A husband and wife team write about their divergent lives operating a salmon setnet operation in Bristol Bay.
During spring in southeast Alaska thousands of anglers set out in search for a giant chinook while competing in king salmon derbies.
The state of Alaska is emblematic of pristine waters, well-managed fisheries, and the evolution of modern fisheries, large and small, as well as fishermen’s struggle to eke out an existence in one of the world’s most challenging maritime environments.
I recently ate a home pack of our Alaska Gold Salmon and, as I often do afterwards, thought to myself, “Wow! This is really good stuff!” It made me think about just how special our Alaska Gold salmon really are. It took only a bit of research to discover that… Of the total world salmon supply sold for food, only around 12% of it is wild Alaskan. (A huge portion of the remainder is Atlantic aka farmed salmon.) Of all the wild Alaska salmon, only about 1.5% of that is caught by the traditional hook and line methods like we use. Of the line-caught Alaskan king salmon and coho salmon out there, 30% is from our fishermen-owned cooperative, which has been known for its fastidious attention to quality and integrity for over 70 years. So, the salmon we catch is the best 1/20th of 1% in the world! 1/20th of…
Alaska’s under-appreciated chum salmon
[by E. Donnall Thomas, Jr.]
HOW BEARS FISH from Open Lens Productions on Vimeo.
My first year guiding clients in Bristol Bay
[by Miles Nolte]
