Electrofishing

Somewhere near Iliamna, SW Alaska

Who thought that getting a real job in Anchorage meant no more Alaskan adventures? I dreaded that. Next week I will get a chance to see and do wild things once more in this now-snowy northern land. I even get a chance to do a type of fishing not even my dad has ever done, and he’s done a lot of fishing. But not electrofishing.

Picture this. It’s snowing. You’re in one of Alaska’s huge wilderness areas, situated in the Southwest of the State. The ecosystem you’re standing on is the nursery to the most important wild fishing industry around – headwaters to Bristol Bay, the salmon fishing mecca of Alaska. This site, rich in natural bounty, may soon be the Northern Hemisphere’s largest mine. For the sake of gold. My company is doing the baseline studies for this mining company. We’re putting numerical figures to the natural wealth out there so then the mining company can put their case to the government about how they will do no damage to this wealth during their mining processes. It is currently the most controversial project in Alaska, along with the gas pipeline project.

My job is to stand in streams for a week and stun fish with an electric-shock thingamy, pick ‘em up, count ‘em, measure ‘em, and put ‘em back. The fish are just the wee little fingerlings that hatched this spring. They will mostly be salmon but there will also be rainbow trout. Although it will be cold I have been through thick educating in warm layers today, we went and bought some mean neoprene waders with boots on the ends, and I will beg buy and borrow everything I need to survive the week. Although, as you know, I am an intrepid explorer, I am glad that we are staying in a lodge with all the creature comforts of beds and hot meals and goodness. During the day we will be zipping around in little helicopters from site to site, and we take a small plane from Anchorage to Iliamna where there is a tiny town with an airstrip.

I can’t wait.