Offloading the Fish

These setnetters have, by this photo, set out their nets, waited for the tide to come in, caught the fish and picked the net. This process has taken about twelve hours. Now they are delivering their catch to the tender. The fish are in canvas baskets called brailers. The brailers will be hoisted up and the fish will be weighed to determine how many pounds they have caught. The cannery pays for the fish by the pound.

Next, they will wait for the next opening, determined by Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and start the whole process again. If you are interested in the announcements of openings, here is the link. The people in the photos for the past week are fishing by the rules of the 2005 Bristol Bay East Side (King Salmon ) Announcements, NRSHA. Those letters stand for Naknek River Special Harvest Area.

©Photo by Bruce D. Anderson with a Canon 20D

The picture used on this page is COPYRIGHTED.