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July 07, 2007
Famine or Feast
The 4th of July came and went with only modest results on the fishing front. Would this be the year the entire endeavor went bottoms-up, we wondered? Our catch still at a modest 15,000 pounds, we woke the morning of July 5 with no great hope of success.
We set out our nets at noon. The result? Eight hours later, the six of us had caught, picked, hauled and sold 28,000 pounds of sockeye, a family one-day record. We were exhausted and famished but mightily pleased with the result.
The next day we caught another 20,000 pounds. We could have caught much more, but the fisheries were "plugged" from the glut of the previous day's catch, and put everyone on a "limit", meaning that we were only permitted to sell 21,000 pounds, no matter how many we could have caught. So instead of the 150 fathmos of nets we are allowed, by permit, to put in the water, we only fished 75. As good as it is to catch fish, it's equally bad to catch too many and have to leave them dead and unsold on the beach when the market dries up. It is, in fact, a crime to "waste the product", punishable by a $10,000 fine and six
months in prison.
We got up at 3:00 this morning to fish an early tide and caught only 500 fish, so perhaps the flood is over. Or perhaps not. The fish are quirky beasts, as I have said before.
We are currently waiting for the 3:00 announcement that will let us know whether or not we are fishing tonight's tide.
I would not be unhappy if we are told we may not fish. My forearms are like rubber and I can't make fists with either hand, the product of much fish grabbing and throwing.
I'm keeping this brief, because the signal is currently strong but might die at any moment. I'm sitting with Maiko in a pickup truck on a sand dune near the cannery with the internet signal. We are both plugged into a DC converer which is plugged into a car battery. The whole affair is so precarious, I feel it will come crashing down at any momen. And so I leave you for now.
Since I seem to be able to post pictures, I'll take advantage of the fact and share a few favorites:
Iggy trying out her new box bed just outside the "Detached Palace" the day we arrived.
Me in my work clothes, sans rubber suit. It is a winning look I'm thinking of incorporating into life in the lower 48.
Seiko surfing (this is before the fish came and we got busy):
Maiko butchering a king. It was delicious.
Iggy in the bush plane between King Salmon and Coffee Point. In spite of the panic apparent in this shot, she was remarkably relaxed about it.
And Iggy learning how to drive.
That's it. Time to go eat dinner and listen for the announcement.
All of the spelling errors above were intentional, of course.
Posted by bogenamp at July 7, 2007 05:46 PM