Maritime

Trolling for salmon, Gulf of Alaska

Offshore near Sitka Alaska, a lone fisherman tends the lines on his classic salmon troller. The technology has been essentially uncahnged for a hundred years

Unalga Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, near Dutch Harbor

Dutch Harbor, located on Unalaska Island, midway along the Aleutian chain, began as a Russian fur seal trading outpost in the 18th century and is now a principle port for the U.S. pollock and North Pacific crab fishing fleets.

Alaska Bering Sea commercial pollock fishing

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

In the Wheel House Aboard Auriga, a Pollock Catcher Boat on the Bering Sea

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Fisherman aboard the pollock catcher boat Auriga, on the Bering Sea

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Freshly Caught Alaska Bering Sea Pollock

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Aboard the pollock catcher boat Auriga in the Bering Sea

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Hauling in the net on the factory trawler Pacific Glacier (now rechristened the Phoenix)

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Catch on Deck; Alaska Bering Sea commercial pollock fishing

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Alaska Bering Sea pollock on Deck

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

German chef Visits Alaskan Fishing Industry

July 23-27, 2018. In the Alaska fishing port of Dutch Harbor, on Unalaska Island in the remote Aleutian Islands, celebrated German chef Nils Egtermeyer joins fishing industry expert and former fishing boat Captain Karl Bravold to learn about the Alaskan pollock fishery. Alaskan pollock is a certified sustainable wild seafood product that is processed completely naturally with no additives or other quality degrading practices that are typical in seafood from other fisheries in other nations such as Russia and China. Egtermeyer and Bravold visited fishing vessels, observed the fish processing from end to end and toured the historic island. Wild, sustainable Alaskan pollock is sold in Germany as “fish fingers” (known as “fish sticks in the US). After the touring, Chef Egtermeyer demostrated both the preparation of fresh “fish fingers” and a special preparation of wild Alaskan pollock fillets using fresh natural native ingredients including herbs, fungi and berries found on the island of Unalaska. Product photographs include whole pollock, pollock fillets, breaded “fish fingers”

Alaska Bering Sea Pollock in the Net

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Alaska Bering Sea commercial pollock fishing

Factory trawlers and catcher boats fish the Bering Sea for pollock, a mild white fish used both for fish fillets and surimi ("imitation crab"). Fish are caught, processed and frozen at sea and delivered to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands for global delivery

Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island, Alaska

Dutch Harbor, located on Unalaska Island, midway along the Aleutian chain, began as a Russian fur seal trading outpost in the 18th century and is now a principle port for the U.S. pollack and North Pacific crab fishing fleets.

Crabbing, Gulf Islands, British Columbia, Canada

A couple heads out to find a good spot to trap Dungeness Crab, a favorite seafood delicacy in Pacific Northwest waters

Sitka Alaska

North Pacific Seafood's Sitka Sound Seafood plant and environs in Sitka Alaska: workers and fishermen

Fisheries observer aboard factory trawler

Leah Sheppard, a fisheries observer who works for Techsea, a firm contracted by the National Marine Fisheries Service to monitor compliance with federal and international fisheries regulations is photographed aboard the Seattle Enterprise, a factory trawler owned by Trident Seafoods. By-catch and sustainability are important issues to the North Pacific pollock industry and the agencies which regulate it.

Commercial fishing vessel at Shilshole Bay Marina

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Quiet evening on Puget Sound at Shilshole Bay Marina

With 1400 slips for vessels of all sizes from dinghies to super yachts Shilshole Bay Marina in Seattle is the largest marina in the Pacific Northwest

Purse seining skiff crosses Sitka Sound, near Sitka Alaska

A skiff used in a purse seining salmon fishing operation crosses Sitka Sound near Sitka Alaska

Fishing hooks, Kodiak Alaska

Fishing hooks coiled and ready will be used by fishermen to catch cod, halibut and other fishes in the western waters of the Gulf of Alaska.

