Attendees at the 2026 Pacific Marine Expo (PME) who may be looking for alternative activities might want to consider a visit to the National Nordic Museum in Seattle to see the exhibit: A Ballard Story: Pacific Fisherman.
According to Marney Freeland, the director of marketing at the museum, the exhibit “explores the history, resilience and ongoing evolution of Seattle’s maritime industries through the story of Pacific Fishermen Inc.—one of Ballard’s last working shipyards and a living symbol of the neighborhood’s working waterfront.”
The exhibit covers 150 years of history, beginning with an acknowledgment of displaced indigenous fishing in the area, and the evolution of boatbuilding and fisheries.
“We look at the last encampments of the Salish people who fished for salmon in the places where people started building boats,” says Freeland. “We look at the history of Pacific Fishermen, and other shipyards and industries in the area and the evolution of the fisheries they were building and equipping boats for. We recognize notable people like Gunnar Guddal, inventor of the modern survival suit, and we tie a lot of this back to the Norwegian families that continue to play a role in the Ballard story.”
Among the personalities recognized is the aforementioned Gunnar Guddal, who, in the 1960s, started work on a neoprene survival suit after his grandfather died at sea. According to his obituary, Guddal’s daughter Kari modeled the suit at trade shows, floating in a wading pool.
Guddal would give suits to fishermen to try, and they were credited with saving several lives, but many fishermen resisted. “Mr. Guddal would give the suits to fishermen to try out, and they saved several from hypothermia. But old sea dogs resisted.
“The fishing industry finally came around in the early '80s, when the Coast Guard approved the suit,” said Tom Reed, a department manager at Seattle Marine and Fishing Supply. Other manufacturers make them now, but it was Mr. Guddal's model that revolutionized the fishing industry.”
Pacific Fishermen Shipyard is a museum in itself and the centerpiece of the exhibit. Started as a co-op in 1946 by 400 Norwegian fishermen, the yard has specialized in serving the fishing industry, as well as building and maintaining tugboats, ferries and tourism vessels.
“Through Pac Fish and a taped interview with long-time manager Doug Dixon, we also look at the fisheries,” says Freeland. “How the king crabbing, trawling, and halibut fisheries developed and how the boats and technology evolved.”
The exhibit will open on October 9 and run through February 28. For fishermen, industry suppliers, and their families and friends learning about the latest fishing technology at PME, a trip to the National Nordic Museum will provide some context as to how it has all come to be.
