Dave Seaman interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-02-21
Dave Seaman (b. 1952) moved to Alaska with his family at age 10. Eventually, he moved down and settled on the southside of Kachemak Bay. In this interview, he talks about teaching himself to build boats, commercially fishing for salmon and halibut, running a salmon tender, owning the wooden fishing boat Marona; and the community of Little Tutka Bay, where he has been a…
Contributor:
Seaman, Dave - Wisniewski, Josh - Occupational Folklife Project
Date:2022
Audio Recording
Walt Sonen interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-02-23
Walt Sonen was born in 1944 in Arlington, Virginia. He joined the Marines at age 17 and, after multiple tours in Japan, developed a deep interest in Japanese culture and spent a year living with and working for a Japanese fishing family in Hokkaido. He first started fishing in the Upper Cook Inlet Salmon fisheries and eventually settled in Seldovia. In this interview, he…
Contributor:
Occupational Folklife Project - Sonen, Walt - Wisniewski, Josh
Date:2022
Audio Recording
Renée Purpura interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2021-11-20
Renée Purpura (b. 1958) of Seldovia is a lifelong resident of the Kachemak Bay region of Lower Cook Inlet in Southcentral Alaska. She grew up in the community of Homer and moved to the south side of Kachemak Bay and off the road system in the late 1970s. Renée talks about her late husband Robert, their life afloat living on a small house boat,…
Ann Daigle interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2021-12-01
Ann Daigle (b. 1963) is a lifelong resident of Kachemak Bay in Lower Cook Inlet. She and her family are commercial set net fishers in Kasitsna Bay and off MacDonald Spit, and they live part of the year in their fish camp cabin in Little Tutka Bay. She began commercial fishing for salmon after returning from college and in this interview she talks about…
Brad Langvardt interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-02-03
Brad Langvardt (b. 1951) came to Alaska at age 17 in 1969. He immediately began to work for hunting guides in remote areas of Alaska --becoming the state's youngest professional guide. Concurrently, he became a commercial halibut fisherman and eventually a charter guide operating out of Homer on Kachemak Bay. He talks about working as a set-netter and halibut fisherman; discusses the concept of…
Dick Dunn interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2021-11-29
Dick Dunn (b. 1949) came to Alaska in 1966, moved to Kachemak Bay area circa 1970, and eventually settled in Little Tutka Bay. He recalls how, beginning in the early 1970s, he taught himself wooden boat building; participated in multiple fisheries on Kachemak Bay; was a successful halibut skiff fisherman; and was a member of a small community Tulka Bay community known as the…
Contributor:
Occupational Folklife Project - Dunn, Dick - Wisniewski, Josh
Date:2021
Audio Recording
Phil Brudie interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-03-22
Phil Brudie (b. 1947) came to Alaska from California at age 8 when his mom married and moved first to Homer and then to a homestead on Cohen Island on the southside of Kachemak Bay. Phil talks about how he began beach seining by himself in small skiffs, and then progressively acquired larger boats and fished throughout Kachemak Bay and the outer coast in…
Contributor:
Wisniewski, Josh - Brudie, Phil - Occupational Folklife Project
Date:2022
Audio Recording
Dave Kubiak interview conducted by Marissa Wilson and Josh Wisniewski, 2022-05-01
Dave Kubiak (b. 1948) moved to Kodiak in 1964 with his parents and found work in various sectors of the fishing industry. He also taught school in Kodiak for 20 years. In this wide-ranging interview, he talks about life on fishing and fish processing boats; individual and small-scale fishers' struggles with corporate fishing; discrimination against women in the fishing industry; the 1989 Prudhoe Bay…
Alfred Quijance interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-02-09
Alfred Quijance (b. 1950), a fisherman and subsistence harvester, grew up in the remote Alutiiq/Sugpiaq-speaking community of Old Harbor on Kodiak Island. He learned traditional Native American seining and harvesting before working outside his community on larger boats, at a crab cannery, etc. He discusses differences between Native and non-Native approaches to the land; his experiences on different boats and with different captains; the…
Darius Kasprzak interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-24
Darius Kasprzak (b. 1969) hitch-hiked to a remote area on the south end of Kodiak Island with his parents as a 6-year-old. Since his teen years, he has worked in various types Kodiak area fisheries, including set-gillnetting, seining, longlining for sable fish and working on draggers. In this interview, he talks about acquiring his own boat to commercially jig for cod and rock fish;…
