North Pacific Focus 2015 Summer Edition

SUMMER EDITION 2015

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Seiner no. 2 / ThomaS CreSTodina illuSTraTion

Tommy anCona ona

SUMMER 2015

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FEATURES COLUMNS

u.S. FiSh CommiSSion

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DEPARTMENTS DEPARTMENTS 22 PILOTHOUSE LOG PILOTHOUSE LOG 44 TIDINGS TIDINGS 54 CALENDAR CALENDAR 66 INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS 77 FO’C’SLE LIBRARY BOOK REVIEW 88 GALLEY WATCH GALLEY WATCH 99 FISHERPOETS FISHERPOETS 10 FORECASTS 10 SEASON SEASON FORECASTS 12 YARD 12 OUR OUR YARD ALSO ALSO

35 INDEX 35 AD AD INDEX 36 IN FOCUS 36 IN FOCUS

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GEAR SHIFTS

COMFORT ZONE Fatigue fighting formulas

We’ve got your extremities covered: a look back at boots and gloves.

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28

ON THE HOMEFRONT A fisherman’s wardrobe

TENDER TOUCH

20

Mavrik Marine builds a brand-new tender for Lummi Island Wild.

YOUNGBLOODS Meeting time vs. water time

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22

A deckhand turns to art to communicate with his young son while he’s at sea.

ON THE HORIZON Protecting your assets

ALONG THESE LINES

23 THE LONG HAUL Turning 5 on the Bering Sea

Cover: The Sea Gal heads out of Homer, Alaska, before an upper Cook Inlet opening.

Cheryl Ess photo

SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

1

PILOTHOUSE LOG

LUCK BE A LADY I

didn’t grow up in a fshing family. But I imagine that writing about the fshing industry is not that diferent than working it — minus a daily dose of fsh slime, seasickness, the dangers of falling overboard. OK, so they’re really diferent. Regardless, if the fshing life is in your bones, before long, you realize that you love it and fnd yourself nurturing a strong afection for fshing folk and communities.

I think the same could be said about the people who make gear for this industry. Some of them are former fshermen, and then there are some who just love everything about what you do and want to improve your working life by making you more comfortable, safe and dexterous on deck.

Mike Jackson, president of Grundéns USA is defnitely one of those people. His company has been toying around with the idea of a women’s line of oilskins. But when he heard that one of his sales reps had been dismissive of a woman fsherman asking about the future of such a product line, he moved deftly and with precision, getting rid of the longtime rep and getting women on board from coast to coast to test the prototype gear during the summer fshing season. Read more on p. 6 about the line that will premier at Pacifc Marine Expo in Seattle this November.

But this is not the frst time a woman’s touch has changed the course of gear development, as Boats & Gear Editor Michael Crowley describes in his profle on the evolution of boots and gloves. One fsherman decided to try the traditional women’s dishwashing gloves to protect his hands at sea (the options prior to this were, in some cases, nearly

PUBLISHER EDITOR IN CHIEF ASSOCIATE EDITOR BOATS & GEAR EDITOR ART DIRECTOR ONLINE EDITOR

Jerry Fraser Jessica Hathaway Samuel Hill Michael S. Crowley Laura Lee Dobson Ashley Herriman

PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE Dylan Andrews PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE Doug Stewart PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE Sokvonny Chhouk SENIOR V.P., STRATEGIC MARKETING Vicki Hennin

unspeakable — read the disgusting details in Mike’s story on p. 26), and voilà! A new line of rubberized gloves was born.

For some fshermen, the lure of home and all it entails inspires a burst of creativity. Such was JESSICA HATHAWAY the case for Thomas Editor in chief Crestodina. The Alaska fsherman and Bellingham, Wash.-based artist couldn’t bear the thought of leaving his wife and young son far behind for the summer fshing season. When long-distance communication with his toddler proved inefective, Crestodina picked up his colored pencils and began drawing. What has emerged is a lovely collection of fshing boat cutaways inspired by Crestodina’s desire to show his son what fsh work looks like, inside and out. Read the full story by Seattle-based freelance writer Lael Henterly on p. 32.

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North Pacifc Focus, Summer 2015, Vol. 2, No. 2, is published quarterly by Diversifed Business Communications, 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438. READERS: All editorial correspondence should be mailed to: National Fisherman, P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

Alaska didn’t jump on t e SUSTAINABILITY trend.

WE STARTED IT. Marine conservation isn’t new to Alaska Seafood.

In fact, a precautionary approach to setting harvest levels has been in place for decades. Look at the BSAI Catch Limits chart and see how the numbers tell the story. Each year scientists conduct surveys of the available biomass and use this data to calculate conservative catch limits – Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC).

Then, fisheries managers go a step further and set harvest quotas – Total Allowable Catch (TAC) – that never exceeds the sustainable ABC. And, with the FAO-Based Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification, you have even more assurance that conserving our oceans is anything but trendy to us. Learn more at www.alaskaseafood.org

1981-2012 Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Groundfish Catch Limits

TIDINGS

Bristol Bay

Juneau

NEWS FROM THE WEST COAST & ALASKA

Columbia River

Alaska salmon producers reach agreement on MSC

O

fed processors led those companies back to MSC. Parties were in talks to allow the major processors to rejoin the existing client group for the 2015 season, but those fell through.

The PSPA was unable to make arrangements in time for the 2015 salmon to carry the label.

PSPA was preparing to pay for a second certifcate, at which point ASPA agreed to transfer the certifcation to them beginning in 2016. According to PSPA President Glenn Reed, the certifcate will be made available to all

Late Bristol Bay run ends in upsurge

slow, and there was a lot of nervousness on the water, but, as always, the salmon came swimming home on their own schedule,” said Jason McKinley, Bristol Bay drift gillnetter and owner of Caught Wild Salmon, based in Stanford, Ky. “And when they fnally did show up, they came by the tens of millions.”

Some fshermen speculated that rising water temperatures might have caused the late run, noting that the few times salmon returned in big numbers it was raining and cooler. The downside to the season is the low price, averaging around 50 cents a pound at press time, compared to the 10-year average of 98 cents a pound and fve-year average of $1.26.

T

he sockeye season in Alaska’s Bristol Bay came late this year, the peak hitting about 10 days later than usual.

Fishermen and seafood processors were waiting anxiously for the salmon to return, with a forecast of 54 million returning fsh.

As of Aug. 4, preliminary fgures showed that roughly 52.36 million sockeye salmon returned to the bay, with area management biologists projecting a harvest of 37.6 million fsh at the end of July.

“The season started Drift gillnetters lined up for the start in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

4

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

Sam Smith

n Oct. 1, the Marine Stewardship Council sustainability certifcate for Alaska salmon will transfer from the Seattle-based Alaska Salmon Processors Association to the Pacifc Seafood Processors Association, based in Juneau.

The two non-proft associations agreed that the transfer is in the best interests of the salmon industry. Some major seafood processors moved away from the MSC label in 2012 because they believed the Alaska brand could stand for itself and markets were confdent in it.

But the huge salmon runs Alaska has seen over the past two years and the fact that some markets continued to refuse any product not labeled by MSC-certi-

Santa Barbara

interested salmon producing companies beginning next year.

“We’re all glad that we were able to come to this agreement and that any processors that want it will have access to the label,” said Reed, describing the transfer as a market-building move.

Aside from the sustainability certifcate agreement, Reed noted that the Alaska salmon business is still highly volatile and competitive.

