Mar 12, 20212 min
Updated: Mar 5
Swap this super special pandemic treat with your favorite podcast for a couple of hours. This event is usually live in Astoria and you have to choose which acts to attend. This year you can watch all artists, whose common denominator is salmon fishing in Alaska, from the comfort of your own home.
We promise you will have such a deeper appreciation for your wild-caught seafood once you listen to the prose of the brave men and women who head out to sea to fill your bellies.
We give all acts a huge virtual round of applause for their shares.
Here are the highlights, in our humble opinion. What is linked below is our interpretation of the topic, not the piece title. Click on the yellow to view the author's name and listen to the title (if shared). Write your favorites in the comments below!
The ultimate fisherpoet of CDV - Steve Schoonmaker, AK fisherman of 39 yrs, fisherpoet of 13
Louis Beaudry who fished out of Cordova (CDV) singing about a famous local deckhand. If you've been to or worked in CDV, you know who this is or you've seen him on Main Street.
Paying attention – Holly Hughes
Cordovan (can't say former, b/c once you leave there, it never leaves your heart) on fisher moms - Erica Thompson Clark
The pandemic (COVID-19)
Yupik & Tlingit native shares her thoughts on pandemic life - Melanie Brown
Bristol Bay fishery tribal requests that the fishery not open - Elma Burnham
Your boat's in quarantine/quarantine flag - Doug Rhoades
Observations on climate change
All that has changed – Josh Wisniewski
When our food is not made in the United States
the dangers of sourcing your fish from big box stores
The reality (and cost) of being a commercial fisherman
Seasickness
Being a greenhorn in Alaska fishing – “Corva May”
The hard life of a fisherman
highliner/lives lost at sea – Kathy Stack
Capsizing in Alaska – “God Bless the Captain,” Jan Bono
Characters of the industry
How to make fish stock – “The Prize Inside,” Toni Mirosevich
Author writing from the perspective of her boat, taking it up to Alaska for fishing
Telling it like it is to be a woman fisherman, make the men comfortable - Alana
Assigning meaning to the forgotten cannery workers from China, the Philippines or simply upriver - Katherine Ringsmuth
Cannery driver and forklift queen
Luck and superstition with fishing - Henry Hughes
On sockeye salmon – Meezie Hermansen
The spirituality of fishing
The original religion: fishing. "Temple of the Trout" by xxx
Waiting for the tide to change/patience
humility and resilience of wild Alaska
The physics of (ocean) sound
On grief and herbalism by Moe Bowstern (what a name!)
on being a woman, compromise and failure, Maggie Bursch