Of Salmon, Orcas, & Fisher-families
For Southeast Alaska’s salmon trollers, the longest day of the year falls on July 1: opening day of Chinook salmon season. Every July 1 finds us – two humans and our boat, the 43-foot Nerka – forty miles offshore in the Gulf of Alaska. We’ll be in our boots ‘til...
Excerpt from Tele’s Upcoming Memoir, “Uncharted”
In every fishery, across all gear types and target species, there is a shared moment of truth. You’ve placed your bet – selected the spot, set your gear, waited – and now watch with anxious eyes as the line ascends. What will emerge? Experienced trollers can tell by...
Cap’n J in the Seattle Times, Speaking for Salmon
Joel isn't just a salmon charmer... He's a dedicated salmon steward, too. Thanks to the Seattle Times for publishing his editorial "How B.C. Mining Could Hurt Northwest Fishermen." Our concerns aren't simply from an economic standpoint. These mines, located upstream...
Salmon Banh Mi, Served with Friendship
I keep a framed photo on my desk. Three fishermen crouched on deck, wearing orange Grundens and matching end-of-a-long-day grins. Team ’77: friends born a few months apart, working on a salmon troller that shared our birth year. This picture is proof of the enduring...
Poetry & Salmon Advocacy: Joel at FisherPoets 2016
Joel explains, "I wrote Silence in response to the 2014 Mount Polley disaster, after learning Southeast Alaska's salmon rivers face similar threats. Silence speaks to the Transboundary region of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska, where many mine projects are in...
“How Was Your Season?”
Yesterday I received a letter from a friend.
“Dear Tele,” she wrote. “Many times I think of you and Joel out on the seas all by yourselves. What a contrast it must be to come back to land, people and cities. I wonder if you have caught lots and lots of fish. I wonder if you are still fishing, heading home, or already home. I have so many wonders.”
You Never Forget Your First
June, 1981. Southcentral Alaska’s round-the-clock summer rays nurture life beyond: 1000 pound pumpkins, 100 pound cabbage, perpetually pants-less three-year olds. That afternoon was no exception.
Lost at Sea: The Man in the Fish Tote
Friday, September 7th, is a bad day on the ocean.