Pebble mine ballot initiative ruled unlawful

T

he Alaska Supreme Court voted in July to support a lower court’s decision that nullifed the Save Our Salmon initiative that aimed to stop the prospect of the Pebble mining operation in the Bristol Bay region.

Pebble Limited Partnership is looking to develop a large-scale gold, copper and molybdenum mine, but opponents of the plans argue that it could have negative efects on salmon fshing operations in Bristol Bay. The initiative, passed by voters in the Lake and Peninsula boroughs in 2011, would have granted the boroughs the ability to veto a development project, even if it was approved by the state Department of Natural Resources. But it was determined to be unlawful by the Supreme Court.

“Because the SOS initiative allows

California oil spill being inspected for violations

I

n May, an oil pipeline along the Santa Barbara, Calif., coast ruptured, reportedly spouting 105,000 gallons of crude oil across nine square miles of beach, with 21,000 gallons reaching the Pacifc Ocean.

Plains All American Pipeline, the company that owns the pipeline, assisted authorities in cleaning up the spill, which cost an estimated $92 million.

County of Santa BarBara Planning & DeveloPment

— and in some cases requires — the borough to prohibit mining projects that would otherwise be authorized by DNR, the initiative seriously impedes the regulatory process set forth by the Alaska Land Act and is therefore preempted by that statute,” said Justice Joel Bolger, delivering the opinion of the court. “Accordingly, the SOS initiative cannot be enforced.”

Pebble Limited Partnership ofcials went on the record as “being pleased” with the July decision.

Those ofcials are now arguing against the Environmental Protection Agency in a diferent court case, attempting to stop the agency from blocking the mining project under the Clean Water Act. Opponents of the project have made it clear that the battle is far from over.

Detail of failed pipe in California spill.

Federal investigators found that the rupture was caused by severe external corrosion, which had reduced the damaged section to less than an inch thick.

Refugio State Beach and El Capitan State Beach, both state protected parks, were shut down but reopened after cleanup eforts on July 17 and June 27.

Tar balls from the spill were sighted on beaches more than 100 miles away, and hundreds of dead birds, fsh and marine mammals were recovered near the spill site in the following weeks.

Now, according to government ofcials, lawyers and inspectors are working to determine whether to fle civil or criminal charges against the pipeline company. They are looking into whether the company violated federal environment or maintenance regulations and if they followed proper protocol when alerting government agencies of the accident.

SEPTEMBER Sept. 11-13 Santa Rosalia Fisherman’s Festival 1 Custom House Plaza Monterey, CA (831) 625-9623 www.festaitaliamonterey.org

Sept. 12-13 Newport Wild Seafood Weekend Port Dock 7, Newport, OR www.newportfshermenswives.com

OCTOBER Oct. 3 Fishermen’s Fall Festival Fishermen’s Terminal 1900 W. Nickerson St. Seattle, WA www.fshermensfallfestival.org

Oct. 5-13 North Pacifc Fishery Management Council Meeting Hilton Anchorage West 3rd Ave. Anchorage, AK www.npfmc.org

Oct. 9-11 Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival 221 N. Lincoln St. Port Angeles, WA (360) 452-6300 www.crabfestival.org

Oct. 20-21 International Pacifc Halibut Commission IPHC Offces 2320 W. Commodore Way, Suite 300 Seattle, WA (206) 634-1838 www.iphc.washington.edu

Bill allowing sea lion cull moves out of committee

T

he U.S. House Natural Resources Committee is expected to hold a hearing on a bill that would allow government fsh managers and tribal members to use lethal force to remove sea lions that are predating on endangered salmon or sturgeon.

The Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act, introduced

by U.S. Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), seeks primarily to reduce predation on endangered Columbia River salmon.

The bill authorizes permits to be issued for the lethal take of no more than 10 sea lions per year for each permit holder.

“Salmon are part of the very fabric of the Pacifc Northwest, which is why signifcant resources are spent making sure they survive and can continue to support recreational, cultural and economic interests,” said Herrera Beutler. ”However, this is money wasted if we fail to responsibly manage the sea lion population that is devastating their numbers.”

According to testimony from northwest residents and organizations, sea lion populations have been on the rise and are a danger to fsh populations as well as a public safety issue in some cases.

NOVEMBER Nov. 14-19 Pacifc Fishery Management Council Meeting Hyatt Regency Orange County 11999 Harbor Blvd.

Garden Grove, CA (714) 750-1234 www.pcouncil.org

Nov. 18-20 Pacifc Marine Expo CenturyLink Field Event Center 800 Occidental Ave. S. Seattle, WA (207) 842-5508 www.pacifcmarineexpo.com

To list your event in North Pacifc Focus, contact Samuel Hill at shill@divcom.com or (207) 842-5622.

SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

5

INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS

• SeaShare, a non-proft organization that facilitates donations of seafood to food banks, partnered up with Alaska seafood companies, freight companies and the Coast Guard at the end of July to coordinate the donation and delivery of 21,000 pounds of halibut to remote villages in western Alaska.

The Coast Guard loaded 21,000 pounds of donated halibut on its C130 airplane in Kodiak and made the 634-mile fight to Nome. 10,000 pounds of halibut was sent to the villages of Savoonga, Gambell, Diomede and Wales, which have been severely afected by the low walrus harvests this spring.

Residents of these villages will receive boxes of frozen halibut to supplement their food supply. Kawerak, a tribal non-proft consortium representing the 20 federally recognized tribes in the Bering Strait region, facilitated the delivery.

The remaining 11,000 pounds continued on to Kotzebue, where it was ofoaded for residents of that region.

The halibut processing was donated by many Alaska seafood companies, including Ocean Beauty Seafoods and North Pacifc Seafoods in Kodiak.

to fshermen under 40 years old or who have been in the industry for less than fve years.

The summit will be held in Juneau, Jan. 27-29 and will focus on building leadership and networking capacity in Alaska’s commercial fshing industry.

Alaska Young The program Fishermen’s will feature inSummit dustry leaders providing insights on fshing business management, the fsheries management process and the role of Alaska seafood in the global marketplace.

Attendees will get a chance to network with fshermen from around the state, train in the land-based aspects of running a fshing operation, learn the Alaska Board of Fisheries and North Pacifc Management Council process and get a frst-hand look at Alaska Legislative ofces and hearings, International Pacifc Halibut Commission meetings, and Juneau scientifc facilities.

• In January, the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program will host the sixth Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit. The summit is designed to provide information and opportunities 6

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

• August marked the 1-year anniversary of the Mount Polley tailings dam collapse in British Columbia — one of the worst mining disasters in Canadian history.

The collapse dumped billions of gallons of water full of mining waste into

Grundéns’ new Sedna line for women: out for testing.

takes this new line this fall,” said Neaton.

“We are so excited to wear gear that is made for us to do what we love in.”

nearby lakes and rivers. In July, the mine’s interior passed the frst phase of cleanup and resumed operations, with restrictions.

The Wrangell Cooperative Association, a federally recognized tribe, was set to mark the event with a ceremony in Wrangell to bless the Stikine River, a major transboundary salmon near a newly opened Canadian mine, Red Chris.

2015 also marked the 25-year anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, considered to be one of the most devastating environmental disasters in the United

Mount Polley ceremony

States. Oil is still present on the rocky beaches in the Gulf of Alaska and scientists say it could stick around for decades to come.

