What exactly am I doing in Alaska?
I’m commercial fishing. To be more specific, I am set netting.
Before coming to Alaska, my idea of commercial fishing was pulling a net around in the water. I didn’t realize how many different kinds of fishing there are. There’s saning, drifting, long lining, and set netting. I’m sure there are other kinds but these were discussed the most. What I’m doing in Ugashik is set netting.
Basically set netting is pulling out a net into the water from land. So there is no boat involved with setting the net. There are a lot of regulations as to how far and when you can set your net. My day revolves around announcements made the day before. For example, today the openings was at 630 am for 10 hours. So the earliest time we can put the nets into the water today was at 630 am and it has to be out of water by 4:30 pm. The only times we are allowed to fish is based off these openings.
Openings can be from 8 to 24 hours so there is potential to work around the clock. How they decide these openings is based on statistics reviewed by the regulators. They look at the amount of fish caught and escapement. Every season they have a target amount for each of the categories.
After we set the nets, we let them sit there for a few hours before we pick them. We would get in our boats and move down the net while picking the fish out of the net. Most of the fish that we catch are caught on the flood of the tide. So far this season has been slow and the season is already almost over. We’re around 30-40 thousand pounds. After we pick the net and pull in the nets. We transfer the fish on to the Alpha 1 and deliver the fish to the tenders/processors. These people buy the fish from the fisherman. They’ll clean and process the fish.
I can’t really say that there is a typical day. Everyday we start and stop at a new time and have different problems. I would say that we work an average of about 12 hrs on the days we fish. The past few days have started really early. We woke up at 330 am and 430 am to set the nets. Besides starting early, we have really late nights as well. We would have a closing time of 2 am and then have to deliver the fish which takes hours. Some of us would finish our days at 6-8 am.
There is only 10 more days in the season and many people have finished for the season. We were off tomorrow but fishing will be open for 24 hrs for the remainder of the season starting Tuesday at 9 am.
Hoping to finish with a 100,000 pound season.
Wish us luck!
Less Thinking, More Doing 