Walter Sargent interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-22
Walter Sargent was born in Kodiak in 1937 to a family of Indigenous Alaskans and early U.S. settlers, and has worked his entire life as a Kodiak Island commercial fisherman. In this interview, he talks about working in razor-back clamming; different types of seining; canning factories; and the technological transformation of the fishing industry. He also discussed the 1964 earthquake; losing several boats in…
Terry Haines interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-23
Terry Haines (b. 1961) arrived in Alaska from Northern California in 1983 and found work in Kodiak's cannery row. He describes his early jobs in crabbing and halibut fishing; learning new skills and working his way up to be a deck hand on a “great boat”; fishing accidents; the rise of large, corporate fishing and disputes in Alaska's fishing world; climate change; and the…
Theresa Peterson interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-22
Theresa Peterson (b. 1961) came to Alaska during college to find summer work in a cannery, fell in love with fishing and, after several false starts, became a fisherman. She discusses halibut fishing; working as part of a boat crew; buying a boat with her husband Charlie; the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and its impact on fishing; being a working mother; joining the…
Moe Johnson interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-24
Moe Johnson (b.1966) was born and raised in Sitka. His father was a commercial fisherman and Moe began working a seine skiff with his older sister at the age of four. He talks in detail about his experiences fishing for halibut, herring and crabs; working with chum; his knowledge of the fishing grounds; and the impact of logging and environmental change on Alaska's fish…
Jeff Farvour interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-24
Jeff Farvour (b.1969) grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and moved to Alaska to take a job as a deckhand and cook on a tugboat -- despite not knowing how to cook -- and later spent a year processing and fishing on a boat in the Bring Sea. In this interview, he talks about his decision to move to Alaska; his experiences working in various…
Lance Preston interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-26
Lance Preston (b. 1969) was raised in in New York and came to Alaska after high school with a girlfriend, decided to try commercial fishing with a friend and stayed on to make his living fishing and trolling for salmon out of Sitka. He talks about learning his trade and being mentored by a Norwegian fisherman; his experiences on various boats; his love of…
Eric Jordan interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-03-22
Eric Jordan was born 1949 in Wrangell, Alaska, into a fishing family and grew up on his parents' 32-foot wooden troller. He has trolled for salmon for 70 years (only missing one season) and began hand trolling when he moved to Sitka in 1974. In this interview, he talks about hand trolling; fishing with flashers and hoochies; boat voltage and magnetic fields; tying lures,…
Contributor:
Wisniewski, Josh - Jordan, Eric - Occupational Folklife Project
Date:2022
Audio Recording
Mike Litman interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-22
Mike Litman (b. 1955) left his Los Angeles high school and made his way to Alaska seeking adventure. He eventually wound up in Elfin Cove, where he found work hand trolling before lucking into a job as a deck hand. He talks about his experiences and adventures on fishing boats; some of his non-fishing jobs; working and living on scows; and finding work in…
Linda Behnken interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski ans Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-23
Linda Behnken (b. 1962) came to Alaska to go fishing while in college and fell in love with Alaskan life. A job on a family-owned black-cod longline boat led to other fishing jobs. She also attended grad school and wrote on fishing quotas, which led to her becoming the Executive Director of the Alaska Long Line Fisherman Association (ALFA) in 1991. In this interview,…
Terry Perensovich interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-03-25
Terry Perensovich (b. 1960) moved from Juneau to Sitka as a teenager and started fishing for halibut after graduating high school. He became interested in boat building and repair and eventually founded the Sitka Shipwrights Co-op. In this interview he talks about fishing; learning to repair and maintain boats and scows; trapping and hunting; climate change and changes in the local environment; Sitka's fishing…
