task the captain gave us was to lash a bunch of old tires around the boat . Initially I thought it was to protect the sides of the boat when we docked or tied up to another vessel . But I soon realized there was some other purpose , because he had us cover every inch of the side rails in tires . So not only was this vessel a floating armored tank , it was a floating armored tank with an extra layer of protection .
We soon set out for the fishing grounds . We fished with a gill net , which is basically a net that lets out off the back of the boat . One side of the net was weighted down , and the other side had floats so it didn ’ t sink , thereby creating this wall in the ocean about ten feet deep . Salmon would swim into the wall and get part of the way through the holes , and then the net would get stuck in their gills so they couldn ’ t escape . It was our job as deckhands to haul the net back into the boat and free the salmon with our hands so they would fall and pile up on the deck . On a good haul , there would be no place to stand as salmon would literally be flapping around every inch of the back deck .
On a good or even an average year , it ’ s common for deckhands to walk away with $ 15-20k for less than two months work .
Keep in mind that ’ s two months of very long days , with no days off . Never leaving the boat . And in this case , our boat didn ’ t have a working shower . That ’ s two months of handling fish , with no showers , and then sleeping inches from two other guys with no room to even turn over . ( Not to mention the amount of danger involved with the job , which I haven ’ t discussed yet .) So you really earn the money as a deckhand . But on the year I went up there , something terrible happened . The salmon didn ’ t come .
The year I got my lucky break to fish in Bristol Bay , Alaska , salmon were at a 50 year low — something almost unheard of , where the weather or currents in the Pacific Ocean led to a phenomenon that kept most of the salmon from coming in .
This was devastating for all the fishermen , especially the rookies like my captain who were just learning the ropes of the fishery . These fishermen got desperate — although , I ’ m convinced , none as desperate as my captain . Initially , he didn ’ t realize there was a salmon shortage . My captain kept looking for salmon and got increasingly pissed off the more we struggled to find them .
This led to some terrible verbal abuse as he sat behind the wheel of the ship and took out his frustrations on us deckhands — or rather , on me . Because I wasn ’ t as fast or as skilled as my fellow deckhand ( who was , let ’ s face it , likely the best deckhand in the entire fishery ), my captain literally stared at me all day and criticized every movement I made . Since he was high on pain medicine or because he was an A-hole , he had no filter and didn ’ t appreciate that I was working my ass off for him .
There was nothing I could do about it . I was stuck on the boat . I couldn ’ t quit , because we never went to shore . He also stopped buying food .
When you turn in your fish for the day , you tie along a larger vessel that takes your salmon . They also have “ stores ” which are basically grocery items you can purchase . But since my captain wasn ’ t making any money , he didn ’ t buy any food . None . All we had on board was a big bag of white rice and the salmon we caught each day . Which meant all we ate for two months was salmon and rice . And we only ate once a day — the captain , being high on pain medicine , was never hungry . We learned that salmon and rice , once a day , is a great diet for weight loss .
As the days went on , things only got worse . My captain grew more desperate and mean , and he took more risks with the boat . Remember the line in the ocean enforced by Fish and Game ? That ’ s where most of the fishing boats gathered . They jockeyed
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