136
March 24, 2001

Dillingham Fisherman Builds Bristol Bay Boat

When people ask Dillingham Alaska fisherman Nick Wahl why he is building a new gillnetter in such a poor year, he just smiles and explains, "Because I always wanted a bow picker with jets for the shallow draft. Up until now I stuck with my fibreglass Roberts stern picker because I was also seining herring."

He goes on to explain that he has decided to stop seining herring with the price as low as $200 per ton at Togiak. Since this herring fishery is not yet a limited entry fishery he will simply purchase a state permit for gillnet this year. The change will mean going from a crew of four to work the 100 fathom seine as well as the services of a spotter pilot, to just two crew on the herring gillnet. With gillnet catches typically in the 20 to 30 ton range per day, even at $200 he can make money. The new boat is very deep and Nick expects it to pack at least 15 tons. After the people at All American Marine had started construction on the new boat, Nick’s decision to go from seining herring to gillnetting was confirmed when management increased the gillnet allocation from 25 to 30 percent of the available biomass. "I tell people that they must have known I was changing to gillnet," laughs Nick.

But the main driver on the boat’s design was the salmon fishery. The shallow draft has proven itself for many Bristol Bay fishermen where 20 foot plus tides rush in over huge mud flats to change the salmon’s routes and temp fishermen into water already or soon to be very shallow. Built to the standard 32-foot Bristol Bay limit, the boat’s 14-foot beam provides a great working deck and a huge cabin with lots of head room for Nick’s 6'4" son-in-law and even taller grandson. The pilot house is raised above the main cabin with an captain’s bunk and great visibility.

Under the floor of the aft mounted cabin are a pair of Cummins six-cylinder C Series 8.30 litre engines rated at 430 HP intermittent each. The engines drive Hamilton model 292 water jets to give the boat her shallow draft and a flat bottom for ease of drying up in the extreme Bristol Bay tides. Nick put a 250 HP 5.9 litre B Series Cummins in his Roberts seven years ago and has been pleased with the performance.

Nick’s wife Eunice, who fishes with him, says that there was some thought of naming the new bow picker "Last Boat" because it will be their last boat, but the couple decided to surprise their grandson by naming it "Chris K" after him. As the boat was lowered into the water at Fairhaven in South Bellingham Washington, in late March, the craftsmen from All American were still finishing the immaculate interior detailing so that the boat could be run down to Seattle to be loaded onto a northbound barge for the 2350 mile trip through the Aleutians into the Bering Sea and then to Dillingham on Bristol Bay. If all goes as planned it will be delivered and ready to fish the Togiak herring season which Nick says will open around April 25.

If an ability to work on deck in tough conditions is the prime requirement for a fisherman, the next most important requirement is optimism. Nick and Eunice Wahl have demonstrated the first over many years, now they have proven the latter by building what may be this year’s only new Bristol Bay gillnetter.

For more information:

Pat Pitsch
All American Marine Inc.
220 McKenzie Avenue
Bellingham, WA
98225 USA
Phone: 360 647-7602
E-Mail: matt@alamericanmarine.com

On Cummins Power:

Scott Graff
Cummins Northwest, Inc.
811 S.W. Grady Way
Renton, WA 98057-9811
Phone: 425 235-3400 Toll free:1 800 274-0336 Fax: 425 545-7374
Cell: 206 604 0468

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