Contributor:
Occupational Folklife Project - Perensovich, Terry - Wisniewski, Josh
Audio RecordingDave Seaman interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-02-21 Dave Seaman (b. 1952) moved to Alaska with his family at age 10. Eventually, he moved down and settled on the southside of Kachemak Bay. In this interview, he talks about teaching himself to build boats, commercially fishing for salmon and halibut, running a salmon tender, owning the wooden fishing boat Marona; and the community of Little Tutka Bay, where he has been a…
Audio RecordingWalt Sonen interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-02-23 Walt Sonen was born in 1944 in Arlington, Virginia. He joined the Marines at age 17 and, after multiple tours in Japan, developed a deep interest in Japanese culture and spent a year living with and working for a Japanese fishing family in Hokkaido. He first started fishing in the Upper Cook Inlet Salmon fisheries and eventually settled in Seldovia. In this interview, he…
Audio RecordingRenée Purpura interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2021-11-20 Renée Purpura (b. 1958) of Seldovia is a lifelong resident of the Kachemak Bay region of Lower Cook Inlet in Southcentral Alaska. She grew up in the community of Homer and moved to the south side of Kachemak Bay and off the road system in the late 1970s. Renée talks about her late husband Robert, their life afloat living on a small house boat,…
Audio RecordingAnn Daigle interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2021-12-01 Ann Daigle (b. 1963) is a lifelong resident of Kachemak Bay in Lower Cook Inlet. She and her family are commercial set net fishers in Kasitsna Bay and off MacDonald Spit, and they live part of the year in their fish camp cabin in Little Tutka Bay. She began commercial fishing for salmon after returning from college and in this interview she talks about…
Audio RecordingBrad Langvardt interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-02-03 Brad Langvardt (b. 1951) came to Alaska at age 17 in 1969. He immediately began to work for hunting guides in remote areas of Alaska --becoming the state's youngest professional guide. Concurrently, he became a commercial halibut fisherman and eventually a charter guide operating out of Homer on Kachemak Bay. He talks about working as a set-netter and halibut fisherman; discusses the concept of…
Audio RecordingDick Dunn interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2021-11-29 Dick Dunn (b. 1949) came to Alaska in 1966, moved to Kachemak Bay area circa 1970, and eventually settled in Little Tutka Bay. He recalls how, beginning in the early 1970s, he taught himself wooden boat building; participated in multiple fisheries on Kachemak Bay; was a successful halibut skiff fisherman; and was a member of a small community Tulka Bay community known as the…
Audio RecordingPhil Brudie interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-03-22 Phil Brudie (b. 1947) came to Alaska from California at age 8 when his mom married and moved first to Homer and then to a homestead on Cohen Island on the southside of Kachemak Bay. Phil talks about how he began beach seining by himself in small skiffs, and then progressively acquired larger boats and fished throughout Kachemak Bay and the outer coast in…
Audio RecordingDave Kubiak interview conducted by Marissa Wilson and Josh Wisniewski, 2022-05-01 Dave Kubiak (b. 1948) moved to Kodiak in 1964 with his parents and found work in various sectors of the fishing industry. He also taught school in Kodiak for 20 years. In this wide-ranging interview, he talks about life on fishing and fish processing boats; individual and small-scale fishers' struggles with corporate fishing; discrimination against women in the fishing industry; the 1989 Prudhoe Bay…
Audio RecordingAlfred Quijance interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-02-09 Alfred Quijance (b. 1950), a fisherman and subsistence harvester, grew up in the remote Alutiiq/Sugpiaq-speaking community of Old Harbor on Kodiak Island. He learned traditional Native American seining and harvesting before working outside his community on larger boats, at a crab cannery, etc. He discusses differences between Native and non-Native approaches to the land; his experiences on different boats and with different captains; the…
Audio RecordingDarius Kasprzak interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-24 Darius Kasprzak (b. 1969) hitch-hiked to a remote area on the south end of Kodiak Island with his parents as a 6-year-old. Since his teen years, he has worked in various types Kodiak area fisheries, including set-gillnetting, seining, longlining for sable fish and working on draggers. In this interview, he talks about acquiring his own boat to commercially jig for cod and rock fish;…