• Guy Dean, the vice president and chief sustainability ofcer of Albion Fisheries, has been elected the new chairman of the Sea Pact advisory council. He Continued on page 35

KatariNa SoStariC

during the summer fshing season.

Neaton says that commercial fshermen and other women working on the water will beneft from the new design.

“It feels good to be wearing gear that actually fts us and to know that the company that has become the functional style icon for our industry has realized the major role women are playing in it,” she said.

Specifcally, the crew liked that the new line was slimmer and less bulky than the male line and that the bibs are longer and go higher up on the chest.

“We can’t wait to see where Grundéns

alaSKa Sea GraNt

According to Grundéns President Mike Jackson, development has gone well, and they’ve received positive responses about the line from women on the East and West coasts.

“These women work their asses off out on the water and know that they’re just as good as the men they work alongside,” he said. “We’re really stoked for these products and excited to introduce them to the industry.”

Claire Neaton and her crew, who work a seiner in Prince William Sound and helped to create the clothing line Salmon Sisters, tested the Sedna line

Claire NeatoN

For the frst time in the company’s history, Grundéns USA will be introducing a line of commercial fshing gear for women. The line will be called Sedna, after the Inuit goddess of the sea and marine animals, and will be revealed at Seattle’s Pacifc Marine Expo in November, along with other gear as the company expands its product line.

The real catch is fshermen

BY NICK RAHAIM

I

ndustrial destruction of ecosystems, consolidation of the seafood supply chain by large retailers and distributors, Americans eating an overwhelming percentage of imported farm-raised fsh while exporting seafood harvested in U.S. waters — not a rosy picture described by Paul Greenberg in his most recent book “American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood.” Yet, it is clear Greenberg is an ardent defender of commercial fshing at a time when most news of global fsheries in the press is bad.

In the book, oysters in New York City, shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico and salmon in Alaska’s Bristol Bay are three species in three locations Greenberg uses to illuminate the ecological and economic states of seafood harvest in U.S. waters. The three examples act

American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood

as a twisted past, present and future. The once bountiful past of

By Paul Greenberg oysters in the waters surrounding New York City mirror the Penguin Press, 2014 sockeye’s present Bristol Bay, Hardcover and the Mississippi Delta, barely $26.95 www.penguin hanging on as it erodes into the randomhouse.com ocean after nearly a century of oil development, standing as the possible future of Bristol Bay. That is if the wild domestic fare as he laments: the Pebble Mine breaks open develop- “Overfshing has greatly decreased in ment in what is now home to the larg- American waters. But American fshermen are going extinct. Having lost their est sockeye salmon run in the world.

In his prior book, the New York Times market share to the bargain-basement bestseller “Four Fish: The Future of the prices ofered by foreign aquaculture, Last Wild Food,” Greenberg focused American fshermen can no longer on four of the most ubiquitous species compete.”

Greenberg focuses on how the dein U.S. seafood counters: tuna, salmon, cod and Mediterranean sea bass. He cades-old Clean Water Act can be used uses them to illuminate the loss of di- to restore New York Harbor and the verse, locally caught seafood. While Mississippi Delta, just as it could proGreenberg does promote aquaculture tect Bristol Bay sockeye. The law has in “Four Fish” to sustainably feed a mechanisms to remediate past damages growing global demand, in “American and prevent future degradation, just as Catch,” it’s clear that his preference is Continued on page 24

SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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GALLEY WATCH It’s the summer of salmon: Get cooking!

BY JESSICA HATHAWAY

T

he husband and wife fshing and recipe-writing team of Ole and LaDonna Gundersen of Ward Cove, Alaska, have turned out another sweet little collection of recipes celebrating Alaska’s famous wild salmon.

A Salmon, Corn and Potato Chowder will warm your galley and your crew’s bellies right into the fall season.

You can catch more of the Gundersens’ recipes — fsh and otherwise — at www. ladonnarose.com, or order the books for your own galley (this one is just $9.95 and fts in your pocket).

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FISHERPOETS Mending Holes

BY PATRICK DIXON

WRANGELL RANGE AN E Alaska

I touched the past even as it disappeared before me.

I placed my hands upon the backs of hours loaded heavy with gear, and pushed them down an elevated boardwalk toward oblivion.

I mended holes in the days with a needle and twine; swatted mosquitoes like seconds as the summers sped beneath me.

I painted coats of the present upon planks of history, then years later spent months of chainsaws cutting them into pieces and bulldozing them onto the beach where I lit the match that burned them to ashes.

I even hoisted a beer in their honor.

I’ve seen compasses lose direction, watched a feet of seasons sink over the horizon; seen sail give way to power, wood give way to glass; species disappear under thick coats of oil, and lifestyles vanish beneath politicians’ dark coats.

I pulled decades of tradition onto shore, put them on barrels and walked away, leaving them to decay.

Winter storms weakened them.

The summer sun bleached them.

And I returned years later to feel them crumble between my fngers.

What my eyes have forgotten my hands remember: cool, wet cotton gloves, stif, rough, manila line and the heavy chains of anchors covered in generations of mud. § I lean into the cool plastic of this buoy: like seconds into hours it gives before resisting, and reminds me that ebbing times, with all the gear, work, and fsh, are like a boat on a set in a strong tide: from on board all we see is the set; but from anywhere else, the boat and net grow smaller as they drift into the distance.

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SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

9

SEASON FORECASTS

“

Ultimately, I have to remind myself that I’m out there doing it because I want to be a part of it.

ALASKA FISHERIES

Outlook

”

ALASKA

— Harry Moore, PALMER, ALASKA

FROM THE CAPTAIN’S CHAIR “Because the run was so late this year, I had to leave the fshery earlier than I would have liked since my vacation time ran out on July 17, before a price had even been announced,” says Harry Moore, owner of the wooden Bristol Bay gillnetter Janice Anne.

“For those who were able to hang around, the last week of fshing was good. But at 50 cents a pound, a price I was paid in 1975, it’s diffcult for me to fnancially justify staying past my leave. With such a low price, I wasn’t sure if I’d clear my cannery bill, let alone make my boat payment until I received my check on the 29th.

I ended up with enough for half my boat payment after paying my crew.

I’m hoping to make up the balance when the ice check comes.

“I do have hope for the fshery, but

Delbert Henry

harry Moore

Harry Moore

there’s a lot of pressure on both the salmon stock and the market right now.

“I’m sure Fish and Game breathed

a sigh of relief once the fsh fnally showed up. There are a lot of complex sets of variables at play in the industry, including the abundance of supply in the market, political pressure (embargoes), the world economy and the value of the dollar, which makes investing in the industry risky at any level.

“Having a boat payment was new to me this year, and it added a lot of stress and discomfort to the season.

I’m fortunate that my investment is not beyond my means, I know that’s not the case for everyone, but the low price means I will need to make some sacrifces.

“Ultimately, I have to remind myself that I’m out there doing it because I want to be a part of it. I think of it as a long term, lifetime, investment.

Some years I’ll make it big and some years I won’t; hopefully in the end it balances out.”

FROM THE YARD

Cheryl ess

“This season we sent out two more bowpickers and made upgrades to several commercial fshing vessels,” says Delbert Henry of Hylite Fabrication in Palmer, Alaska. “Once the fshing began, it has been very quiet. We typically have very few inquiries for building new boats or major remodels until late September. We always discuss a drop in boat production from year to year, but being located so far from the fshery, it is diffcult to have a real feel. We have been alive from October to April for the past few years, building a couple boats dedicated to the commercial fshing feet. It may be time that it slows down for newbuilds, but there is always affordable remodels and repowers that will hopefully fnd their way out to the shop.

