Bristol Bay

One of the marvels of nature occurs each year in the summer when the salmon return to the lakes from which they were born after years of feeding in the ocean. How they find their way back is a mystery to me, but I do know this migration is very important to Alaskans and is significant part of our culture. Most Alaskans benefit from salmon, whether it is from commercial fishing, subsistence fishing, sport fishing, or by collecting money from the tourists that flood Alaska in the summer to fish. Since we want to ensure the fish return in abundance each year, there are very strict regulations which has given everybody a fair share of the salmon harvest.

Every year for the past 22 years in June and July, when the salmon begin swimming towards the rivers, my family migrates to Bristol Bay, which is approximately 500 miles of pure nature away from Anchorage. There we commercial fish, mostly for Sockeye salmon. The basic concept of commercial fishing is: We set a net out into the water; the salmon swim into the net; we pick them out and deliver them to the cannery; the cannery processes the fish and sends the fish to markets around the world. Almost as impressive as the amount of fish that return to Bristol Bay each year (usually over 20 million fish), is the amount of work that takes place in those four weeks. When you are tossing and turning in a 16 foot boat in stormy seas at 2:00 a.m. with blurry eyes full of fish slime you really gain an appreciation for nature.