THE FISH ARE PLENTIFUL!
I'm happy to report this week marks the first week of no major mechanical issues with the F/V Sofia- a HUGE relief for us! Mike has had some very productive days out on the water, with over 10,000 pounds of fish some days. He's becoming more comfortable maneuvering the boat and making his sets.
Bristol Bay gill net boats can be a maximum of 32-feet long, but there's no limit to how wide they are. The wider the deck is, the more fish you can hold and the more room the crew has to pick the fish out of the net. A wider deck is a good thing, and the Sofia's is very wide at 16 feet. The drawback is that it's trickier to operate. To make matters more difficult, towing a massive net behind you in swift current and waves, that's (hopefully) very heavy and full of fish, makes it even harder. While the goal is to catch fish while keeping your net out of other peoples' gear, like bouys and anchors, sometimes it happens and the nets get damaged. This means that after a long period of fishing and very little sleep, the crew has to repair gear. It's probably everyone's least favorite task, but it's just part of the deal. Sleep does not come often these days. Mike is lucky if he sneaks three hours in, in between mending gear and delivering the fish to the tender, before the next opener begins.
There are two ways of fishing in Bristol Bay- gill netting, and set netting. In a set netting operation, you have a set area where you can put your net. Typically, one end of the net is tied onto the beach. The net is loaded into a small boat (called a skiff), and set out in the water as the boat moves away from land. They leave the net out until it fills with fish (or until enough seals are eating the fish that they decide it's time to pull it in). Then, they pull the net into the boat, pick out the fish, and set it back out. Here's a long, but really incredible video of set netters in Bristol Bay.
Last weekend, Mike called with a pretty amazing story. He thought he heard a seal crying, so he went to the back deck to see if he could locate it by calling it- hoping to free it from a net somewhere. Sometimes, seals try to eat the fish out of your net, and get caught in the process. Mike has freed and held a few baby seals from the net before, and it's always pretty special. As he continued to call for the seal, he realized it sounded like people screaming, not seals. Turns out, it was two set netters in their skiff, pinned underneath their net (stick with me... story continues...)
There are two ways of fishing in Bristol Bay- gill netting, and set netting. In a set netting operation, you have a set area where you can put your net. Typically, one end of the net is tied onto the beach. The net is loaded into a small boat (called a skiff), and set out in the water as the boat moves away from land. They leave the net out until it fills with fish (or until enough seals are eating the fish that they decide it's time to pull it in). Then, they pull the net into the boat, pick out the fish, and set it back out.
Here's a photo of how a set netting operation might look. You can see that it's incredibly hard work! Instead of having a large drum that pulls in the net, like there is on the F/V Sofia, most of the nets are pulled in by hand. Then, the real work begins- picking the fish out of the net!
Back to the trapped set netters. The current was strong and so was the wind, creating some really nasty conditions. The net went on top of the set net skiff, and they lost control. The boat filled with water and was about to sink with the two fisherman trapped underneath the web. Mike was able to get close enough to them to throw them a knife. They cut their line and freed themselves just in time. It was extremely intense. Gill netters and set netters often butt heads in the Bay, but Mike definitely has some good set net juju on his side now. These two were incredibly lucky that the F/V Sofia was within range to hear their yelling. Here's hoping for more stories, but none this scary, in the weeks to come.
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