“Being such a small company, we have a hard time seeing the big picture fnancially for how the fshery is doing, but most of the fshermen that we have built boats for in the past seem to have a good optimistic feel for this year. We just feel lucky for the opportunities that we have to support the fshing feet.”

10

DUNGENESS CRAB

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

SALMON

HERRING

SEASON FORECASTS

“

— Larry Collins, SAN FRANCISCO

WASHINGTON OREGON CALIFORNIA FISHERIES

”

Outlook

WEST COAST

FROM THE DOCK

FROM THE YARD

“This year’s Cook Inlet salmon season has fallen short on volume again. We started off with the highest fresh market price offerings and fallen to the lowest, most of which is due to Bristol Bay’s large delivery volumes,” says Jessica Yeoman, general manager at the Auction Block in Homer, Alaska.

“Ex-vessel salmon prices have stirred up quite a lot of disgust from fshers, and I for one don’t like having to drop my price because Bristol bay announces it’s paying a 50 cents advance. Then every other salmon producer seems to follow suit. The main producers have

“People are starting to see the real value in wooden fshing boats,” says David Peterson, who repairs wooden boats out of his shop at the Zerlang & Zerlang Marine Services Boat David Peterson Yard in Samoa, Calif.

“Used to be everyone thought you were nuts putting a ton of money into one. But now guys are scouring the coast looking for a boat. They know there aren’t anymore. The resource has been tapped out.”

Peterson’s shop services boats primarily in California’s Dungeness, tuna and salmon fsheries.

“The ones that have the wooden boats generally see the value in them and are really starting to take care of them.”

Jessica Yeoman

Dave helliwell

We’re just hoping the water cools off this winter so things can get back to normal.

such a dominating effect on so many aspects of the market. With the back inventory and the strength of the U.S. dollar decreasing sales interest, it’s a big push for smaller processors to survive.

“In Cook Inlet we have seen a low sockeye volume year again, and our boats deserve a higher price. We face issues related to the Board of Fish and the controversy of sport fshery lobbyists’ infuence. We have a lot of people on the Kenai peninsula who want their equal access to the Cook Inlet salmon, so it causes a lot of dissention among user groups. And then put on top of that over escapement issues and quite low runs, you begin to see how the low ex-vessel price leaves a bitter taste.”

salMonwaternow.org

JessiCa yeoMan

FROM THE DOCK “It’s been a really weird summer,” says Larry Collins, who heads the San Francisco Community Fishing Association. “The water has been warm, really warm, nearly 72 degrees.

Collins adds that there wasn’t a herring season this year and the salmon weren’t exactly red hot, but that swordfsh came in OK, and the beginning of the squid season was promising. Fishermen on the West Coast need something to help cool down.

Larry Collins “They’ve been predicting an El Niño for a few years now, but it hasn’t shown up,” he said.

“We’re just hoping the water cools off this winter so things can get back to normal.”

SWORDFISH

SQUID

ALBACORE TUNA

SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

11

OUR YARD

QUICK LOOK at Van Peer Boatworks

VAN PEER BOATWORKS GooGle MAps

A 66-foot dragger and crabber under construction at Van Peer Boatworks is plated up (left) and framed out (bottom).

LOCATION OWNER

Fort Bragg, Calif.

Chris Van Peer

YEARS IN BUSINESS

42

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

2

JAson MAlsoM

NUMBER OF BOATS BUILT 33, all but two are commercial fshing boats

FISHERIES OF THEIR BOATS Bottomfsh, crab, salmon, herring, pot fshing for cod

Chris Van Peer in front of the future dragger and crabber with his crew, Darren Mayberry (left) and Jason Malsom, in the framing.

OTHER SERVICES Repair work

AllAn DroyAn

BY MICHAEL CROWLEY

O

ther than one 70-foot charter fshing boat and a 40-foot motorsailer, the boats built at Van Peer Boatworks in 12

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

NOTABLE BOATS Lady Launa

Fort Bragg, Calif., have all been commercial fshing boats. There have been 31 built since Chris Van Peer opened his boatyard in 1973. The list includes purse seiners, draggers, pot-fshing cod boats,

crabbers and a tender.

It all started 43 years ago when Van Peer moved his family from Point Reyes, Calif., to Fort Bragg, a town on the northern California coast with a fshing community and several boatbuilders.

However, he wasn’t there to build boats. Van Peer arrived in Fort Bragg to work in the maintenance department of a local fsh company, though that might not have seemed like a good move when, not long after arriving, the fsh company shut down. Fortunately for Van Peer, he just had to walk across the street to Paul Lackey’s boatyard to get a job welding up steel fshing boats.

Four boats later and Lackey ran out of work. With four kids to feed, that seemed the perfect opportunity for Van Peer to set up his own boatshop, which he did, with a contract in hand to build a 55' x 17' Ed Monk-designed salmon troller, the Dev An. (She ended up in Alaska and was in Cordova when that port got slammed by a storm. Seven boats rolled over, and the Dev An went

OUR YARD to the bottom.) ment went into the boat and they had and his two crew — Darren Mayberry The second boat was another Monk fooded fsh holds. “RSW was coming and Jason Malsom — building the boats. design, the 50-foot troller Jersey Girl. in at that time,” notes Van Peer.

It takes about the same amount of time She also went to Alaska.

Building bigger, more complicated as before to complete a fshing boat — “When people saw it, they liked it,” boats meant he needed a second em- one year. Van Peer says it’s easier to says Van Peer, “and it’s been steady after ployee. Today there’s still only Van Peer keep a handle on everything with just that. I’ve always had antwo employees. other boat to build when I Building the bigger boats meant not fnish one.”

Me and one guy, we could build only hiring another worker but a change Van Peer only builds one of location. Van Peer had been buildboat at a time, and he says a boat in a year. ing steel fshing boats in his backyard that’s the only way you get for 10 years before packing up all the a quality result.

— Chris Van Peer tools and equipment and moving from After the Paul Lackey boatyard shut down, Van Peer located his shop where it made the most sense at the time: his backyard. There, he and one employee would build fve or six boats.

“Me and one guy, we could build a boat in a year,” says Van Peer. “Boats were simpler in those days, and there wasn’t as much equipment; and they were trollers, which were simpler to build.”

It took six months to do the steel work on a new boat, and the rest of the year to outft it. Now, as then, Van Peer and his crew do all the welding and engine work, but outside contractors come in for the woodwork, electronics, machining, painting and hydraulics. Except for the hydraulics, all the contractors are local, and they tend to be there for every boat. The woodworker that Van Peer brings in to build a boat’s interior has done every boat for the past 10 years.

Prior to him, the woodworker was there for 15 years before retiring.

That same longevity goes for the out-of-town hydraulic crew. Since the Foss Maritime’s two full service shipyards can take on any mid-1990s, Puget Sound Hydraulics has new build or repair project. From regular maintenance to made the 720-mile journey from Seattle cutting edge technology and major conversions, we keep your to Fort Bragg to set up each new boat’s feet moving forward. Contact Carl Smith at 206.953.5615 to hydraulic system. learn more.

In 1980 Van Peer built the Lady Launa (now Star of the Sea), a 66' x 22' seiner for the herring fshery.