Young fisher aboard the family boat, Sitka Sound Alaska

the youngest of a fishing family on a purse seiner. Purse seining in a fishery in which vessels fish near the mouth of rivers as salmon migrate to spawning grounds. The net is extended behind the fishing boat and then a smaller boat circles back to bring the net closed. Lines top and bottom of the net are drawn tight like strings on a purse and the catch is pulled aboard

Purse seiner Sitka Sound, Alaska

Purse seining in a fishery in which vessels fish near the mouth of rivers as salmon migrate to spawning grounds. The net is extended behind the fishing boat and then a smaller boat circles back to bring the net closed. Lines top and bottom of the net are drawn tight like strings on a purse and the catch is pulled aboard

Fish processing plant worker, Sitka, Alaska

A young Russian woman is dressed for the cold and wet of Alaska - and the fish freezers she must frequently enter. For many years workers would come from Russia and other Eastern European countries with temporary visa allowing the to work in Alaska's fish processing plants.

Fisherman, Sitka Alaska

Dick Curren, a longtime fisherman and leader in his community, fishes for halibut in the Gulf of Alaska using longline gear

Father and son fishermen, Sitka Alaska

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Reef net fishermen Lummi Island Washington

Reef net fishermen work to catch sockeye salmon off the shores of Lummi Island in Rosario Straight. Using a fishing technique that was invented by Coast Salish native Americans and is unique in the world, a handful of "amateur" commercial fishermen spend their free time in the summer and fall netting salmon that swim down a gauntlet of lines and into a net rigged between two boats. A spotter in a tower on the front of the boats gives the signal to haul when he sees the targeted fish species swim into the net (while letting non-targeted fish escape). In the 1950s over a hundred reef nets were rigged along this shore but now market conditions have turned this environmentally sound and picturesque fishery into a hobby business and only nine crews remain.

Salmon smolts dissected for science

Salmon smolts (recently hatched juveniles heading to sea) were caught below the Dalles Dam on the Columbia River as part of a National Marine Fisheries research project to determine the impacts of dams on the Columbia River. The juveniles' blood was tested to see if the rapid descent through the dam had caused potentially fatal nitrogen narcosis commonly known as "the bends", which can cause the fish to suffocate .

Salmon trolling, Gulf of Alaska

A fisherman and member of the Seafood Producers Coop brings a coho salmon aboard. The organization specializes in producing value-added hook and line caught seafood that receive exceptionally careful handling and are extremely high in quality.

Coho "silver" salmon, on deck near Sitka Alaska

After the Chinook of King salmon the Coho is the most prized and is one of the most valuable species of wild Alaska salmon

Crew member aboard fishing boat tender Sitka Alaska

Tenders act as fish transporters, taking salmon from the fishing vessels in the Gulf of Alaska back to the processing facilities in Sitka while the fishermen continue catching at sea.

Sitka Sound, Alaska

A salmon troller approaches the harbor in Sitka Alaska, one of the premier ports in the North Pacific for the wild salmon fishery

Gill net boat near Sitka Alaska

A fisherman hurries to find the best spot to catch salmon as they return to spawn thought Sitka Sound

Purse seiner crew, Sitka Alaska

Purse seining in a fishery in which vessels fish near the mouth of rivers as salmon migrate to spawning grounds. The net is extended behind the fishing boat and then a smaller boat circles back to bring the net closed. Lines top and bottom of the net are drawn tight like strings on a purse and the catch is pulled aboard

On the Dock, Sitka Alaska

North Pacific Seafood's Sitka Sound Seafood plant and environs in Sitka Alaska

Fish processing worker with salmon, Sitka Alaska

A young worker displays a handsome Coho salmon at the facilities of North Pacific Seafoods in Sitka Alaska

Fisherman delivers his catch, Sitka Alaska

Sitka is one of the principal ports for salmon fishing in Southeastern Alaska and home to a large fleet of commercial salmon trolling vessels

Fish processing plant worker Kodiak Island, Alaska

At North Pacific Seafood's Alaska Pacific Seafood plant in Kodiak Alaska a jovial worker smiles for the camera.

Raucous sea lions near the fish processing plants, Kodiak Alaska

On the western side of the Gulf of Alaska, Kodiak is a major fishing port, receiving, processing and shipping many fish species. The local sea lions are beneficiaries of waste and left-overs.

Sitka Channel, Sitka Alaska

During the summer season in the busy Southeast Alaska fishing port of Sitka, vessels are constantly coming and going

Shipwreck near Dutch Harbor Alaska

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TOTE Midnight Sun arrives in Tacoma

TOTE Orca Class ship Midnight Sun weekly evening arrival in the port of Tacoma Washington