Katmai National Park

Every now and again when you are out fishing you have to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.  So when I got the chance to fly out to Katmai National Park this past summer while I was gillnetting in Bristol Bay, I jumped at it.  From King Salmon, Katmai is only a 20 minute float plane ride away.  You can fly out there for the day, stay the night in an (overpriced) lodge or you can camp.  Camp with all those bear, are you crazy?  Don't worry, there is an electric fence around the camp ground.  Besides, with all this delicious salmon around you think these bears want to nibble on you?  Granted, it is unsettling to be so close to so many bears.  Grizzly bears, none the less.   This sure wouldn't happen in other parts around Alaska.  But out at Brook's Falls, in the heart of Katmai, food is in such abundance, these bears are happily satiated on sockeye salmon.   Which is also the reason you see so many together in such a small area.  Lets take a look.

Brook's Falls, Katmai National Park, Alaska

Bears waiting for sockeye salmon

They wade in the water, catching salmon, occasionally

Look at this old guy.  See how little his ears look?  He's BIG!

Grandpa bear

Someone got lucky!

Yummy wild Alaskan salmon

Gut salmon?

Dur...I thought I saw one..

I got one!  I got one!!

Waiting

Hold my calls Roy, I'm busy

My photos made it into Pacific Fishing Magazine!

This is the issue my photos are in.

Sunset in Egegik

We crammed about 30 folks into the wheel house!

YIPEE! HUGE NEWS!

Anglo American pulls out of  Pebble Mine!  What does that mean?  Basically, Anglo American,  the company with the deep pockets is bailing out of the project because the proposed mine is "too risky".   Ya think?  You think putting the world's largest open pit mine at the headwaters of the world's largest wild salmon run is too risky?  I'm glad they finally see it my way.  And the way of 654,000 other folks who signed the EPA comment petition to protect the Bristol Bay Watershed. (http://www.savebristolbay.org/blog/sportsmen-to-epa-stop-pebble). 

Anyway, you can read all about it right here: http://www.adn.com/2013/09/16/3077905/anglo-american-pulls-out-of-alaskas.html or here: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130916/anglo-american-withdraws-pebble-mine-project.

Looks like if enough of us little folk speak loud enough, we can make a difference!  Good job everyone who helped make a stink about all this!  Lets just hope this is the beginning of the end. And what would I have to say to Pebble Mine?  Just what the skipper of the Bristol Bay gillnetter Licka-D-Split would say, "Don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you".

My ass took a beating in Bristol Bay

Literally.  I've never been so beat up before in my life.  But 5 weeks aboard the Fischer and my ass was black and blue.  And I wasn't the only one who got beat up by Bristol Bay, fellow crew member Steve took his fair share.  Hell, even the boat took an ass beating.

If memory serves, the boat was the first to get it.  We had been fishing free week in Egegik, that week where you don't have to drop a card to change districts, you can freely fish any river system you want.  After a hard days work fishing, the line to deliver at the tender was super long so we dropped the pick to wait it out.  Skipper figured we might as well have a little dinner, then go deliver.  We were on anchor all of 3.2 seconds when our buddy Clayton buzzed by.  Clayton, being Clayton, ran right past us, on step, going some 30 knots and close enough that we probably could have hi-fived him. 

I was standing in the galley, making up the coffee for the next morning.  All the sudden, I heard a loud crash noise, the boat lurched forward and I flew back against the galley door.  Got the door handle right in the shoulder blade.  After bouncing off the door handle, I fell so quickly against the step leading to the door, I didn't even have time to catch myself.  I sat there a split second, totally stunned and wondered what the hell just happened.  I looked at the skipper.  What the hell was that?
He shrugged and we both ran out on deck. 

Turns out, what that was was a boat ran into our stern.  A 32' fiberglass boat, ( I don't want to name names, but ah.... Eskimo Viking) with metal plates on his bow,  evidently for ramming, and quite effective, I might add,  going 10 knots packing 5,000 pounds or so of fish packs quite a punch.  He hit like a ball ping hammer only on a much, much, larger scale.  WHAM!

At first, he tried to blame us. 

EV:You must have stopped suddenly right in front of me.  

Skipper:  I'm on fuckin' anchor! You dumb #*&@"#%$!!!

EV: Oh, oh.  Sorry.  Uh, the sun was in my eyes.

Wanna see the damage?

The damaged rail from the Eskimo Viking. 

I kind of liked that rail after that.  I was always on the starboard side and the bent rail made a nice little seat for me, complete with back rest.  Hey skipper, can you just leave that for me?

Nothing a little splash zone didn't fix.

