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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
