Less Thinking, More Doing

The first week in Ugashik, Alaska have been eventful and a huge learning curve.  One of the main things I learned was how dangerous rope is.  

The first thing that happened to me was get hit by rope. Twice.  The current pulls the net so the  rope snaps back hitting me in the neck then again in the side of the head a few minutes later.  The most dangerous thing that happened was when we were putting the line into a roller.  A roller is something that is used to help you move up and down a line.   We put the line in there causing a lot of tension. The line slipped out of the roller, pushing me overboard.  Everything is fine.  I got out of the water quickly but now I can say that I fell in the Bering Sea.

It has been hard work since I’ve been here and should get harder.  I have new respect for fisherman.  It is not easy.  Before we start each day, we need to know when the day “opens”.  What that means is the authorities tell us what time and how long we can fish for.  They keep count of how many salmon make it up stream and need to hit a quota.  The openings have been really early this past week.  They have been 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30 openings with 8-10 hour days.  These are the times we’re allowed to put the nets in the water so we prepare beforehand.  

Fishing has been decent for early in the season.  we been averaging around 1400 pounds a day.  When we are in the middle of the season, we should be doing 10-20 thousand pounds with fishing open 24 hours.  This means working around the clock, tons of fish, and possible encounters with bears.

I have really enjoyed what I’ve done and learned this past week.  I’ve done a lot of things I’ve never done before and seen a lot more I’ve never seen before.  There will be lots more new and different experiences to come.