North Pacific

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

Dutch Harbor, Alaska, home to the Alaska pollock and crab fishing fleets

Dutch Harbor, located midway along the Aleutian chain on Unalaska Island, began as a Russian fur seal trading post in the 18th century and is now a principle port for the U.S. Pollack fishing fleet, which consists of several dozen vessels. February 2005.

Passage from Dutch Harbor to Akatan , Aleutian Islands, Alaska

On the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, February 2005. Views of the U.S. Pollack Fleet on the Bering Sea as well as the Aleutian Islands as seen from the fishing vessel Auriga.

Pollock on the deck of a factory trawler, Bering Sea Alaska

Aboard the fishing vessel Auriga, in the Bering Sea. The Auriga. was built in 1983 for use in the oil industry and converted in 1988 for the Alaska Pollack fishery. She is a catcher vessel, 198 feet long and able to carry 570 metric tons (about 1.25 million pounds) of fish. Her twin 2,300 horse power engines consume a total 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel per day. Her nets and associated gear cost about $350,000 each (she carries at least two). Auriga is manned by a crew of 7 and always accompanied by a National Marine Fisheries Service observer. Using sophisticated fish finding electronics, Auriga can fill the hold with three sets of the net. These photographs were taken on the Bering Sea in full gale to hurricane conditions -- a usual winter work environment for Alaskan fishermen.

The net haul, Bering Sea, Alaska

Aboard the factory trawler Pacific Glacier, the net containing up to 250 tons of Alaska pollock is pulled onto the fish deck. Processing and freezing will happen in the onboard factory.

Driving home

A crewman scans the horizon aboard the F/V Auriga, a trawling vessel based in Dutch Harbor Alaska, heading back to port after several successful days at sea.

Alaska Pollock Fishing, Bering Sea Alaska

Aboard the fishing vessel Auriga, in the Bering Sea. The Auriga. was built in 1983 for use in the oil industry and converted in 1988 for the Alaska Pollack fishery. She is a catcher vessel, 198 feet long and able to carry 570 metric tons (about 1.25 million pounds) of fish. Her twin 2,300 horse power engines consume a total 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel per day. Her nets and associated gear cost about $350,000 each (she carries at least two). Auriga is manned by a crew of 7 and always accompanied by a National Marine Fisheries Service observer. Using sophisticated fish finding electronics, Auriga can fill the hold with three sets of the net. These photographs were taken on the Bering Sea in full gale to "hurricane " conditions -- a usual winter work environment for Alaskan fishermen.

Fisheries observer at work

Leah Sheppard, a fisheries observer contracted to the National Marine Fisheries Service, monitors compliance with federal and international fisheries regulations aboard the Seattle Enterprise, a factory trawler owned by Trident Seafoods. By-catch and sustainability are important issues to the North Pacific Pollack industry and the agencies which regulate it.

Pollock fish in the net

During the summer "B season" in the Bering Sea the deck crew of the trawler Pacific Glacier haul and reset their nets around the clock in search of Alaskan pollock . Below decks a full-fledged factory processes the pollock into frozen fillets, surimi and specialty products like pollock roe, which is very popular in Japan.

Factory trawler Pacific Glacier on the Bering Sea fishing grounds, Alaska

During the summer "B season" in the Bering Sea the deck crew of the trawler Pacific Glacier haul and reset their nets around the clock in search of Alaskan pollock . Below decks a full-fledged factory processes the pollock into frozen fillets, surimi and specialty products like pollock roe, which is very popular in Japan. Seabirds flock around the vessels snagging whatever scraps and fish waste they can.

Alaska Pollock Fisherman, Bering Sea

During the summer "B season" in the Bering Sea the deck crew of the trawler Pacific Glacier haul and reset their nets around the clock in search of Alaskan pollock . Below decks a full-fledged factory processes the pollock into frozen fillets, surimi and specialty products like pollock roe, which is very popular in Japan.

Unalaska, Bering Sea fishing community, Alaska.

During the summer "B season" in the Bering Sea the deck crew of the trawler Pacific Glacier haul and reset their nets around the clock in search of Alaskan pollock . Below decks a full-fledged factory processes the pollock into frozen fillets, surimi and specialty products like pollock roe, which is very popular in Japan.

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.

Processing plant worker, Sitka Alaska

Many foreign workers, like this young Russian woman get permits to come to Alaska for seasonal work in the fish processing plants.

Processor displays king salmon, sitka Alaska

At Sitka Alaska, fishing and shore-side processing operations for Seafood Producers Coop a plant worker displays a king salmon, the most prized of all salmon species.

Dick Curren, Fisherman, Sitka Alaska

Father and son fishermen, Sitka Alaska

Sitka Channel, Sitka Alaska

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

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 Salmon on the deck, near Sitka Alaska

To maintain maximum freshness fish caught by hook and line troll method, are bled cleaned and iced or flash frozen within an hour of the time they are brought aboard.

Fishing boat on the move, Sitka Alaska

Many boats in the Alaska salmon fishery, like this one are rigged to use both troll (line caught) and gill netting equipment

salmon smolts disected for science

Salmon smolts (recently hatched juveniles heading to sea) were caught below the Dalles Dam 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 .

Tender boat crew member, Sitka Alaska

In Alaska's remote fishing grounds fishing boats often off-load their catch to itinerant tender vessels that then transport the fish to the processing plants. It is not uncommon that women operate these vessels.

Salmon troll fishing vessel, Sitka Alaska

Sitka Alaska is one of the busiest and most important ports in the Southeast Alaska salmon fishing industry