Setnets have been a part of the Bristol Bay fishery since man first figured how to catch fish with something besides a pointed stick. The people of Western Alaska caught salmon to eat. They boiled fish, dried fish, and buried fish in efforts to preserve them. White men showed up and began to cure fish with salt. Salmon soon began to be salted and then canned for export.
The newcomers soon figured how to catch larger numbers of salmon with traps and drifting nets. The local residents were, for the most part, cut out of these high-volume market fisheries. However, the setnets still operated. They were mostly manned by the women and kids.
As time went on, Native folks gradually began to work their way back into the fishery. Fish traps disappeared, but the fleet of drifting nets began to become more sophisticated. The local residents had an "in" with the salmon fishery. They lived in the Bristol Bay area and knew her waters. Salmon provided an indispensable source of income in an area that had almost no other employment for 10 months of the year.
In the early 1970s, limited entry permits came along. Most of the locals were eligible for these permits based on their past participation in the fishery. Many applied for and received the permits, which gradually became valuable over time depending on the salmon runs and the price of fish.
Inevitably some bad years followed. Outside fishermen, many of whom had regular jobs during the off-season, were able to retain their permits. Locals, who had no such opportunity, needed income to feed their families. Many area permits were sold during the hard times. Drift permits began a slow, steady migration out of Alaska that is continuing today. However, most setnets remained in family hands. Setnets were perceived as lesser value.
Setnet permits were set up with limited entry also. There were not as many applicants. Some of the fishers had trouble understanding the new regulations and how the permits were to be applied for. A fair number of local people that fished on the beach were in danger of being cut from the livelihood that had been with their family for generations. Fortunately, the state of Alaska realized this and granted extra time and more permits. Almost 200 additional permits were given to Alaska residents, the vast majority to people living in Bristol Bay.
The catch to the additional permits was that they were nontransferable. When the permit holder died, the permit disappeared. This didn't seem like a problem in the early '80s. Today it is becoming more than just an inconvenience; it threatens an entire way of life.
The setnetters in Western Alaska spend their summers on the beach. They live in tents or in plywood shacks. The families spend all summer outdoors living and working on the beach. The kids learn how to catch fish, can fish and how to cook fish. They take part in a subsistence lifestyle that is the very fabric of life in rural Alaska. The money made from the sale of fish is a necessary part of that lifestyle.
There are approximately 170 nontransferable limited entry setnet permits in existence today. The holders of these permits are aging. When these fishers pass, the permits and their income will be lost. The question then begs, how will these families support themselves in an area with $8 per gallon fuel and $13 milk?
There are other threats to the local Western Alaska setnet fishery. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources operates a setnet site lease program. A person pays $300 a year to DNR to hold a lease on a setnet site. Quite a number of the locals have had their sets in the same location for many years. The locations were respected. Today, with the high volume of fish in the Bay and good fish prices, some of these sites are getting squeezed by outsiders who have been buying in.
When there is a conflict, DNR is called in. "Too bad," the guy without a lease is told. "You have fished here for 40 years and live in Igiugig, your new neighbor is in his second year and lives on Fourth and Broadway in New York City. However, he has his lease and you don't." The lease is not required by either law or regulation. The right to fish on a specific location is, nevertheless, upheld by only the DNR lease.
Another threat to the local way of life is looming on the horizon. This next election cycle could see an initiative on the ballot to ban setnetting from certain fisheries. Sportfish interests believe that setnets cut heavily into the escapement of salmon, especially kings. The initiative has gathered sufficient signatures, but needs to stand the test of law before it goes to ballot.
At this time the proposed setnet ban does not address areas in which the subsistence take of salmon are of paramount importance. It could. We all are aware that once laws are on the books, they can be easily managed by regulation to include other areas -- without a public review.
Setnetting is way of life in much of coastal Alaska. For the most part, setnet folks are local Alaskans and residents of the area in which they fish. Losing this local fishery would be a travesty to a lifestyle and a black eye for our state.
The cost of living rural is becoming increasingly difficult in Alaska. Subsistence living is facing challenges throughout our state. Families are unable to make ends meet and thus move to the cities. There is also danger in losing the basics of the outdoor lifestyle. Kids will know the Internet, but not how to trap, hunt, or fish. Setnets are not just a part of the rural life, they are an avenue to learn the basics of life.
John Schandelmeier is a lifelong Alaskan who lives with his family near Paxson. He is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and two-time winner of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.