Audio RecordingWalter Sargent interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-22 Walter Sargent was born in Kodiak in 1937 to a family of Indigenous Alaskans and early U.S. settlers, and has worked his entire life as a Kodiak Island commercial fisherman. In this interview, he talks about working in razor-back clamming; different types of seining; canning factories; and the technological transformation of the fishing industry. He also discussed the 1964 earthquake; losing several boats in…
Audio RecordingTerry Haines interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-23 Terry Haines (b. 1961) arrived in Alaska from Northern California in 1983 and found work in Kodiak's cannery row. He describes his early jobs in crabbing and halibut fishing; learning new skills and working his way up to be a deck hand on a “great boat”; fishing accidents; the rise of large, corporate fishing and disputes in Alaska's fishing world; climate change; and the…
Audio RecordingTheresa Peterson interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-01-22 Theresa Peterson (b. 1961) came to Alaska during college to find summer work in a cannery, fell in love with fishing and, after several false starts, became a fisherman. She discusses halibut fishing; working as part of a boat crew; buying a boat with her husband Charlie; the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and its impact on fishing; being a working mother; joining the…
Audio RecordingMoe Johnson interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-24 Moe Johnson (b.1966) was born and raised in Sitka. His father was a commercial fisherman and Moe began working a seine skiff with his older sister at the age of four. He talks in detail about his experiences fishing for halibut, herring and crabs; working with chum; his knowledge of the fishing grounds; and the impact of logging and environmental change on Alaska's fish…
Audio RecordingJeff Farvour interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-24 Jeff Farvour (b.1969) grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and moved to Alaska to take a job as a deckhand and cook on a tugboat -- despite not knowing how to cook -- and later spent a year processing and fishing on a boat in the Bring Sea. In this interview, he talks about his decision to move to Alaska; his experiences working in various…
Audio RecordingLance Preston interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-26 Lance Preston (b. 1969) was raised in in New York and came to Alaska after high school with a girlfriend, decided to try commercial fishing with a friend and stayed on to make his living fishing and trolling for salmon out of Sitka. He talks about learning his trade and being mentored by a Norwegian fisherman; his experiences on various boats; his love of…
Audio RecordingEric Jordan interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-03-22 Eric Jordan was born 1949 in Wrangell, Alaska, into a fishing family and grew up on his parents' 32-foot wooden troller. He has trolled for salmon for 70 years (only missing one season) and began hand trolling when he moved to Sitka in 1974. In this interview, he talks about hand trolling; fishing with flashers and hoochies; boat voltage and magnetic fields; tying lures,…
Audio RecordingMike Litman interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski and Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-22 Mike Litman (b. 1955) left his Los Angeles high school and made his way to Alaska seeking adventure. He eventually wound up in Elfin Cove, where he found work hand trolling before lucking into a job as a deck hand. He talks about his experiences and adventures on fishing boats; some of his non-fishing jobs; working and living on scows; and finding work in…
Audio RecordingLinda Behnken interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski ans Marissa Wilson, 2022-03-23 Linda Behnken (b. 1962) came to Alaska to go fishing while in college and fell in love with Alaskan life. A job on a family-owned black-cod longline boat led to other fishing jobs. She also attended grad school and wrote on fishing quotas, which led to her becoming the Executive Director of the Alaska Long Line Fisherman Association (ALFA) in 1991. In this interview,…
Audio RecordingTerry Perensovich interview conducted by Josh Wisniewski, 2022-03-25 Terry Perensovich (b. 1960) moved from Juneau to Sitka as a teenager and started fishing for halibut after graduating high school. He became interested in boat building and repair and eventually founded the Sitka Shipwrights Co-op. In this interview he talks about fishing; learning to repair and maintain boats and scows; trapping and hunting; climate change and changes in the local environment; Sitka's fishing…