“It was the biggest one to that time,” says Van Peer.

Jack Sarin was the designer, and the boat was built for Roger Ingman, whose father had Van Peer build him the 50foot troller Jersey Girl.

The Lady Launa was not only bigger than what Van Peer had been building, Full service shipyards • 800.426.2885 • www.foss.com she was also a purse seiner. Purse seinAlways Safe. Always Ready. ers were more complicated to build than trollers in the sense that more equip-

“

”

THE DOCK WILL SEE YOU NOW.

SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

13

The 57-foot Anita (under construction at right) was launched in early summer 2013 as a crabber and longliner for Jay and Dawn Gillman of Anacortes, Wash.

the family homestead to the boatyard’s present location at the corner of South Harbor Drive and Highway 20.

Van Peer has trouble naming the notable boats that he’s built over the years. He’ll look around his walls at pictures of boats that have left the yard and can’t just pick one out.

“I really liked building the Lady Launa.That was a really nice boat,” he says after a spell. But then says, “They are all very nice.”

Another boat that stands out is the Spicy Lady, a 58' x 22' purse seiner built in 1991. The

VAn Peer BoATworks

Tommy AnconA

OUR YARD Spicy Lady was the frst Van Peer boat that was computer lofted and the precut steel was delivered to the boatyard on a trailer.

The Spicy Lady’s owner asked Van Peer if he had ever worked with precut steel before and was he willing to do it.

He said yes, and from then on all the boats have been computer lofted.

Prior to that, Van Peer and his crew lofted — drawing hull lines full size from a scale drawing — the boats by hand and cut the steel themselves.

“I did get enjoyment out of lofting.

It’s a skill that will be lost,” Van Peer says. “Now people get a truckload of steel and put it together without having to have that knowledge.”

He admits, though, that working with precut steel saves time, especially since fshing boats have gotten much wider and deeper. “It would take a lot more time to loft those out and cut all the pieces ourselves,” he says.

Another change to Van Peer’s operation will probably come in the next couple of years.

That will be a result of the Coast Guard’s classifcation ruling that went into efect July 1, 2013, and requires that a boat with an overall length of 50 feet or more be designed, constructed and maintained to the standards of a classifcation society. That adds a tremendous amount to the cost of building a boat.

If a boatyard had started

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a keel prior to that July date, the boat An aluminum wheelhouse being built that goes with the keel isn’t afected by for the 66-foot dragger and crabber. the ruling. The keel for the boat that’s now under construction at Van Peer Boatworks was built before that date, as was the keel for the boat that will follow. And there were building contracts for both boats.

Van Peer isn’t sure what will happen after the second boat is completed. He doesn’t know all the classifcation rules and how they will afect him, but says he’d like to build boats under 50 feet and stay out of the classifcation.

In the meantime, Van Peer and his crew are completing a 66' x 24' 6" combination dragger and crabber for Tom Estes. A previous boat, the Jes An, boatshop, the Fort Bragg area was a cen- comes to the professional boatbuilder, was built for his son, Tim Estes. Jensen ter of boatbuilding in northern Califor- Van Peer is it.

Maritime Consultants “Now I’m the only in Seattle designed both boatbuilder left,” he says. boats. That’s not unusual I did get enjoyment out of lofting. It’s a skill That’s been the case for because except for one the past 13 years. boat, Jensen Maritime that will be lost.

Van Peer admits that Consultants has dehe’s talking about retirsigned all the boats built — Chris Van Peer ing. But if he does, Mayat Van Peer Boatworks berry and Malsom, the since 1991. two guys who have been What is unusual is the boat being built nia. There were fve boatbuilders in the working with him for a long time, will and the Jes An will fsh out of Fort Bragg, area, and fshermen could often be found take over the yard. Either way, it sounds whereas most of the boats from Van Peer building their own boats. “There were as like Fort Bragg’s last boatyard isn’t going Boatworks work the grounds of Wash- many as 15 boats being built in the area anywhere. ington and Alaska.Van Peer will tell you, at one time,” remembers Van Peer.

“It’s diferent to build for a local guy.”

These days, an occasional fsherman Michael Crowley is the Boats & Gear editor For years after Van Peer set up his might build his own boat, but when it for North Pacifc Focus.

“

”

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15

Jason MalsoM

OUR YARD

COMFORT ZONE

Jerry Dzugan is a marine safety trainer and the director of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association. He still occasionally crews on an Alaskan fshing boat.

BY JERRY DZUGAN

“

T

o sleep, perchance to dream — ay!

There’s the rub!”

What dreams may come for Shakespeare’s Hamlet? But what nightmares for a fsherman on watch? It was more than just a rub when the Canadian trawler Viking Storm collided with the Maverick, a U.S. longliner, of La Push, Wash., at about 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2012. The Maverick sank after being rolled over. Three of the crew abandoned the boat; a fourth was lost.

The marine investigation report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada noted what many in the industry have known for a long time: fatigue is endemic in commercial fshing. The investigation listed several factors common in the fshing industry regarding fatigue that had a relationship to the casualty: 1. Fishermen accept fatigue as a normal part of doing business.

2. Fishermen generally do not recognize the signs of fatigue or understand its efects. Crew members mostly relate fatigue to physical exhaustion, which is only one sign of fatigue.

3. Fishermen report using cofee, cigarettes and naps to reduce the efects of fatigue. However, none of these replaces the need for deep sleep.

4. Fishermen may need to participate in consecutive fsheries, which results in fatigue.

5. Fishing vessels reduce crew or hire less experienced crew, adding to the workload.

The nature and economics of fshing and fsh management regimes often combine to make getting enough sleep difcult.

Humans need food, water, oxygen and sleep to survive. Sleep is also important for overall health and performance, and many fsherman work in a state of constant sleep debt. Fishing schedules, loud noises and a moving deck, combined with stimulants like cofee, energy drinks, lights and noise interfere with our natural circadian rhythm A crew member is exhausted after seining all day 24-hour sleep patterns. De- and cleaning up the Norisle out of Sitka, Alaska.

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congestants, antidepressants, diet pills and tobacco use also afect someone’s chances of getting a sound sleep.

The simple fact is that people between the ages of 18 and 65 require 7.5 to 8.5 hours of restful, restorative sleep. Sleep debt health problems include impaired memory, irritability, mood swings and reduced ability to carry out math problems, as well as negative efects in emotion control, decision-making and social interactions. More long term and serious consequences of sleep debt include damage to the immune system and brain cells. Deep sleep is needed to allow cells to repair damage and grow normally.

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Fighting fatigue

COMFORT ZONE People are programmed to sleep at night. Losing sleep as the result of working at night is particularly damaging. At 4 a.m., your ability to think is as impaired as when you are legally in-

Essentials for staying awake James Swift and Jerry Dzugan (right) catnapping between sets on the seiner Norisle.

BEFORE WATCH or WORK SHIFT • Allow 15 minutes to fully wake up • Expose yourself to light • Eat your largest meal of the day; avoid too much sugar, fat and starch.

• Increase lean protein, fruits and vegetables • Exercise or stretch for 20 minutes ON WATCH • Keep well hydrated • Talk to crew, listen to music, walk around or shift your feet • Get exposure to as much light as possible AFTER WATCH or WORK • Cut back or eliminate caffeine and energy drinks a few hours before sleeping. Some drugs — such as antidepressants, diet pills, decongestants and alcohol — suppress deep sleep.

