Tag Archives: Naknek
Is New Bedford the top commercial fishing port in the United States?
New Bedford takes great pride in its port, and its scallopers account for a significant portion of its value. It’s proven that the Port of New Bedford has great value. New Bedford still ranks as the top commercial fishing port by value as recently as 2022, according to figures released by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as NOAA Fisheries. New Bedford had landed $443.2 million worth of seafood in 2022, again placing it at the top of NOAA Fisheries’ revenue list. That’s thanks in large part to all the scalloper landings in New Bedford contributing to the port’s value. Scallop landings accounted for 84 percent of the value. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:22
‘Deadliest Catch’ Fisherman Nick Mavar Has Passed Away – The Former Northwestern Deckhand Was 59
Nick Mavar, who appeared on Discovery Channel’s reality franchise Deadliest Catch, died Thursday in Naknek, AK, Bristol Bay Police Chief Jeffrey Eldie confirmed to Deadline. He was 59. Mavar suffered a medical emergency at a boatyard in Naknek Thursday afternoon, according to Eldie. Paramedics were called and he was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead of what was determined to be natural causes, Eldie says. He was a familiar face to fans, given his status on the Northwestern, which is captained by the franchise’s de-facto elder statesman, Sig Hansen. Mavar was also uncle to onetime Northwestern greenhorn turned-deckhand turned-Saga captain, Jake Anderson. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:10
Boat caught fire May 21 in Naknek’s LMI boatyard
The commercial fishing boat F/V Midnight Hour caught fire in Naknek’s LMI boatyard on May 21. No injuries were reported. Boatyard Manager Micaela Emory-Wilson said the fire started around 12:30 p.m. Emory-Wilson said fishermen on a neighboring boat tried to put the fire out with extinguishers and garden hoses while others tried to contact the fire department. But she said GCI customers in Naknek have had trouble calling landlines from their cell phones. “So no one could get through to 911. The call kept dropping,” she said. The fishermen of the F/V Midnight Hour are staying in crew housing for the time being. They still hope to fish on another boat this summer. >click to read< 09:01
The Alaska Wilderness Prepared Me For Coronavirus
Every summer I make the long trip up to Naknek, Alaska — an outpost of human settlement among the tundra, volcanoes, and wildlife of southwestern Alaska to be part of the commercial sockeye salmon fishing season in Bristol Bay. From the airport at King Salmon, we drive the lonely stretch of pavement a half hour north, to the boatyard in which the Epick, a 32-foot-long, aluminum-hulled gillnetter that I call home for several weeks out of the year, resides through the winter. My crew and I prep the boat and put her in the water, where we make use of the abundance of daylight typical to Alaskan summers to try and catch as many salmon as possible. >click to read< 11:47
UPDATED! Bail Fundraiser: Fisherman steals a King Salmon fire truck Saturday Night, drives to the bar with emergency lights on
An Eagle River man stole a fire truck from the King Salmon Fire Station Saturday night and drove 15 miles with lights flashing to a bar where he was arrested, police said. Dawson Cody Porter, 22, used a piece of lumber to break a window of the fire station and made his way inside the building around 9 p.m., the Bristol Bay Borough Police Department said in an online statement. Once inside, Porter started a fire truck and drove it through the station’s closed bay doors. >click to read< 16:32
Bail Fundraiser to Free Dawson Cody Porter – Last Sunday night, innocent man Dawson Cody Porter, 22, of Eagle River, Alaska, was wrongfully placed under arrest for burglary, vehicle theft, criminal mischief, and parole violations. He is currently held on a $10,000 bail at the Bristol Bay Detention Facility in King Salmon. >click to read/donate< Organized by Nicholas Scott, Naknek, AK
Small processors carve out a market in Bristol Bay
Standing in a shipping container that’s been converted into essentially a salmon butchery. Sandy Alvarez is filleting a sockeye. People regularly admire her technique but she said the secret behind it is practice. “Well you know people who comment they wish they could do that I usually laughingly tell them. ‘Try doing 1,500 fish for 10 years you probably can!’” Almost a decade ago Alvarez and her husband, a commercial fisherman, set up a little processing plant near their summer home in Naknek. Alvarez’s husband fishes for sockeye and drops off a bit of his catch to his wife who then processes it. Then he sells the rest of his salmon to a larger seafood company. That is pretty typical for small seafood processors in the region. >click to read<22:20
Here’s why ice was a hot commodity in the Nushagak this summer
Bristol Bay’s Nushagak fishing district pulled in more than a million sockeye on eight separate days earlier this month. Before this summer, it had only done that twice in Bristol Bay’s history.
