Stopping Sex among the Salmon

Sometime around 1940, I was the Anklin River Tallyman at the Libby McNeil and Libby Cannery in Yakutat, Alaska.

The Anklin River was not a major river. But it was a spawning stream for the local salmon runs. Four different species of salmon went there to have sex and die - the Coho, Sockeye, Humpback, and King.

I did not have to go up that river to collect salmon. But I was offered $20 (a major sum in those days) to go up river and pick up the salmon that two particular fishermen were catching. And so I was greedy and went up to collect the fish.

The two sons of Yakutat's Presbyterian minister fished the upper Anklin between courses at the University of Washington. By spreading their nets across the entire river they were able to block access to the spawning grounds upriver and make a tidy catch, every single fish. But thereby destroying the complete salmon run.

And where was the fisheries commissioner? He was at the cannery playing bridge with the superintendent. He should have been on the fishing grounds keeping an eye on things. When they finally left Yakutat to attend college (to study fishing) the salmon returned. Hopefully the University of Washington School of Fisheries took some of the greed out of them.

But what I learned was that most of the people I met connected with fishing in Alaska were motivated by greed and greed alone. They were only motivated to make money as quick as possible without any concern for the future. So the commissioner is supposed to be there to keep the long term view. Playing bridge meant he wasn't keeping an eye on anyone but his bridge partner.

If you wipeout the run - how will you make a living the following year?

Has anything changed?