That fishermen love to tell tall tales is a bit of a cliche, but it’s also often true. But their stories paint compelling pictures of what life is like on deck, in the delivery truck or face-to-face with chefs, distributors and consumers. And what of the chefs who source directly from fish harvesters? What goes in to those choices and how do those relationships work? How can others in the seafood supply chain forge the type of community that upholds the values supporting small-scale fishermen, the resource they depend on and we the seafood eaters ?
The one Fish Foundation Fish Tales Podcast was created to tell these stories and give listeners a front row seat as to how the seafood supply chain works, the challenges many in that supply chain face, and the creative ways fish harvesters and others have overcome those challenges. You’ll hear folks from Alaska to Louisiana, and Maine to California talking about why they do what they do, how they do it, and why it all matters.
The first set of Fish Tales Podcasts comes from Bristol Bay, Alaska, where I spent two weeks learning how to pick sockeye out of a set net, while also fly fishing for salmon, trout and arctic char. I also interviewed several people on the front lines of the battle to protect Bristol Bay, home of the world’s largest wild salmon run, from the threat of the proposed Pebble Mine.
Podcast links:
⇒Gayla Hoseth: Director of Natural Resources with Bristol Bay Native Association, Second Chief of the Curyung Tribal Council, and a force for change as she advocates for the indigenous subsistence way of life.
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- Video link (YouTube Channel with photos)
- Audio-only (downloadable)
⇒Norm Van Vactor: President and CEO of Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation. Born and raised in the Philippines and now fighting to preserve the resource and natural beauty of the land he now calls home.
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- Video link (YouTube Channel with photos)
- Audio-only (downloadable)
⇒Melanie Brown: Commercial and subsistence fish harvester out of Naknek, Alaska and organizer/coordinator with SalmonState. She describes fishing the site her great grandfather established decades ago, teaching her kids to fish, and her connection to the fish and the bay. 
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- Video link: (YouTube channel video podcast)
⇒Capt. Steve Kurian: Captain of the drift net boat F/V Ava Jane out of Naknek, Alaska and co-owner with wife Jen of Wild for Salmon, a retail and wholesale operation based in Pennsylvania. He tells the story of going to Bristol Bay on a whim back in 2002, and the magnetic pull that brings him back every year.
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- Video link: (YouTube channel video podcast)