Prince William Sound Seine

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PWS Seine Summer 2011

description

A photojournal documenting one man voyage on a fishing vessel.

Transcript of Prince William Sound Seine

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PWS SeineSummer 2011

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This book contains Photos taken by Dean Kramer aboard the F/V Double Trouble. The boat is a 52 foot commercial fishing vessel. The photos are shot in Prince William Sound during the 2011 salmon seine season.

There are many ways to catch fish. The information is meant to supplement these photos and is only an example the Seine process.

Enjoy the journey.

Photos by Dean Kramer

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Begining

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Cordova: A Fishing Town. Cordova is located in Prince William Sound. Between the Copper River and the Sound there are enough fish to keep hundreds of fisherman and their crews busy all summer. With no roads in or out Cordova is an isolated piece of wilderness home to a little over 2000 people. This is where the journey begins for most boats.

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My job is to stack a lead line as long as a foot ball field on the back deck of a boat. I do this to ensure it will go overboard properly for the next set. Leads are know for fiery jelly fish dripping and seeping into your rain gear. Keep your hood up and your head down. You will be fine.

Leads

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CorksCorks are more desired than leads. On a sunny day you may not even need to wear rain gear. Its not as easy as

you think. A constant pressure must be applied while throwing the corks into a coil. Watch out or you might run

out of space.

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CorksCorks are more desired than leads. On a sunny day you may not even need to wear rain gear. Its not as easy as

you think. A constant pressure must be applied while throwing the corks into a coil. Watch out or you might run

out of space.

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The captain is in charge of running they hydros. They control how fast the net comes in, the purse, ring bars and the wash-down pump. Thats a lot of levers. Good thing they are color coded.

Hydrolics

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The skiff is a jet powered boat used to hold the net out and bring it back to the main boat. The skiff man needs to be aware of his surroundings and report back to the captain via radio. Screw up and

the captain will definitely let you know!

Skiff

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The skiff is a jet powered boat used to hold the net out and bring it back to the main boat. The skiff man needs to be aware of his surroundings and report back to the captain via radio. Screw up and

the captain will definitely let you know!

Skiff

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The skiff is released and the boat roars away leaving behind the net. It is important to watch for snags, tangles or any problems as it flies off the stern.

The last and most exiting part of a set. Bringing the fish aboard gives visual confimation to the process. The fish are rolled aboard and they sink into the fish hold. If a set is large enough the bag is left in the water and a tender pumps the fish out directly.

The Catch

Setting Out

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The ProcessCatching fish is simple, but hard work. A typical day

starts at 5 a.m. The crew is awoken to the start of the big diesel motor. Breakfast is had and the anchor is

pulled. It is time to fish. As the clock approaches 6 a.m. all crew is on deck.

At exactly 6 the skiff is released and heads to the beach. The big boat moves away from the beach as the net flies

off the stern creating a semi-circle for the fish to get trapped in. This is held for 20 minutes as fish move from

the beach into the hook of the net.

During this time the crew plunges bubbles into the water to scare any fish trying to escape. When 20 minutes has

elapsed the skiff pulls it’s end of the net back to the boat to create a huge circle.

Once the end of the net is hooked up the purse lines that run along the bottom of the entire net are hooked up

to the wench. The wench pulls the bottom of the seine tight. This takes 5-7 minutes. During this time the crew

hauls in net. When the purse line comes tight the fish can no longer escape. The crew continues to haul gear until a bag of fish remains. This is rolled aboard. Rinse

and repeat!

This process is repeated for 14 hours after the opener starts. Then begins the wait to offload to a tender boat

that will transport the fleets fish to town.

JumpersSalmon jump as they run along the beach. The captain and crew’s eyes are trained to be constantly searching for jumpers. Also important is the direction. No jumpers

usually means no fish. Time to run and look.

In this photo the boat is having their net pumped directly. This indicates a large set. Usually at the end of the day the hose is inserted into the fish hold to offload the catch.

Offloading to a Tender

Holding For Fish

Closing Up

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The Pink Salmon is our primary catch. These fish range from 3-5 pounds and live to be 2 years. The majority of our catch are hatchery born. These fish are artificially fertilized

and released into the wild. They feed in to ocean and come back to the same place after 2 years to be harvested. This

process is carefully overseen by the Fish and Game to secure the viability of future runs.

The fish are typically canned, smoked or salted. Pink salmon roe is also produced commercially for caviar, a

particularly valuable product in Asia.

On a good year a boat an catch over a million pounds of the fish. In recent years the price has been moving up and

this year reached a high of 43 cents per pound.

Pink Salmon (Humpy)

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The crew consists of 4 people in total. Captain John Weise (bottom right) is responsible for all aspects of the operation from finding fish to keeping up on maintenance.

Skiff man Andre(top left) controls the jitney. Usually positioned on the beach Andre relays information to the Captain about conditions of sea bottom and fish quantities.

Diane Weise (bottom left) plunges from the moment the net is set out until the purse rings come up. Then she stacks the corks on the back deck.

I (top right) also plunge and stack leads. When it is time for the fish to come aboard I move forward and assist where needed.

Crew

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During the season we follow a schedule of openers. Depending on the number of fish the Department of Fish and Game announces fishing openers. During a slow year the down time can be plentiful.

Fortunately we know how to keep ourselves occupied. The Captain always has a halibut pole on the bottom while we are anchored. As you can see this is a good idea.

Other activities include hiking, swimming, deer hunting and berry picking, This is also a great time to do boat maintenance such as oil changes and mending holes in the net. When the weather is not cooperating there are always movies and TV shows to be watched.

Off Time

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Shoup Bay is located in the Valdez arm. The waters are chilled by a glacier at the head of the bay. This is a great spot to get cold water

for the fish hold and to set out a few shrimp pots during a closure.

Shoup Bay

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Shoup Bay is located in the Valdez arm. The waters are chilled by a glacier at the head of the bay. This is a great spot to get cold water

for the fish hold and to set out a few shrimp pots during a closure.

Shoup Bay

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Valdez ArmThe Valdez Arm is home to the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery. Beginning in early July fishing boats travel to this area to scoop up the seasons first fish.

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Port EtchesPort Etches is located on the west side of Hinchinbrook Island and opens onto Hinchinbrook Entrance. Fisherman come here to catch

a load of Chum Salmon if they are lucky.

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Port EtchesPort Etches is located on the west side of Hinchinbrook Island and opens onto Hinchinbrook Entrance. Fisherman come here to catch

a load of Chum Salmon if they are lucky.

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End

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