• Hydrate with water, warm milk and herbal tea • Have a light snack or meal, and avoid heavy or spicy meals • Try to fnd a comfortable, quiet, dark space for sleep • Be cautious of long-term use of the hormone melatonin to increase sleep quality, because it can have negative side effects — J.D.

toxicated. Obesity is also a byproduct of night work. One study in the United Kingdom demonstrated that 10 years of night work added 6.5 years of aging on a person. In short, nightshift work shortens your life.

There are fve sleep stages that give successively deeper sleep: 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement). REM sleep is where most of our dreams occur and is especially important in combating fatigue.

Many sleep apps, such as Sleep Cycle,

measure the quality of your sleep. Using Sleep Cycle, you place your cell phone on your mattress while you sleep to produce a graph that illustrates the levels of sleep you have experienced and rate the quality of your sleep.

Without four to fve deep REM cycles of sleep in a 24-hour period, there are short and long-term consequences that will negatively afect work productivity and health. It’s a diferent context, but Hamlet was correct: sleep, without dreaming, is in fact the rub.

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17

ON THE HOMEFRONT

The fsherman’s new clothes

BY LORI FRENCH

N

ot too long ago the Old Man of the Sea announced on a Tuesday that he wanted to fy to Seattle to see the Youngest Tall One that weekend.

Okay, no problem; the Super Glamorous Fishwife/Travel Agent is at your service. The morning of his departure, the Old Man of the Sea stood in the kitchen frying himself some eggs, when the Oldest Tall One exclaimed, “Mom you can’t let him go to Seattle looking like that!” I came into the kitchen and started laughing as the Oldest Tall One then announced, “Dad looks like a homeless meth head fsherman.”* The Old Man of the Sea turned and looked at me, “What? What’s wrong?”

“Well honey, your T-shirt is stained, those black shoes (think fast food restaurant worker looking shoes) have got to go, and those jeans are work jeans.”

“Yeah but they are clean and new.

What’s wrong with my black shoes? I

like them.”

“Oh my God, Dad! Those jeans are like double kneed and something a second grader would wear. And your hat?

At least wear a clean one.”

“Your mom bought me these jeans, and they are clean and new.”

“Yes, I bought you those jeans as a test because I wanted to see if the double panel thigh Carhartts wore better on the boat. Those are not going out in public jeans.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“Please just go change.”

“I like them, and I’m wearing them.”

“At least change into tennis shoes and put a clean hat on. And a new shirt.”

“I don’t know what your problem is.”

One of the Old Man of the Sea’s most endearing traits is the fact that he has no fashion sense whatsoever. If it’s in the closet he will wear it. Better yet, if it’s hanging up instead of folded, he will seek and destroy that piece of clothing. I’ve tried explaining this to him with no luck for the last 30ish years. If it’s hanging up, it’s for going out in public. Translation: It has no tears, diesel stains or fsh blood. The

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ON THE HOMEFRONT fsherman page on Facebook. The frst question was, “How long does it take for a shirt to go from the new pile to the boat clothes pile in your house?”

The answer was pretty much unanimous. “Instantly.” Of course there was one interesting twist from Alaska, which I thought was pretty ingenious.

That fsherwoman bought new clothes, wore them on the boat and chucked them out when they were done, thus relieving herself of the nasty chore of doing laundry. Awesomeness in action!

This simple question also sparked a lively debate on the Lucky Sweatshirt.

There are many scarred-for-life fshermen and women out there who have been the victim of someone throwing out their most beloved article of clothing. This has been a very traumatic episode in their lives. As a Super Glamorous Fishwife, I do know that the LUCKY Green Farm Supply hat is not to be touched. That hat has made a lot of money, and I fully support its lucky powers and cherish each and every fsh scale and crab gunk spot on its brim.

Next I posted a picture of a crab sweatshirt with the simple question, “Live or Die?” It lived. There were not enough holes; it still had sleeves and a hood. I agreed. Now I asked this question on my personal Facebook page and not surprisingly, my non-fshing friends thought the sweatshirt should be tossed.

Next I asked the Old Man of the Sea, “Why do you always pull a sweatshirt from the bottom of the pile and never the top?”

“Certain sweatshirts are warmer than others; some have hoods, some have pockets, and some have cut-of sleeves.

I use diferent sweatshirts based on the weather and what I’m doing that day.”

And that makes perfect sense to me. The report from Seattle from the Youngest Tall One was that the Old Man of the Sea dressed his way the entire weekend, but they had a blast eating, beer tasting and bonding. So wearing your fsh clothes happily and proudly seems to work in our house. *The Homeless Meth Head Fisherman look is the result of a missing front tooth and rebuild in progress.

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20

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

BY EMILIE SPRINGER

I

returned to Homer, Alaska, after two weeks in Prince William Sound on the lookout for fsh from Chenega to Cordova. It’s the frst time I have had the opportunity to work on our family seiner in about six years — when my frst daughter was born. I was grateful the trip around Gore Point was about the calmest I had ever experienced. The visit and work time was a relief. In a way, it felt like a vacation from the Emilie Springer’s girls enjoying time ashore this summer. computer screen and unrelenting academic mindset. I did not open my computer or glance at dissertation drafts once.

They never even left the bag. Instead, I left the boat for walks on trails with every shade of green imaginable, dense bushes full of ripening blueberries and salmon berries, beach walks to peer into tide pools, planning various fairy habitat with my 6and 4-year-olds, or strolling the tiny village streets in Chenega to fnd the playground, the beach picnic table or the graveyard.

Other times, I remained on the boat. Feeling fortunate to stack gear during the open periods and cook for a group of men who would eat any possible quantity of food I put on the table. I forgot how much I love to stack corks — I know, it sounds silly, and I don’t like to mention it to the guys who are out there full-time. They’ll have to read it here.

Boat time is visceral. It can’t take the over-analytical problem solving and articulation of academia. It can’t tolerate the political drama and civil discussion of formal commentary in settings like Alaska’s Board of Fish and the council’s polite discussion through carefully ordered meeting time. On the boat, communication, mostly by radio, occasionally by cell phone, is authentic.

I hear it frst thing in the morning, “Matt? Are you moving yet? Which way are you headed?” And I hear it as they continue to chat throughout the day, “Where are you guys at? What are you seeing? How was that last set?” I hear them on deck at the end of the day — maybe as late as midnight — going over details of the day while I’m in the cabin with my girls trying to get them to fall asleep in the solstice daylight. They snuggle in, though I’m sure my sweatshirt and leggings are crusty with

EmiliE SpringEr

• The latest news • NF LIVE videos • Inside the Industry • Council updates • Weekly blogs from our editors covering new gear, boatbuilding, the fshing life, book reviews, commentaries AND much more

Emilie Springer is an anthropology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, focusing cultural components of fshing.

YOUNGBLOODS saltwater and salmon slime. The sleeping bags are sprawled against the galley cushions, also crusty and tired from hours of holding up the crew. Eventually they fall asleep to the sound of salmon chatter.

How life unfolds on the ocean, in real time, and the way it is discussed, debated, articulated on land through management, policy and nonproft analysis and research are very diferent. One is lifestyle and one is legalities. Water time is real, practical and present tense, while meeting time is interpretative.