Keeping all those fish cool proved problematic for fishermen who still rely on slush ice. Capt. Nick Sotiropoulos of the fishing vessel Flyin’ Tiger said he’d like at least 1,000 pounds of ice for every opener to keep his catch cold and earn that chilled quality bonus from his processor.,, Just over 10 percent of Bristol Bay’s fleet relies on ice to chill their fish. Another 27 percent turn over unchilled fish to processors, and the final 63 percent are drift boats with refrigerated sea water systems. >click to read<14:43
Young fisherman survives bear attack in Naknek boatyard
It was dark when 19-year-old Stig Ure found himself walking through the Upper Lummy boat yard around 2:00 am on June third. He was close to his father’s salmon boat, the Coachman II, where he was staying, when his night took a turn for the worse. He explained, “I crested the bow of the [F/V] Gabey V and all of a sudden I was five to seven feet from this brown bear.” The bear was eating out of a dumpster when Ure surprised it. Almost immediately, Ure reacted. “I just kinda turned into an animal like at that point. Instinct just kicked in, and I bolted.” >click to read<12:30
Wild Alaskan Salmon and Seafood: Quality over quantity
Wild Alaskan Salmon and Seafood is a family owned business, processing 25,000 pounds of salmon per day. Inside the plant 13 workers are hard at work. They work long hours, sometimes pulling 22 hour shifts, but morale is high, music is on and people are joking. James Sumrall, assistant manager, said everyone is friends. “When we come here being such a small and tight knit crew it’s kinda like we’re hanging out here. It’s steady and hard work but it’s kinda like we’re hanging out,” he said. “No type of overbearing hand that’s telling you work harder, work faster. Obviously we keep a good pace, but it’s a lot friendlier, moral stays high.” Wild Alaskan Salmon and Seafood is owned by Tony and Heather Woods. Most of the salmon processed at the facility is caught by drifter Tony himself. In fact, he was not available for an interview because he is out fishing the tail end of the season. Audio, click here to read the story 20:09
Diane Hill is the chief and (so far) only seamstress for Bristol Bay Brailers, LLC, a new business in Naknek.
While fishermen tune up their boats, there are many other workers also gearing up for the salmon season. Welders, net hangers, and cannery workers are all streaming in to support the industry. This year, a Naknek family has established another piece of that fishery puzzle: a homegrown brailer operation called Bristol Bay Brailer, LLC. Hill is the manager and chief-and-only seamstress of Bristol Bay Brailer, LLC. Her husband, Bill Hill, his two brothers Nathan and Karl, and their business partner Russell Phelps co-own the company. They’re all fishermen, and Hill says they’d been talking for years about the need for locally produced brailers. “We were like, why don’t we make brailers here? We’ve been buying them from other places, but we’re in the heart of fishing, so why don’t we buy them here?” Audio, read the story here 14:11
Trident’s new fishmeal plant to go online soon in Naknek
The newest processing plant in Bristol Bay is about to go online this month. Trident Seafood’s multi-million dollar fishmeal plant should get a test run with Togiak herring. Trident agreed to build the plant as part of a 2011 settlement over alleged EPA Clean Water Act violations, and now the company, and residents, should get to see (and smell) it if works as intended. As they’re putting the finishing touches on the new plant, Trident offered KDLG’s Matt Martin in inside plant tour, and he has this report. Audio, Read the rest here 13:04
Boats of Bristol Bay Alaska
The Boats of Bristol Bay Alaska’s commercial fishing fleet, filmed from the Pacific Drifter. Naknek, Kvichak and Egegik Districts.16:49
