Day 65--July 1, 2013

          One of the things Richard was looking forward to doing here in Alaska was going down to the community of Chitina.   I don’t know why, but it seems that most people pronounce it Chit-na.  Anyway, in 2008 when we were here, we had two other couples traveling with us.  Lyle and his family invited the guys to go to Chitina and go fishing on the Copper River.  It was an adventure like none other and Richard really wanted to do it again.  So we hung around Fairbanks at Gene’s house waiting for the conditions to be right.

          By that I mean a certain number of salmon running up the river and the water in the river to be a certain level.  Well, I’m not sure who counted all those fish, but the numbers were right, but the water level wasn’t.  So, we had to give up and head down to Anchorage to get lined up for our kids and grandkids to join us here in Alaska for a week.

          But I still want to tell you about these fishing trips.  They are based on federal and state rules and monitored by Alaska Department of Fish and Game; Division of Subsistence

          What is subsistence?  State and federal law define subsistence as the 'customary and traditional uses' of wild resources for food, clothing, fuel, transportation, construction, art, crafts, sharing, and customary trade. Subsistence uses are central to the customs and traditions of many cultural groups in Alaska, including Aleut, Athabaskan, Alutiiq, Euroamerican, Haida, Inupiat, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Yup'ik.

          I admit I took that directly from the Internet.  But from what I’ve learned, all those listed above, plus anyone who has maintained a permanent residency for one year in Alaska are entitled to the benefits of the subsistence program.  The Copper River is approximately 287 miles long. It is glacier fed and drops an average of about 12 feet per mile, and drains into a basin that is a total of 24,400 square miles in area.  That is the size of West Virginia. The river has 13 major tributaries and runs at an average of 7 miles per hour.

          The rapidly moving water is loaded with sand and silt.  If someone fell into the river, they would only have a few minutes to be saved because the rushing water would move them down stream, the silt would collect in their life vests causing them to sink, and because of the temperature, hypothermia would set in quickly.

          There is popular contemporary dip net Sockeye Salmon fishery in Chitina, Alaska.  The time to catch only lasts two to three weeks, and is regarded as a subsistence fishery for Alaska residents only. Dip nets can also be used to scoop crabs in shallow water. The basket is made of wire or nylon mesh, rather than cloth mesh, since crabs fight, bite, twist and turn when they are caught.

          For subsistence purposes, an Alaskan can catch 15 salmon per person or 50 (?) per household with a dip net.  While we were in Fairbanks, Gene and Lyle and a couple of other men when down on the Copper River and used their dip nets.  Within a few of hours, they had all reached their limits.  They brought them home, cleaned, smoked and canned their catch to eat during the winter months.  A few days ago, I posted pictures of them canning their catch of the day.  I have some smoked salmon in the refrigerator.  It was smoked with cottonwood.  I’ve never had anything smoked with that wood (usually oak at home) and it is really, really good.  I make a dip with cream cheese and onion and ate it on brown rice and sweet potato crackers.  Yummy!

          By this weekend, I think they will be going to Chitina and setting up the village on the banks of the Copper River.  Then they will scoop up their catch in a fish wheel. A fish wheel is a device which operates like a water-powered mill wheel. It has baskets and paddles attached to a floating dock. The wheel rotates by the stream current.  The baskets on the wheel capture fish, and then drop them into a holding tank.

          They set up a village (tents, sinks, grills) so they can clean the different types of salmon as the holding tanks get full.  Copper and Yukon Rivers are the only place the fish wheels are allowed.  And they are only allowed for subsistence use.  With a fish wheel, they are allowed 200 per person or 500 per household.  If you have three or four households working this one wheel, you can see why they need a couple of days and a temporary village set up near the bank.

          Just one more note on this.  No one but the Alaskans is allowed in the boat when they are netting or using the fish wheel.  But the boat Gene and Lyle use has seats attached to the side of the boat where non-residents can sit and watch and take pictures.  These seats hang out over the COLD, RAPID-MOVING GLACIER FED COPPER RIVER.

Here's some pictures of their trip to the Copper River when we were there.

Lyle's dog sitting in seat hanging over the edge of boat.

Lyle dipping snow to ice down salmon

 

         

Lyle dip netting on Copper River

         















 In 2008, when Richard, Jack Dickson and Tom Neal went on this excursion, Richard passed on riding in the extended seat, but our good ol’ buddy Jack (he fears nothing) thought it was the greatest ride ever.  He got some great pictures, too. 

 P.S.  We just found out that another one of the kids will be coming to visit.  My stepson Robert will be visiting between Ryan and Brian’s visit.  Since we will be spending 3 weeks with the others on the Kenai Peninsula, we plan to go north to Denali National Park for a few days with Robert.  I’m glad.  I didn’t think we were going to get to visit the park this trip.  Yay!!

Mountain along the Copper River
 

Fish Wheel

 

Until next time,

Dolores