Skipper just cut off that flap with a sawzall, bolted an old buoy over it and sealed 'er with splash zone.
But remember I said my arse  also took a beating during all this?  Even 10 days after the fact, still looks a bit nasty.

ouch!

It was all down hill from there.  Steve, aka Hollywood, who flew out to fish the peak of the season, got on board and immediately fell into the laz (lazarette).  Sean had left the hatch open, announced that the hatch was open, then went to the bow to tie up the boat as we were landing.  Steve went to tie up the stern but ended up in the laz instead.  He managed to scrape every bit of himself from his shins to his armpit before, luckily, landing on the 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid that was strategically placed.  Otherwise, he would have fallen yet another 2 feet.  That's ok Steve, I'll get the stern line.  And, oh, by the way Steve, the laz is open.

Steve's laz ride

In an effort to keep this blog somewhat PG rated, photos of my other bruises won't be shown.  But, suffice to say, they were just as pretty.  After getting rammed, I fell into the fish hold for the first time in my career.  Fortunately, it was full of fish.  After that, I was flung from my seat at the galley table, over the little wooden ledge that hold the seat cushions in place, and across the galley.  And finally, just when I thought my ass beatings were over, I mean, we were tied up to the dock at the end of the season getting ready to get pulled out the next day.  The season was over, what else could happen?  Yeah, my foot slipped on the top step and I fell into our 6' deep fo's'cle.   Lets just say that comparatively, that first bruise looked like child's play.  And that concludes the ass beating portion of Bristol Bay 2013. 

The Bristol Bay Report

At last!  Photo highlights from my Bristol Bay season aboard the f/v Fischer.  The last you heard from me I was heading west to gillnet Bristol Bay back in June.  Admittedly, I know there has been radio silence from me for some time, my apologies.   I've been back from the Bay for a few weeks now but was off on my next venture already, without time to write or internet connection.  I have been gearing up to write a post but dragging my anchor on it.  However, today I ran into my buddy Dan at Costco and he guilted me into submission and told me I need to update my blog.  So here ya go, the Bristol Bay report.

I had a good season. We fished Naknek and Egegik.  The weather was (mostly) nice, the crew was (mostly) nice, (OK, that's a lie, but I'm trying to be nice, more scuttlebutt on that later), the skipper had his shit together, and though there weren't a ton of fish around, we managed to scrape up a few.  The price had jumped from $1.00 a pound last year to $1.50 a pound, so that helped.   Shoots, last time I fished out there, back in 2006, it was .70 cents a pound, so I can't complain. Really, I can't complain,  I signed a waiver.  Haha, just kidding.  Actually, there wasn't much to complain about, I had a blast out there! We'll, I can find a few things to complain about, but I'll have to fill you in bit by bit, otherwise, we'll be swamped.  So I'll start by showing you the boat I was on and introducing you to most of the crew.  Without further ado, the f/v Fischer.

f/v Fischer, just slightly out of the channel

As you can see here, going dry is a common occurrence out in the Bay, too.  We were running in after an opener and missed the channel, just slightly, by about 20 feet.  Skipper said he knew it was around here somewhere. So close.... It was blowing about 40 out and kind of lumpy, so being on solid ground was a nice treat.  Until we had some mending to do.   Dry or not, mending gear in a gale is no fun.  But, I digress. Enjoy the photos and my little video.  Its my first attempt at downloading a vid, I hope it works.

Fischer, who the boat is named after

Fischer and his dad, Kelly, the skipper

myself and Sean, the other deckhand

This is the first of my Bay report.  More to dribble in soon.  Until then, go slime a salmon!

Goin' salmon fishing in Bristol Bay

What day is it anyhow?

Well, it must be either Tuesday or Friday because fishing just closed on the Copper River Flats after a 24-hour period.  It’s been tricky the past few weeks trying to figure out what day it is because commercial fishing was closed for 2 weeks while fish & game waited for the escapement numbers to go up, which they did.  Fish have been coming into the river like gangbusters the past few days, exceeding escapement by the tens of thousands.

At least when the fleet is fishing 2 openers a week I can guess a few of the days.  If guys are heading out to fish, its either Wednesday or Sunday.  If they are out fishing, its either Monday or Thursday.  If they just got back, its either Tuesday or Friday.  Saturday is always a crapshoot.   I almost ripped my arm off the other day trying to deposit a check at the bank on a Saturday.   I could have sworn it was a weekday, I mean, five out of seven days a week are, right?  That’s pretty good odds.  But when I pulled on that locked door, well, I figured it out on the second tug.

