Commercial Fisherman
Jumpers!

I've been in Bristol Bay (Alaska) every year but one since '86. I owe a great deal to my dad who acquired a Bristol Bay Salmon Gillnetting permit on the basis of his having fished there since '64, off and on. In the early days of my presence in the bay, he either leased a boat from a cannery or went on as the permit holder on someone else's boat. In '90, he purchased an older wood boat which we paid for on the first day out. The "FV Donna" served us well for 5 years. I missed '95, but acted as "peak man" in '96 for the vessel who was using my dad's permit and had a nice little vacation. '97 was a odd year (see below.)

'98: The '97 season was so bad that no-one in there right mind would pay much for a permit on a season transfer arrangement. Dad is unable to sell his permit since it is an "interim permit" (else he probably would have done so when they where worth $225,000!) It makes sense then to go ahead and purchase a boat and have me run it. Physical difficulties due to a terrible car wreck some years ago preclude him from fishing. Anyway, we have entered into a partnership in which we split the profits. We hope to pretty much pay off the boat this year then split the profits from here on out.

Since I get into analysis and projections, I made up a spreadsheet which helps project the economics and visualize the effects of the primary variables. Namely ex-vessel prices and total catch.

'98 and beyond business related material.


Some pics of questionable quality from '96.

Fishing boats. I was on the bow-picker (lower right.) 65k .jpg

Some actual fish and fishing. 2 pics...90k html

1997 was an odd year for me. Rather than fishing, I ended up doing some other stuff since many fishermen did not make enough to cover expenses that year.

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