I am well aware that policy is critical in order to observe all the necessary environmental attentiveness for continuing sustainable industries across all diferent types of gear and fsh that we take from the ocean. But I think what the structured dynamics of policy and management poorly acknowledge are the human and cultural components of Alaska’s fshing industries. There are so many claims to concern over transitions and hardships to small-scale communities and the big vs. small gear types competing over various types of fsh.There are many ways to address and argue this topic, but when it really comes down to understanding how the fsherman will behave in regards to regulations, management must consider the fsherman behavior as a human behavior, a community behavior based on an occupation and a culture of people.

These men and women are not likely to sit around in a systematic congregation when they would rather be in the middle of Prince William Sound looking at enormous green mountains, surrounded by others just like themselves who don’t even consider the extreme physical labor of the career and who very likely are far more aware of what exactly is going on with the specs of the fshing season than someone sitting at a desk studying statistical details.

All of the background awareness — the stats, the economics, the mechanical awareness of gear speculations, the legal dimensions of regulatory requirements — is all critical in its own way, but there is a break in communication from the water to meeting time. There’s not a common ground here. Unfortunately, that’s why the voices, opinions and identity of the fshermen themselves are not often heard or acknowledged in an accurate context.

We made our frst set in Sawmill Bay

where the AFK hatchery is. This was my frst set in years, and with that frst gear haul I could already tell the substantial variation in gear from the last time I stacked corks. It did not feel the same, and took me about fve more sets before I started to feel comfortable with the way the pile looked.

I remember when I fshed with my father, I was always very concerned with the tidiness of the pile. I wanted it to look perfect. Here I was again, forgetting about all this analysis stuf and putting

full attention on keeping up with the other deckhand, getting my knots right, pulling in all the lines I was responsible for and keeping the pile looking ok.

Then immediately checking my girls to make sure they were still content with whatever boat games or books they had and then starting another round of calories for the boys.This is what it means to know what fshing is really about. And my awareness of it does not even come close to the skipper’s work.

It’s a day. It’s a lifestyle.

SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

21

ON THE HORIZON

Save your bacon Mark Scheer practices commercial and admiralty law in Washington and Alaska with Williams Kastner & Gibbs, a full-service frm. He’s the president of the Northwest Fisheries Association, serves on the board of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and has worked in the seafood industry for more than 30 years.

BY MARK SCHEER

F

Katie Holmlund

ishing can be dangerous. We all know that. Things happen, even to the best prepared skippers and crews and on the most diligently maintained, modern vessels. I represent vessel owners in nearly every material U.S. commercial fshery from Mexico to the Bering Sea. For each of them, I ofer the same mantra: Owning your vessel through an entity is the best way to protect yourself and your family from liability arising from one of the most

assets — like your fshing, tendering or processing operation — is to insulate other assets from liability. If there is a catastrophic event and the owner does not have adequate insurance or lacks the necessary coverage, the excess liability will be imposed on the owner.

If the owner is an individual, then the claimant(s) can impose that liability on the individual, meaning all of that individual’s assets — home, investments, property and even permits and quota — are assets the judgment creditor can pursue. On the other hand, if the owner

Both fshermen and lawyers know fshing is a very dangerous trade.

dangerous trades in the country. Yet, many vessel operators, particularly fshing vessel operators, insist on owning their operation personally, or through a general partnership. Generally, this is just not a good idea.

The primary purpose for using an entity such as a corporation or a limited liability company to own your business 22

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

of the vessel is a corporation or a limited liability company, except for very in limited circumstances, the liability is limited to the assets of the company. In most cases, that asset group is limited to vessel and its appurtenances.

There are many types of claims that can directly expose a vessel to liability.

Admiralty law is unique in that for certain claims arise as a matter of law — such as crew injury (Jones Act and un-

seaworthiness), wage, salvage and payment of necessaries (fuel, moorage and ship repairs) provided to the vessel to further its voyage — create a perfected maritime lien against the vessel. The holder of this maritime lien can sue the vessel (in rem) and the owner (in personam) separately. This means the claimant can enforce their lien by requesting that the court order the arrest of your vessel by the U.S. marshal and have it sold to satisfy their claim.

These same claimants can sue the owner of the vessel. The vessel owner can also be liable for pollution, fshing violations and breach of contract for the use of the vessel. If you own your vessel individually, you will be the in personam defendant, and all of your personal assets are at risk. However, if you own your vessel through an entity, that liability is typically limited to the entity and its assets. So, what are the available entities and how do they work?

There are four basic ownership forms: sole proprietorship; partnership, whether general or limited; corporation; and limited liability company.

The sole proprietorship (an individual) and the general partnership (if the partners are individuals) provide the least protection. The individual and partners in a partnership are liability for all of the debts and obligations of the business, including all liability stemming from claims associated with the operation of the vessel. Using either of these entities exposes the owner to the greatest level of direct liability. Unless you have very good reasons, these business forms should be avoided for any business, but particularly for a business like fshing and its attendant risks and exposure to liability.

Historically, the corporation (whether a Subchapter S or a Subchapter C) was the entity form used to own and operate businesses. It provides the greatest level of protection and operational and growth options. The corporation has shareholders, a board of directors elected by the shareholders and ofcers appointed by the board of directors. While corporations provide the greatest number of options for diverse ownership and can be structured in many ways, the corporate formalities can be far more onerous than other entity forms. If these corporate formalities are not observed, it can open the shareholders up to personal li-

ability for the business’s obligations. The corporate structure is typically preferable for businesses where there may be many owners or shareholders, or that ownership may change frequently over time.

There can also be tax-driven reasons to use a corporation (particularly a Subchapter S) which may limit taxation.

Over the last 25 years, the use of limited liability companies has become the go-to entity form for family or closely held businesses, like fshing companies.

Not only do limited liability companies provide the insulation to liability that a corporation does (hence the name), they can be fast and inexpensive set up.

They have members and can be member or manager managed. They can have a board and ofcers, but are not required to. They do not have the same mandatory management formalities as a corporation, making them ideal for small businesses — all the beneft, none of the pain.

If you individually own your fshing operation, particularly your vessel, please contact your attorney and your tax adviser, discuss the best mechanism to insulate you from risk and move those business assets to the entity. The risk will always exist, but the key is to understand and mitigate that risk. One was to do that is to use an insulating entity to own your operation. And remember, as Mitt Romney said, “corporations are people, my friend.”

THE LONG HAUL

Konrad Uri is one of the founders of the Bering Sea crab fshery and a 1981 National Fisherman Highliner.

A 5-year-old Kristian Uri and his cousin K.C. Uri on the deck of the Bering Sea crabber Rainier in 1972.

Konrad Uri

Bering Sea birthday

BY KONRAD URI

A

s I look back on my fshing career, many fond memories come to mind (especially as I get older and sentimental). They might not have always been easy times fshing in the Bering Sea in the days before Internet and satellite phones, let alone GPS, but the one thing the isolation of fshing in such remote locations brought to us was a team spirit to work together and get things done.

We had a loran, radar, VHF and a single sideband radio. The vessel was our family boat, the Rainier (110-foot Martinolich crabber), and I had my wife and two kids along, as well as my nephew; the crew was completed by Arnt Jorgensen, Harold Mathisen and Erling Skaar.

We had a load (150,000 pounds) of red king crab (the only crab we kept in those days), and the buyer in Dutch Harbor was either not able to take our load or dropped the price. So we ran the extra three days to Kodiak to of-load to B&B Fisheries (Bix Bonney). Calling on Kodiak in those days was a trip to the big city for us — the Kraft Store, cheaper fuel, readily available dock space, and access to vendors.

