Number One

At this late date, this purse seine fishing boat arrived late last night, and anchored off shore in order to begin fishing for salmon early this morning. The crew are getting ready to pull the anchor.

Forty years ago, dozens of these boats would arrive on Sunday evening and would fish all day, Monday through Friday. At times there would be as many as 100 fishing, and they came from as far away as Alaska.

The smaller boat at the stern, called a skiff, is a mini tugboat that pulls the very large, very long net away from the main boat. After a reasonable wait time, maybe half an hour, it then returns the end to the main boat, the bottom of the net is pulled up creating a pouch, or purse, enclosing the fish, and then they are pulled into the boat and stored in the hold. This process is then repeated over and over, all day.

This, and the only other boat, are most likely indigenous owned, and may be fishing for ceremonial use only.

The good news is, there seem to be lots of salmon this year, so without a commercial fishery, many more salmon are escaping to spawn.

The dull grey background is the result of the forest fires, that are getting worldwide attention, in the interior of BC.