By: Tracy J

Tracy J — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:30:31 +0000

Ahhhhh….Sand Point, Alaska. The Shumagin Island Archipalego. Once, the 3rd Richest Commercial Fishing Port in North America. Also, one of the more pristine places left on earth. There are not many towns left in the U.S.of A. where the whole community depends on one occupation for sustenance. And seasonally, to boot! Given that, the competition is fierce within the fishermen, and even tougher for an outsider. In the course of almost 2 decades, I spent my summers interacting with these islanders, not so much in the way Capt. Cook did, with the Hawaiians, but very close, and my melon is still intact. In short, their native heritage needs to be respected. This comes from the effin’ white boy, that was no darn good!…They have endured corporate and political pressure, for nearly 35 years. Like everywhere, there are good people, and bad people that manipulate and utilize their muscle thru friendship and favors, and also, feed each other and work for free, when times are hard for a fellow man. The average american citzen hasn’t a clue what it is to work for a living. I have always considered Sand Point, Alaska my basic training, in life. This place WILL show you how to structure your life. If you don’t work hard, you don’t succeed. There’s No slipping thru the cracks of society here. Once, I found my self drunk and hungover, awakening up from under the board walk, early in the morning shiver, of a late bar room closure. As, I peered out from underneath, and looked at the sky, blue as it was, and the laser-like sun rising, pinning my eyeballs to their sunken wells, I looked inside of myself, and said is this the best you can do with your life? I was ashamed of myself, and put my shades on, hoping to be ignored by all. But just my luck, as I was making my way home, I get an offer for a ride to town, by the mayor, and his family. They were on the way to church. It was New Year’s Day. He didn’t care that I was dirty, and full of mud, and even drunk! He cared for my well-being. He cared for me enough to offer me a seat next to GOD!…I smiled, and he smiled…I got the message loud and clear! I started to change my life from that point on. I got away from duplicitous women, and living a day at a time. I got back out on the fishing boats, because that is what makes you come clean with yourself. I laboured in the Bering Sea, for months on end. I stayed out of the bars, I stayed away from dope, pills, and women. I did some soul searchin’ and learned some things the hard way. And now, I discipline myself more than ever. What do you want out of life? What matters the most? What do you want to be remembered for? Look inside yourself…These people feed the world! Think about that for a second….I am proud to have shared in a dying culture…This place is different, yes, it has a localized culture all it’s own…but in the same breath, they have Buffalo that roam….
But, they are no different than me….I have very white skin…I’m Irish and German decent…blue-eyes, freckles…but,I am also 1/8th Wintu Indian…my fore-fathers were also fishermen, and they scalped white men. What color you are, or whether you are local or transient…doesn’t matter!…Respect, and do unto others as they have done to you…sure…I had some run ins with the locals…but you know what?…they are just people that are trying to survive, in these trying times of corporate and political greed….I don’t blame them one bit for treating outsiders the way they do!….God Bless you all….Tracy

By: Alaskagal

Alaskagal — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:47:36 +0000

william hughes-games — DUH!! The salmon industry doesn’t harvest them at sea! They are fished at the time when they are coming home to spawn anyway — at the end of their life cycles.

By: Jim Smith

Jim Smith — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:35:33 +0000

I liked the article but you didn’t paint a “nice” picture of Sand Point. It’s a good place…Why did you leave? The number of that graduated in 2009..three went on to trade school and one went to college,one is having a baby soon something she has wanted for years. Is college really the end to all ends in this day and age? All the girls in high school aren’t having babies..just a few and drugs are a problem everywhere…and if you looked a little closer we are pill poppers not dope smokers. Fishing is fishing and its in a sad state but it’s what I love and what I know. It is what it is. I hope the people that come here see that it’s great just like the author did 50 years ago.

By: william hughes-games

william hughes-games — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:31:37 +0000

The salmon industry needs to think the unthinkable and go all the way. It needs to ban all salmon fishing at sea. It is a wasteful, dangerous, polluting way of harvesting an animal which obliginly swims right back to shore to be harvested. Better still, it comes back when fully grown instead of being harvested at sea before it is mature. And yet still better, harvesting salmon when they return would allow complete control of the quantity and quality of salmon allowed to continue upstream to fully stock the redds and support the ecology of the coastal forests.http://mtkass.blogspot.com/2007/09/salmon-fishing-what-wasted-effort.html

Comments on: Fishing for Answers in Alaska

By: Tracy J

By: Alaskagal

By: Jim Smith

By: william hughes-games