Being that we here in Alaska and are approaching the solstice, we have near 24 hours of daylight.  So guessing the time gets tricky, too.  I see the time on bank clock downtown and have to wonder if its 10:30 am or pm.  I don’t wear a watch. Besides, the watch I do own is an old school Swiss Army dial style, so that wouldn’t help anyhow.

Nonetheless, I do actually know what today is, I don’t know the date but I know it’s the day I drive my car on the ferry to Whittier, about a three and half hour ferry ride across Prince William Sound.  From there, I drive through the Whittier tunnel that goes 2.2 miles under the mountain.  I drive about an hour and half to Anchorage where I catch about an hour flight to King Salmon, Alaska.  From there, it’s a short 11 mile cab ride to Naknek, where my next job awaits.  A fishing vessel called the Fischer.  After we launch, it’s about a 4 hour run to Egegik, the river where we’ll be commercially fishing for sockeye salmon for the next five weeks.  Being that fishing has been my way of life for almost 20 years now, these kinds of commutes never even dawn on me.  But as my Dad pointed out to me when I called him from the ferry terminal this morning to tell him I’ll be out of contact until the end of July, he frankly stated, “that’s more transportation than I’ve ever taken for a job”.  Probably so.

Until then, good fishin’ and I’ll catch ya on the flip side. 

Coffee with Murkowski

We pulla da nets, to maka da mon, to buya da bread, to getta da stren’, to pulla da nets
--Lament of a Bristol Bay fisherman

Earlier this week I went to Washington D.C.   I wanted to meet with one of Senators, Lisa Murkowski and let her know how this fisherman feels about the Proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. 

Senator Lisa Murkowski and me

Bristol Bay is an American national treasure.  It is nestled in southwestern Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark.  It is 250 miles long and180 miles wide at its mouth with a number of rivers flowing into the bay, including the Naknek, Kvichak, Egegik, Ugashik, Nushagak, Wood, and Togiak.   It is known as the “salmon capitol of the world” with an extremely productive marine ecosystem that maintains the largest wild salmon run in the world.  Up to 44 million salmon return annually to Bristol Bay, making it Alaska’s richest commercial fishery, bringing in nearly one-third of all of Alaska’s salmon harvest earnings.   The fishery is a $350 million dollar industry that supports over 12,000 jobs and is celebrating it’s 125^th season this year.

In addition to a robust and sustainable sockeye and Chinook salmon run, Bristol Bay is one of the world’s most pristine naturally wild areas with magnificent wildlife, scenery, and marine ecosystems, a world-class refuge.  It’s a birder’s paradise, a hunter’s delight, and a sport fishermen’s dream.   It’s a sanctuary for brown bear, moose, caribou, millions of  waterfowl, seabirds, shorebirds, walruses, seals, fish and sixteen different species of whales.

The Pebble deposit is a massive, low-grade deposit of gold, copper and molybdenum (which is often used in high strength steel alloy) located at the headwaters of the Kvichak and Nushagak Rivers, two rivers that flow into Bristol Bay.  If built, Pebble would be one of the largest open pit mines in the world, some 3 ½ miles wide.   Pebble proposes using tailings dams to permanently store the estimated 10 billion tons of mining waste that is material that is too toxic to be released back into the environment.   These tailings dams would cover 10 square miles and the tallest will be nearly the height of the Empire State building.  Tailings dams are known as the Achilles Heel of the mining industry and fail at a rate of 2 a year around the world since 1919 with the result of loss of life and irreversible pollution.  Anyone else think storing millions of tons of toxic waste permanently behind a wall of dirt at the mouth waters of the largest salmon run in the world a bad idea?  As if that isn’t enough, did I mention that Alaska is an active earthquake area averaging 5,000 quakes annually.  Moreover, did I mention that Pebble is owned by a Chinese company and the 2^nd largest mining company in the world?

Pissed off yet?  I know I am.

So far there are several groups opposed to Pebble and our numbers are growing.   On board are Trout Unlimited, Alaska Coalition, Renewable Resources Foundation, Save Bristol Bay, and Fishermen for Bristol , to name a few.  There are 77 commercial fishing organizations from Alaska to Maine currently oppose Pebble Mine.  However, this is still a David against Goliath fight.   So what are we going to do about it? 

From what I gathered by visiting with Senator Lisa Murkowski and her staff, Pebble will and is proceeding with the permit process.  To preemptively veto that would result in a law suits and court battles that would blow up in all of our pretty little faces.  Pebble has some deep pockets.  Until it is time for public comment, which may not be until next year,  there are a handful of things we can do now. 

