles, Jose Pineda, Brian O'Leary aboard the F/V Kodiak Isle out of Kodiak, Alaska. Photo taken at Islands of Four Mountains while longlining for halibut. Click image to visit our Crew Shots page.
Dan Diehl hangs up the American flag at the Belford Seafood Co-op in Belford, N.J. the morning after Hurricane Sandy tore through the facility.
Alaska Fisherman's Journal, Oct. 1981: Petersburg has a pelican... nobody saw it arrive. He's hungry and wants your herring bait. Click image to read full story.
Everyone sing with me now, "It's the most wonderful time of the year..." It's crab season in our house — Dungeness crab to be exact. Click to read full story.
The epic launch of the F/V Northern Leader - the most technologically advanced and eco-friendly fishing vessel ever built in the U.S. Click image to read more.
Readings, Women in Fisheries, & Frankenfish, Oh My! Click image to read the latest post by Tele Aadsen.
NF June '97: After nearly losing a son at sea, a family looks to the future. Click image to read full story.
Assistant editor Melissa Wood reviews this new book of stories about Point Judith's fishermen. Click image to read more.
In an ongoing battle at the headwaters of the world's largest wild sockeye salmon run, Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay is speaking out for the renewable resource of Alaska salmon.
Learn more about the issue and submit your comment on the EPA's second draft assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed here »
Get in the water: Free safety training in Petersburg, Naknek
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association will hold free safety training in Petersburg on June 8 and in Naknek on June 8 and 9.
This safety course meets the training requirements for commercial fishing vessels. Participants practice in the water and on a vessel, using emergency equipment that should be onboard any commercial fishing or other sizeable vessel — PFDs, life rafts, immersion suits, EPIRBs and fire extinguishers — and practicing emergency procedures like man overboard, abandon ship, fire fighting and flooding control.
The training is free for commercial fishermen, thanks to funding from the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). For more information, contact AMSEA in Sitka at (907) 747-3287 or www.amsea.org.
Eric Haynes’ Cod Cakes
Saltwater Summer
By Roderick Haig-Brown
Harbour Publishing, 1948
Softcover, 240 pp., $14.95
www.harbourpublishing.com
You will forgive me if I'm mildly puzzled as to why "Saltwater Summer" is classified as "juvenile fiction." What we have here is a story about fishing, plain and simple. Nowhere in this book appear any vampires, werewolves, zombies, dragons or sorcerers of any kind, which would seem an immediate disqualification for being labeled as teen fiction, or at least what passes for it these days.
Then again, Harbour Publishing is resurrecting through its Canadian Classic series this tale of a young man's first summer as a commercial salmon fisherman on the British Columbia coast, which the late Roderick Haig-Brown first penned in 1948.
Does that name sound familiar to you? It should, oh loyal National Fisherman reader. His son, Alan Haig-Brown, is a marine photographer and writer who has contributed plenty of stories and photos to the magazine through the years, and he's published several books of his own.
But his dad paved the way, earning a reputation as a popular outdoor writer. Born in England, he settled in Campbell River, B.C. in 1931. A dedicated conservationist, he wrote a number of articles and penned 25 books, including books about sport fishing, novels, and stories for young readers. "Saltwater Summer" won the Governor General's Literary Award.
Don Morgan, the main character in "Saltwater Summer," has earned enough money trapping on northern Vancouver Island to buy himself a 32-foot West Coast salmon troller, the Mallard. But young Morgan has borrowed money against the boat to help pay for a friend's operation. That means he has to make enough money this summer fishing to repay the loan by the end of September or he'll lose the boat.
His friend, fellow fisherman Tubby Miller, volunteers to help Morgan, and the duo set off to catch enough salmon to pay off the loan. Of course, little goes as planned, and Morgan has much to learn about fishing and a lot of growing up to do.
The novel also offers an interesting glimpse into what salmon trolling was like in the mid- to late-1940s in British Columbia. Juvenile fiction or not, the novel is well-written, and I enjoyed reading it over the course of an afternoon. What it lacks in vampires, werewolves and the lot, it more than makes up for with a fast-paced and enjoyable tale of a young fisherman trying to learn the ropes and figure out whether he's got what it takes to make it.
More Book Reviews:
Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
National Fisherman has been the industry standard for over 50 years. Readers from coast to coast depend on it to stay up to date on news, regulations, fish stocks, to research purchasing decisions and to stay informed of the newest vessel and product technology.
