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Commercial fishing in Alaska
is challenging, acknowledges
Jeff Smith (pictured below).
But it’s what he lives to do.
Living the Alaskan adventure
by Melissa DeVaughn
With a diagnosis of MS, Jeff Smith worried:
Would he still be able to handle the demands
of commercial fishing? Or was he finally
facing something he couldn’t fix?
Jeff Smith checked his watch, gunning his boat motor like a
NASCAR driver as he waited for
the 7 a.m. fishing period to open.
After securing one end of his net
to a buoy set in the water, he was
soon under way, feeding the rest
of the net from the boat’s stern
as he sped to the second buoy.
Now that these “sets” were
made, he could earn his living,
catching wild sockeye salmon
from Alaska’s Cook Inlet, where a
series of snow-capped volcanoes
dot the horizon and the brief
sunsets turn the sky violet.
PHOTO BY MELISSA DEVAUGHN
Commercial fishing in Alaska
is hard work though, requiring
demanding hours, brute strength
and quick thinking. You’re a net
mender, boat mechanic, carpenter
and electrician. You’re sore, tired,
smelly and often cold, and you
have to keep your wits about
you even when the seas are tossing
you about like a ball in a bingo
cage. It’s all part of Smith’s job as
crew foreman.
There is a certain gratification
that comes from a hard day’s
work, and from the time he was
a boy wandering the forests
surrounding his Tallahassee, Fla.,
home, Smith has experienced
that. After being honorably
discharged as a U.S. Marine
sergeant in 2005, he followed his
skill sets, working as a plumber,
mechanic and hunting guide.
He has a knack for figuring out
what’s broken and fixing it.