After delivering to B&B, shopping and provisioning the vessel for the trip back to the Bering Sea, we were happy to fnd fair weather (always the fnest kind of weather, regardless of actual conditions), and were steaming back from the Gulf of Alaska through Unimak Pass to the Bering Sea. The crew had just fnished cleaning the deck and were lounging in their rain gear on the whaleback deck, enjoying the warm bright sunshine and fat calm seas (uncommon for Unimak Pass). My youngest son was back with the crew and unknown to him, it was his ffth birthday. One of his regular tasks on the vessel, aside from running the hydraulics, flling bait jars, collecting his aquarium of sea urchins, cucumbers and the like, was keeping my cofee cup full in the wheelhouse.

I called him up to the wheelhouse from the back deck to, bring me a fresh cup of cofee. As he was climbing the ladder to the wheelhouse from the galley, the rest of the crew came around the outside of the house, and were in the

wheelhouse waiting for him. My wife, Helen, had gone shopping at the Kraft Store and made streamers from wrapping paper and decorated the pilothouse like it had never been before (or since, I would guess).

The sight of utter shock in my son’s eyes as he reached the top of the ladder with most of the cofee still in the cup is one that I will never forget. The crew sang happy birthday, had cake and ice cream, and he opened his gifts (a comic book and a stapler — it was the big city, but there was no Toys R Us). I understand from him that this is his most memorable birthday.

The group gathered together was more than a crew — we were in this together and worked as if our lives depended on it. Which they did, this was serious business. When we look back on the experience of fshing together as a family and in a feet that treated each other like family, I have nothing but the fondest memories, no matter how hard we were actually working.

SUMMER 2015 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

23

Fo’c’sle Library: REVIEW Continued from page 7 it has teeth to fne polluters.

Until the turn of the 20th century, most of the oysters consumed in New York City were also harvested there — along with lobster and other seafood — with the city producing 1.4 billion oysters in 1910 alone. But after years of daily dumping hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the city’s waters, dredging shipping lanes and flling in salt marshes to expand real estate, local seafood turned poisonous, then largely disappeared. The oyster beds that created natural seawalls and salt marshes that protected against storm surges vanished long ago, a fact that became clear as Superstorm Sandy assaulted Gotham.

Even before Sandy exposed the lowlying vulnerabilities of the nation’s largest city in the face of a changing climate, New Yorkers were working to restore oyster beds in efort to resuscitate the once thriving waterway mandated — at least in spirit — under the Clean Water Act. A single oyster can flter up to 50 gallons of water a day, according to Greenberg. If oysters were to rebound to even half their historical population of 3 trillion, the waters surrounding New York City would be markedly diferent. The rebirth of the oyster — still generations away — is more about the single species or creating natural barriers to a rising ocean, but would be the foundation to a recovery that would bring an abundance of commercially fshed species to the Big Apple.

Greenberg then shifts focus to shrimp

and the region most closely associated with the most popular seafood in the country — the Mississippi Delta.

Shrimpers in the Louisiana bayous have face a declining catch and a declining price for years. The declining catch is in large part the result of the deterioration of the salt marshes and bayous — still the nation’s largest. The decline in price is largely because of the abundance of farm-raised shrimp from Asian countries fooding the market to satiate the demand of shrimp-hungry Americans.

To keep the 50 percent of the Mississippi Delta that hasn’t already been lost to the ocean, upward of $50 billion must be ponied up for a restoration project on the scale the world has not likely seen. Greenberg focuses on the billions in fnes that BP had to pay under the Clean Water Act for the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The fnal settlement between BP and the U.S. Department of Justice of $18.7 billion occurred in July, 80 percent of which is slated for restoration projects, according to Greenberg.

From gone and going stands the pristine and untouched wilderness of Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, which supports a $300 million annual commercial fshery, and just so happens to have $500 billion of gold and copper ore under it. Greenberg advocates the Environmental Protects Agency’s use of the 404(c) under the Clean Water Act to stop the development of the mine. The EPA did use its 404(c) authority early this year and is currently fghting lawsuit from the Pebble Limited Partnership.

Throughout the narrative of three species in three locations and policy

to protect and restore, Greenberg also gives prominence to the economics of the seafood business stateside — how U.S. consumers eat farm-raised foreign fsh lacking many of the healthful benefts of wild fsh, how local fsh markets have gone out of business along with the diversity of locally caught seafood.

“Americans now harvest our best, most nutritious fsh in our best-managed Alaskan fsheries and send those fsh over to Asia,” he writes.

I share the sentiment, but there have been a few seasons where I would have been broke if not for Asian markets willing to pay top dollar for my catch.

American Catch Facts The United States controls more ocean than any other country on earth.

A third of U.S. seafood is exported, while we import more than 90 percent of the seafood we eat.

Seafood imports have increased a staggering 1,476 percent in the past half-century.

Shrimp are the best-selling seafood in the United States, 90 percent of which are imported and farm raised.

Four of the top six seafoods in the United States are imported and most farmed-raised.

Seventy-nine percent of Alaska salmon is exported, while two-thirds of the salmon consumed in the US is imported and farm raised.

The state of Alaska produces 5.3 billion pounds of seafood a year, a half a billion pounds more than the annual seafood consumption in the United States.

Source: Paul Greenberg, American Catch

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GEAR SHIFTS

FROM TIPS TO TOES

No more cowhide boots or woolen nippers — the evolution of boots and gloves ing abilities from the microscopic bubbles f you traveled the aisles of last within the polyureyear’s Pacifc Marine Expo in thane.

Seattle, you found booths packed Dunlop was also with new products. The more there, the company expensive items, such as electron- that’s been making ics and engines, get a lot of the press, boots since 1928. but the smaller things (in terms of size Their boots use and price) can be equally important to what Dunlop calls a fsherman, especially when they help its Purofort matekeep you warm, comfortable, dry and rial technology, able to fsh another day, whether you’re which is a form of trolling for albacore of the Oregon molded polyurecoast or jammed up against a king crab thane. It’s billed to pot on a bucking deck in the middle of have a thermal insulation down to mia Bering Sea winter. nus 50 degrees.

Xtratuf’s racks boasted boots that are The boots generally come with builttriple dipped latex neoprene with seam- in cushion insoles, liners, optional steel less construction. In another booth, Guy toes and slip resistant soles. They are far Cotten ofered a choice of polyurethane more waterproof, durable, pliable and boots, which derive their heat retain- comfortable than what earlier fshermen were wearing.

Go back to the 1800s, and it was leather boots. Cowhide leather, the same kind that Wesley George Pierce was wearing when he started fshing in 1884 at the age of 15 out of Southport, Maine, These 1880s nippers went over the palm so on the schooner Lady Elgin. the line would slide through the crease.

He mentions the boots in the

BY MICHAEL CROWLEY

U.S. FiSh CommiSSion

26

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / SUMMER 2015

AtlAntiC FiShermAn

I

There’s quite a difference between the Guy Cotten polyurethane boats and the Goodrich rubber boots.

book “Goin’ Fishin’.” They were “a pair of cowhide boots of a russet color, with soles an inch thick and pegged on with wooden pegs.”

They couldn’t have been that comfortable, at least based on the description in George Brown Goode’s “The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of the United States,” published in 1887. He describes the boots fshermen were wearing as “ponderous fshing boots, of astonishing breadth of beam, made of the thickest of russet cow-hide, with tops turning

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