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Fishing Families

AIR DATE: Tuesday, November 25th 2008

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What does it take to make a living at sea, or to wait at home for a loved one who does?

The Oregon Dungeness crab season is due to open on December 1st, depending on the success of negotiations between fishermen and processors about the price for the catch.

Fishing still calls on a certain wildness. There is an element of luck which appeals to the gambler in all of us: many catches are very valuable, and a good day can leave each individual on a commercial fishing boat thousands of dollars richer. There is the appeal of using your physical strength and your cunning to hunt down your prey. And then, there is the call of the sea itself...

But the sea can be very dangerous -- especially for crab fishermen. A recent study showed that between 2000 and 2006, Oregon's fleet lost 23 vessels and 43 crew members during the Dungeness crab season, ranking it as the real "deadliest catch" -- even more so than the famously perilous Alaskan crab fisheries. One of those vessels, the Nesika, capsized in 2001, killing all four men on board. Michele Longo Eder, the mother of one of those men, has just published a memoir about that time. She'll join us the for the hour on Tuesday.

Do you fish at sea, or wait at home for a loved one who does? What is it that keeps people in the profession despite the dangers? And what are the prospects for the industry as fish stocks decline and smaller, independent boats come under pressure?

Photo credit: T Fish / Flickr / Creative Commons

Tagged as: coast · crabbing · fishing · ocean

With some experience on the sustainability end of the industry, I admire and envy those families who still make thier living on the water.

I have a degree in fisheries technology and worked for fisheries in Alaska and later out of Oregon.

In Alaska I worked for a private non-profit company called Prince William Sound Aquacultre. This company was formed I believe in 1972 by commercial fisherman to enhance the fishery in Alaska's Prince William Sound. The company chose locations to build hatcheries where natural barriers prevented streams from maintaining a natural run on thier own. Using native stocks of salmon, these hatcheries incubate, and rear salmon fry to certain lenth frequency criteria, then release them into the bay. The hatcheries maintain operating costs by contracting a local commercial fisherman to harvest the catch until they recover the budget. Not only do they harvest the catch, but they also pass brood for eggs over a barrier seine.

Once operation costs are recovered,and brood of the stock is sufficient, they open the bay for fishing to the entire fleet.

Unlike salmon farms, PWSAC does not have to worry about escapment as they maintain native species. The product is better as the fry are released into the wild to feed naturally.

The hatcheries themselves are all remote fly in or reach by boat, with the exception of the Gulkana hatchery. The experience of spending 3 years working at remote sites throughout Alaska is a priceless memory. However after coming back to the lower 48 to help out my disabled mother, and going to work for Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, I found earning family wage too difficult at the seasonal level. Now I work for the BNSF railroad and long for the days I spent on the water. If I could raise my family working in fisheries I would.
So I understand and applaud the fisherman still working today.

Damon Davis — Sun Nov. 23rd 8:56a.m.

A recent news report from KLCC about the theft of crab pots:

http://www.klcc.org/Feature.asp?FeatureID=772

David Miller — Tue Nov. 25th 11:39a.m.

Thanks to Michelle for writing this book. Ben is missed terribly by all of his friends.
I would like to ask about shows like "Deadliest Catch" and their potential educational value versus using the danger and pain of real people for entertainment. I cannot watch anything like this, and don't think I'll ever be able to.
Katie Prevost

katiepr — Tue Nov. 25th 12:23p.m.

Michelle is amazing. I'm happy that she shared with us a snap shot of her life. I visit Newport a lot and I always have questions when I visit the lost fishermen's memorial. Makes me think about the meaning of life and how important it is to live life fully - whatever that means for each person.

You have a good point. I watched "Deadliest Catch" with rapt fascination because it depicts a slice of life I won't experience directly. I'm curious about the people. I'm amazed by their drive and determination. What are their motivations? How do they calculate risk to reward? What makes a successful fisherman?

*Deadliest Catch* is the only reality show of which I've watched multiple episodes because it seemed "real". I figure *Deadliest Catch* would not have worked without the participation of the featured families. Like Michelle pointed out, the Alaskan crab fishery has become safer due in part to the attention of *Deadliest Catch*.

I admire how tough and resilient fisher folk are. I hope they are following their bliss. I get the feeling that many fisherman wouldn't be happy working behind desks for a boss.

Bless the fisherman. Fishermen, don't catch all the fish and put yourselves out of work forever.

trurl9 — Tue Nov. 25th 1:03p.m.

I've worked as a fisherman seasonally most of my adult life and now live in Portland, OR. I just happen to have a photo exhibition up right now in Portland showcasing my last four years working as a crab fisherman in the Bering Sea as well as travels with other fishermen in Northern Norway. Great show, what a nice topic of discussion to wake up to!