1.     Spread the word.  Many folks have never even heard about Bristol Bay or it’s threats.  Tell everyone you know.  Send them to one of these sites to keep tabs on what is happening. 

http://www.aifma.org/
http://www.alaskacoalition.org/about-us/
http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/          
http://fishermenforbristolbay.org/
http://www.nrdc.org/
http://www.renewableresourcesfoundation.org/
http://www.savebristolbay.org/
http://www.trustees.org/

2.     A couple of suggestions were made to me by Murkowski’s staff members.  One was to send letters to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to urge the Obama administration to protect Bristol Bay by initiating a Clear Water Act 404 (c).  The EPA had the authority to safeguard the valuable habitat of Bristol Bay watershed.  

      http://aswm.org/wetlands-law/cwa-guidance

3.     Weed through Pebble’s research to find erroneous data and write to my legislation when I find some.   Evidently, there are about 24, 000 pages of research to go through.  OK, I’ll take the first 12,000 pages, who wants to take the second half?  The data can be found at the bottom of the page here under documents: http://www.pebblepartnership.com/environment/acts.

Seriously, who’s on board to help  me sift through this?

In the mean time, drop a line here and let me know what ideas or suggestions you have to help stop this monstrosity from happening. 

I’m out. 

15th Annual Fisher Poets Gathering

15^th Annual Fisher Poets Gathering

Work is our joy – Matt Korpela

I’m here, I’m here!  I arrived in Astoria, Oregon last night after a long slog cross-country from Miami.  I met FisherPoet (FP) Steve Schoonmaker and Ron McDaniel, our resident Cowboy (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cowboy-on-the-Side/140325332754121?v=info&sk=info) at the airport and we all piled in a rental car and headed out of Portland.  Ron kindly removed his cowboy at for the ride so I could see out the passenger side window as I drove us to Astoria.   It was great getting to hang out with both of these highliner FPs!  I also finally got to meet Tele Aadsen, who writes a blog titled Hooked http://nerkasalmon.wordpress.com/tag/tele-aadsen/.   We’ve been following each other’s blogs for months now and it was great to finally put a face with the name.  She’s making her maiden voyage this year at FPs.  Go get ‘em Tele!

The event kicked off last night with a welcome dinner and open mic at Clemente’s, a local restaurant here in downtown Astoria, OR.  The dinner menu included Willapa Oysters, Poke, Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon and Chips, Oyster Casino, and what I had, Local Fresh Halibut and Chips. 

The drink menu included “Fisher Swills” that went by the names of Red Summer, Chum, Mug Up, and Muddler Minnow.  Little menus were printed up that included a well said quote from Bill Carter’s Red Summer:

“To fish is to be part carpenter, plumber, welder, weatherman, cop, mechanic, businessman, mother, father, sister, brother.  Part priest, drill sergeant, cop and outlaw. The have to believe in good and evil, and little prayers

 to the fish god don’t hurt.”

Well folks, the engines are all warmed up and we are about to put it into gear!  The official event kicks off tonight, Friday at 6 PM.  There is lots going on this year with about 10 different venues, a silent auction, workshops, onsite poem contest, films, open mic, story circle, and a photo exhibit titled When Crab Was King, Faces 1950 to 1982 by Toby Sullivan of Kodiak.  More details can be found at the Fisher Poet Website at http://www.clatsopcc.edu/community/fisherpoets-gathering.  They are on Facebook this year at https://www.facebook.com/FisherPoets?sk=wall and on Twitter at FisherPoets.   More about each FisherPoet can be found at Pat Dixon’s In the Tote: http://web.me.com/dixonphoto/Fisher_Poets_-_In_the_Tote/Welcome.html. 

Oh, and I'll be live on the radio today, Friday at 3:20 Pacific Time on Arts!  Live and Local on KMUN.  I think you can stream it live at coastradio.org.

 

Saturday night at Clemente’s is a special event to raise awareness of the proposed Pebble Mine at the heart of the world’s largest salmon run up in Bristol Bay.  The event features FisherPoets with Bristol Bay connections and a reading by author Bill Carter.   Proceeds from a silent auction as well as a percentage of food and drink sales(way to go Clemente’s!) goes towards Trout Unlimited’s Save Bristol Bay Campaign: http://www.savebristolbay.org/.  I hope to see you there!  I leave you with a poem I wrote for the fundraiser event tomorrow night.  It’s an offshoot from Walt Whitman’s I will take an egg out of the robin’s nest. 

Value

By Jen Pickett

I will take a sockeye salmon out of Bristol Bay.

I will take the roe from its belly

and go and preach to the world;

you shall see

I will not meet a single

heretic or scorner,

you shall see how I stump congressmen,

and confound them

you shall see me showing a scarlet egg,

and a gold pebble from the beach.

I will ask you to weigh their value.