The Sea Miner: my home for the past 5 days.
My skipper, Greg, holding onto the line and waiting for some fish to bite.
This is a lingcod. They are a pretty ugly fish that range from 10 to 60 pounds.
Doin my job: pulling the guts loose before ripping off the head.
Sorry that I haven't posted for so long, but I was out at sea! On Tuesday I was at the whale research office when Linda called and asked if I'd be interested in being a deckhand for one of her close friends. I've been wanting to get out on a fishing boat since I got here so I agreed right away. Linda then informed me that I should get home quick and start packing since the boat was leaving at 6 that night. It all happened very fast and before I knew it I was pulling out of Sitka harbor on a 46ft fishing boat. My skipper was one of Linda's oldest friends here in Sitka, Greg Jones (pictured above). He's a former longline fisherman who now trolls for salmon primarily, but has also started fishing for lingcod. Our trip lasted five days in which we caught 200 lingcod. It was a little slow going; our goal was originally to catch 300 fish, but Greg seemed to think that we got close enough to his target poundage. Being on a fishing boat is quite an experience and it opened my eyes to how hard this lifestyle really is. We would wake up at 5am every morning to eat and get the boat started, before driving to a popular lingcod hangout somewhere in the open ocean. Greg would then string long fishing line behind the boat with about 18 hooks on it and a heavy bar at the end that would pull the line and hooks down close to the ocean floor. Then we would wait while the boat moved slowly along. After a few minutes Greg would pull the line up and take anywhere from one to ten fish off the line. Then came the fun part. It was my job to knock the fish out, cut into its throat, slice the aorta and insert a little hose into the artery in order to flush all the blood out of the fish. Yeah, it was pretty messy. Then I would use this huge knife to make some careful cuts in the fish's neck before cracking the spine and ripping the head off. Meanwhile, the boat is rocking back and forth, constantly knocking me off balance. It took a while to get the hang of it, but after about 30 repetitions, I was pretty good. We would move from spot to spot looking for groups of lingcod, and then the process would start again.
Unfortunately, I had a little trouble with sea sickness. For the first two days the swell was big and we were rocking back and forth a lot. By the third day the waves had calmed down and I was on a strict diet of crackers and toast that seemed to agree more with my stomach. Being out there when you're feeling sick can be pretty miserable, but when it's calm the views are incredible and it's such a neat feeling to be out on the ocean. Every night we would anchor up in a little cove and Greg would make these great dinners in our little galley. Greg was a very nice guy and was really patient with me as I learned the skills and suffered through sea sickness. It was neat to get his opinions on some of the fishing policies and on many other general issues. He leads a very different life than anyone I know well in New Hampshire or Maine, so I enjoyed talking with him and getting his perspective.
I can now say that I have been a deck hand on an Alaskan commercial fishing boat! I hopefully will have the chance to do it again, but with the goal of collecting data on sperm whale interactions with longline gear instead of chopping off fish heads. I came away from the experience with a profound respect for the people who make a living by fishing. I don't think I could ever have the stamina and perseverance to make it my career, but I'm so glad that I got a glimpse of what Linda and so many other people here in Sitka have dedicated their lives to.
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