The photos are up at Charles A. Harman Fine Art 134 NW 8th Avenue Portland, OR

And a more in depth portfolio of pictures from the last 6 years can be found at: www.coreyfishes.com

-Corey Arnold

coreyfishes — Tue Nov. 25th 12:26p.m.

These are wonderful photographs; thank you.

Juliet Johnson — Tue Nov. 25th 2:10p.m.

Hog rings are like big metal staples that have multiple uses.... Originally - they are the rings that are put into the noses of hogs so they can be led around. In fishing, they are used to attach nets to the heavy lead lines, and floats.

I worked for ODFW in Gold Beach a few years ago. My coworkers would tease me because I have a nose ring & they would chase me around with the hog ring crimper on days set aside for net repair. "I'm gonna get that thing outta there! Yuk yuk yuk!"

:) Best Regards!
~Paige

trelanea — Tue Nov. 25th 12:30p.m.

Michelle, I applaud your courage to face your loss and to move through it to healing. Ben was my classmate and friend, and his brilliant and shining presence is still missed.

I'm curious if the insularity of our small community in Newport was a help or a hinderance to your moving through grief?

Kate Kauffman

ktkatekate — Tue Nov. 25th 12:34p.m.

Michelle, I applaud your courage to face your loss and to move through it to healing. Ben was my classmate and friend, and his brilliant and shining presence is still missed.

I'm curious if the insularity of our small community in Newport was a help or a hinderance to your moving through grief?

Kate Kauffman

ktkatekate — Tue Nov. 25th 12:35p.m.

I have to agree with the comment that a civilized society is one that searches for it's dead. My sister died last summer in a river accident. The sheriffs searched for her as one of their own family. A pair of kayakers found her body and treated her with great respect, wrapping her in their own table cloth.

The respect shown by all of the "strangers" involved was incredibly important to all of our family and a great characteristic of our civilization.

Frank Mathew — Tue Nov. 25th 12:56p.m.

We came to Newport for the memorial for Ben and the other members of the Nesika crew. Coming from a midwestern state and not familiar with a fishing community we were unaware of how people would deal with this accident. What we never expected was the response by the community to embrace and care for those that had lost loved ones.Here in a town of 8000+ where every member of the lost crew had loved ones, we found that the entire community tried to fit into the largest church in the town for the memorial.We sat and listened and absorbed the grief that this community now shared. It was a defining moment for both of us that would come to call Newport our home. We miss Ben more than we can express. jim and joann

jimjoann — Tue Nov. 25th 12:58p.m.

Thank you Michelle for the difficult but insightful hour on fishing families.
My family has been in the fishing business over 50 years out of Garibaldi. I tend not to listen to news reports of fishing, or care to watch Deadliest Catch, as the ocean is now an ugly sight to me. Perhaps some day I will see the beauty in it again. The ocean has taken my brother, my son, friends, and disabled my brother-in-law. Yes, the intrique of fishing is still there, as I continue to have family fish the sea, though in constant worry of them, especially during winter months. You are right as well, that the community support, even years later, is amazing. God Bless You and Your Family.
Teresa Vandecoevering Freeman

Vandee — Tue Nov. 25th 1:25p.m.

Hi, my name is Michelle B. My father Rodney Main was a commercial fisherman most of my life. He has fished up & down the oregon coast, california coast & in Alaska. He was lost in 1988 in the Bering Sea. My father was the Captain of the fishing vessel The Golden Venture. His crew was rescued and all survived, in large due to his efforts to stay onboard and get off the maydays. My mother, brother & myself miss my dad terribly! He was a great man, who loved his career choice. We grew up on the boats and learned to respect the ocean and those who fished it. The longer my father was in the industry the more polictical it seemed to become, but in the long run, the fisherman & their families were all a part of a much bigger "family". Anyone who grows up in this profession knows that they depend on eachother for their livelyhood and survival. My dad was very good at his job and took pride in it. He loved it! When Michelle said its salt in the blood, she was so on the money. It is a part of who they and we are! You know the dangers involved, but there is such a strong draw to the ocean that it can't be denied. I am proud to be a "Fishermans Daughter". I grew up in Newport, Oregon, playing on the boats & in the fisheries. My family & friends have displayed our fathers name at the Fishermans memorial in Yaquina Bay Park Newport, Or.. It gives us great joy to have somewhere to go and pay our respects to him and others we have known and loved and lost. It gives us some sence of comfort to know that even though we have lost him, he went to heaven doing what he loved to do. He always said that being on the ocean at daybreak was the closest he ever could feel to God, and marveled in what he had created. To this day, 20 years later, the smells of the waterfront & ocean takes us back and it is an undescrible feeling, but somehow you feel like you're at home and at peace. Thank you Michelle for sharing your time with all of us. God Bless you & your family from my family.

fishermansdaughter — Wed Nov. 26th 6:49p.m.

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