To Bay, or Not to Bay II
I still don’t know if I’ll go to Bristol Bay this year, because I don’t have to, and I’m not sure if anyone has to.
There are a lot of people who might not be able to make their payments if they don’t go, but a lot of those people have brand new, million-dollar boats. For many in the local fleet, it might be their only source of income for the whole year, but at least they live in one of the best places on Earth to practice a subsistence lifestyle.
I’m not a real fisherman, because the only fishery I did last year was Bristol Bay drift-net for sockeye. No matter how successful any single fishery is, no real fisherman depends completely upon the one, especially if it only lasts six weeks.
Fishing taught me the importance of diversification, even if that only meant that in high school and college I gillnetted in Bristol Bay for the first half of the summer and longlined or seined in Southeast for the second half. That program paid all my tuition, and room and board, for a college degree that I haven’t made any money with.
Although I don’t do any other fisheries anymore, I still diversify. I drove school buses and worked at the dump for two winters, and this past winter I started renting out a cabin on our property as a vacation rental. It isn’t quite like gaffing halibut and piling corks, or even driving buses and smashing trash, but I can make beds and sweep floors with a baby on my back, so we haven’t had to pay for childcare. Working the rental paid our mortgage a couple months in a row over the winter. When it isn’t enough to cover our mortgage, it at least pays our credit card bill. My wife decided to teach high school so she would still be able to fish Bristol Bay.
We’ve built our lives to allow us to go to Bristol Bay, not to depend on it.
Just because the local, state, or federal government won’t stop anyone from fishing, that doesn’t mean that going fishing this year is the best thing to do, financially or otherwise. The governor wants a good economy while he’s in office. That’s why he’s backing the Pebble mine too. It’s good for business in the short-term.
There’s another similarity between commercial fishing in Bristol Bay and the proposed Pebble Mine that I’ve noticed recently. People like to say that there’s no way that COVID-19 could be as bad as the Influenza epidemic in Bristol Bay, thanks to modern medical technology. Pebble mine proponents like to say that there’s no way the tailings dam could fail as others around the world have, thanks to modern mining technology. Modern technology and science cannot guarantee that things will work out. We still have to go with our guts sometimes, and weigh the risks and rewards of our decisions.
I like to think that getting wild salmon to the masses will help people stay healthy. This season though, I’m not so certain that wild sustainable fisheries will keep more people healthy than they will get sick.
I’m no altruist. I want to feel good about myself, and that just happens to mean that I care about some other people. I’d rather regret not fishing than regret fishing, because I want to fish for many more seasons. Sitting out this season would just make me want to go back that much more next season. Fishing this season and being part of a gross health crisis might make me never want to go back, or at least not feel as welcome in the Bay.
A sharp curve of coronavirus-related deaths in Bristol Bay could give the brand a bad name for a long time. It won’t matter that it’s wild and sustainable and healthy if it’s associated with genocide. We don’t want wild sockeye to become the new blood diamonds, especially since they’re red already. The negative ad campaigns would be way too easy.
Fishermen are tough, and sometimes stubborn, but also highly adaptable. I know that we’re capable of doing everything we should to keep from spreading COVID-19 to the local communities that we depend on.
I’ve also seen my fair share of combat fishing on the Johnson Hill line. We Bristol Bay drifters have a love of the fray, and a tendency to push boundaries, especially if others do it first.
There have already been rumors of mask-less fishermen going straight from the airport to local grocery stores, and some of the comments by fishermen on the “Bristol Bay, AK: Jobs, Rumors, & B.S.” facebook page have been insensitive to the local community to say the least. Even someone who is acting as safely as possible can spread the virus from someone who is careless, and thanks to those comments it’s obvious that there are some careless fishermen out there.
I can’t blame some of the locals for wanting to shut down the fishery. I clench my jaw when I see how many cars are parked on our dead-end road on weekends here in Colorado, about a half an hour drive from a big hospital. Hikers and hunters from all over just can’t resist the urge to drive by our house to go play in the woods. It makes me mad, but the consequences here are minimal. Fishermen and processors from all over the world are on their way to Bristol Bay.
Still, processors, boatyards, and the state continue to give more detailed policies about how to fish Bristol Bay safely this season. I believe it can work. But, some of the questions at the virtual meetings I’ve attended have been unsettling. Someone asked if they can still drop off their dirty laundry on tenders. Another was wondering where they can get ice for their cooler. A lot of people are worried about accessing the frozen food that they have shipped up and ferried around by tenders.
Do some bucket laundry, chill your beer in a brailer, and eat fish. If your boat doesn’t have a shower and you’re used to doing that on tenders, go for a swim with a long safety line off the stern. Get salty.
Commercial fishing is only essential to the economy. Let’s not pretend that it’s our God-given right, or that we can’t come up with other ways to support our families. Let’s prove how tough fisherman can be this summer, by going out of our way to make it safe season for everyone.