I’ve only worked on the slope a short time, but was in wonderment when I’d hear workers say how glad they were to be back. And how relaxed they looked. Now I know. Seems like I got off the plane yesterday, and 2 weeks are gone. I painted, commercial fished, sport fished, “camped” at a cabin and set crab pots, solicited orders on short notice for our Juneau delivery business, and today delivered 800 lbs of sockeye to our local customers. I’m so ready to go back and have no other worry than going to work!

It was great to see our customers again. One couple said they read my blog, and were pleased to see me describe my observations on the North Slope in – at least in their view- objective point. Another processor where I took fish for a customer for smoking said he couldn’t see how 1 degree change in temperature could cause global warming or melt the poles. He thought maybe it was the water or wind causing the melting.

The fishing crew was still on a high even tonight after the great catch Sun-Tue. After no sockeye, they showed up in force. Which is not great for the fish markets and restaurants that would like the fish to come in slow and steady over the whole summer, rather than at one time like this. But of course late is better than never. Many of my local customers already bought fish (which I had directed them to) when I thought we would not get any. Yet I was able to round up, in the end, enough of the earlier orders plus new ones. Our customers are so loyal and so nice to us. We only show up with the best fish, and they’re happy to get fish of a quality they trust and don’t have to worry about. I was thinking today buying a 2×4 is alot different than buying fish. 2×4’s might be 2×4’s, but fresh fish certainly are not the same.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

My brother sent me this article on blue crab stock decline in Chesapeake Bay:
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080716/ap_on_bi_ge/blue_crab_blues

It’s amazing how many times you see “overfishing” in an article like this. Yet if you were to look at the harvest, it’s likely the fishermen were not fishing illegally, but were harvesting according to regulation. Which means whoever was managing the fishery did not set regulations properly – or were not allowed to by the political system. This government problem almost always sets the commercial fishermen as the scapegoat. It would be like saying the deer population is down because hunters “overhunted”, even if each hunter only harvested up to what the government said he could.

I saw the same attitude in the south, where commercial fishermen were blamed for “overfishing” red drum stocks, the same government that should have been regulating the fishery properly then shut down the fishery (because that’s a whole lot easier with so few employed in commercial fishing and appease the sport fishing interests). Then – what a surprise – all the Louisiana cajun restaurants were now out of fish for their trademark blackened cajun redfish dishes.

The people always left out of the discussion are the biggest users of these resources – the non-harvesting consumer. Commercial fishermen don’t harvest fish for “fun” or “sport”, they harvest it because consumers want to eat their catch. And if they are US consumers, they are the people who “own” the fish, and should demand more accountability from their government if they want to continue to eat wild seafood.

>

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Looks like the sockeye may be late, rather than not coming. Seems like they hit pretty good in Taku Inlet today. Just in time for me to make my deliveries in town, and for my partner to provide for all his wholesale customers as well.

It came at a perfect (maybe) time. I just finished painting siding we needed to finish our roof work, and still a few days before I leave again for Prudhoe Bay.

BP announced today they planned to do more drilling in the Beaufort Sea, so looks like increasing work for us on the slope, I hope.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Went to cabin yesterday with Charlie and Owen. We set 2 crab pots, and got 5 nice ones today. After doing all the preventative maintenance up on the slope inspired me to do same here. On the boat, I rebuilt the wheel jack, got the kicker running, and replaced the starter on the 70 hp. Now need to replace ball joints on the truck, but first have to paint trim for house now that roof is done.

Just a cold summer here. Raining and cool. We’ve used our woodstove more this summer than any other.

Went king fishing on Thursday with Ken in front of the hatchery, but no luck.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Went gillnetting with Len Peterson, owner of Taku River Reds, from whom I get fish. We fished the Taku River. The gillnetters are going to do well this year. Keta prices are way up this year – 60 cents/lb at the dock for whole fish. Keta are prized for their roe, and the roe market is strong.

Unfornutately, Len is after sockeye, which are just not showing. We were getting a dozen a day, when this peak week Len said he should be getting 100 a day. So we’ll have to see if they’re late or not coming.

Gillnetting is quite unlike trolling. You set the net, and usually let it soak an hour or so before bringing it back in, picking the fish out, and resetting it. Trolling, by definition, means you are on the move all day.

I helped pick the fish out of the net – which is an art unto itself. After a couple decades, Len can unwrap a fish and maneuveur the net and suddenly the fish is out of the net laying on the deck and I had no clue how he got there – like solving a Chinese puzzle.

My job was to clean everything (sockeye, coho, king and pink) except the keta, which are sold whole. I put the keta whole into slushed ice holds. After bleeding and dressing the few sockeye, etc. we got, I then scrubbed the cleaning trays and fish totes with a bleach solution, and we were ready to go again for the next time we picked the net.

The wind was smoking down in the outlet, so we kept up the inlet a ways, where I wasn’t bothered by the chop. The water there wasn’t as active as water where you troll, where generally there is the combination of birds diving on feed and the occasional whale or seal or sea lion that make trolling such a privledge.

I had orders for about 700 lbs of sockeye to local Juneauites, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to fill them this year. Len and his fishing partners barely caught (or may not catch) enough fish to fill their weekly markets, so I’ve already notified my customers that it won’t likely happen. Not much we can do about it, but I do like it that people otherwise somewhat unlinked to the sea here now feel what it’s like for fishermen or a fish run to have an “off” year when I can’t get them their fish. Some of these same folks will rally behind conservation measures, if needed, at some later point when they have to search elsewhere, rather than right in their backyard, to get their protein – whether they catch it, or rely on their local fishermen to provide it.

Finally ended my first hitch. As I sat waiting for my flight in Deadhorse, I did some people watching. The predominately male crowd was clean shaven (unusual for Alaska but it’s a slope rule since you have to be able to wear a full face respirator and it has to fit tightly around your face, which it cannot do with a beard), ranging in age from early twenties to a few in their early sixties. I waited to get on the plane last. It was hard to believe a 737 could hold all those in the seemingly endless line, but as these are charter flights, the oil companies want every last seat filled. When I finally got on the plane, I saw that goal was met – not a single empty seat.

No alcohol is allowed on the slope. Not sold or brought in with luggage. There is no booze served on the flights north. However, on the flight south, alcohol is served, and at a discount price. Everyone is allowed two drinks, at $2.00 each. As the stewardesses moved through with the beverage cart, wads of 4 one dollar bills passed to the middle, and doubles of Alaskan Ale, Budwiser Beer, and Crown Royals shorties passed towards the window. It was a practiced orchestra, and the cart moved quickly to the back, doling out it’s precious cargo to thirsty Slopers. As I sipped my drink, I thought I’d never tasted one so good – and that was the same look I saw on those around me.

As I touched down in Anchorage, I scurried to the check in doors, where my buddy Todd was waiting in his truck with 3 tires I’d purchased from Craigslist. He’d bought them for me, and delivered them to the airport so I could take them home as baggage. Luckily, instate travel still allows 3 free bags in Alaska. Each tire and rim weighed over 50 lbs, so I had to pay $50 for each tire, but the tires were in great shape and as luck would have it, the rims look like they’ll fit my Chevy 3/4 ton. I only paid $75 for all 3 tires, so $225 was still a good deal. These 3 match the 2 I’d bought a few months ago, so now I’ve got 4 fresh tires and a matching spare.

Today’s 4th of July was cool here in Juneau. Funny to be cold coming this far south after being just right or even hot on the Arctic Ocean for the past 3 weeks.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com