F/V Loki is a 38-foot Vestad gillnetter built in 1959 in New Westminster, BC. It is a classic wood boat with old-growth yellow cedar structural members, red cedar planks and an oak frame. It is powered by a 671 Detroit Diesel. Pete and Hing purchased Loki in 1979, and in 1981 Pete outfitted it with a refrigerated seawater hold, one of the first of its kind in the small gillnet fleet. In 2006, Pete and Hing gave Loki to Jonah. He now captains the boat from Puget Sound to southeast Alaska, fishing for salmon.
Who is Loki?
F/V Njord is a 40-foot Woodridge gillnetter built in 1973 on Vancouver Island, BC. It is heavier and wider than Loki, with a fiberglass hull and about twice the capacity in its refrigerated hold. It is powered by a John Deere diesel engine. Pete bought Njord in 1996, and fishes the waters of Puget Sound and southeast Alaska for salmon and halibut. In 2011 the diesel stove inside Njord caught fire during a fishing opening. After putting out the fire, running back to shore and re-wiring the hydraulics, Pete and his crew ran back out to the fishing ground and finished the opening!
Who is Njord?
F/V Fram – Captained by Mark Johansen, longtime former deckhand of Pete's, and--like Jonah and Pete--a longtime fixture on the West Wall at Fishermen's Terminal. Mark lives in Mount Vernon, does custom carpentry and operates a small farm on his property. Mark is not a big fan of electronic equipment and prefers to fish by himself.
F/V Mount Royal - Captained by Byron Spence, former deckhand of Pete's, and former soccer teammate of Dylan's. Byron lives in Bellingham and, like Jonah, is part of the younger generation of commercial fishermen. The Mount Royal was built in 1980 by Albion Boatworks in Haney BC on the Fraser River. It was originally used for pink shrimp beam-trawling. Byron catches Dungeness crab commercially in the fall in Puget Sound.
F/V Charity - Captained by Martin Gowdy, our newest partner boat for the 2015 season. Martin runs his 46 foot fiberglass freezer troller out of Sitka, Alaska, and fishes for king, coho and tuna. He grew up fishing with his dad, and started working as a deckhand at age 11. When trolling, he has 4 to 6 lines out at a time, running his boat slowly at 2.5 knots. When a fish bites, it rings a bell that tells the crew to pull the line in. The fish are cleaned, pressure bled, let rest for 30 minutes, rinsed again and immediately blast frozen at -38 degrees. The next day they are glazed to prevent oxidation and kept frozen in the hold until the boat returns to shore to offload their catch. The Charity runs anywhere from the Canadian border up to Yakutat, 1-26 miles offshore. This season we are marketing Martin's premium troll caught, frozen at sea kings both as whole fish and single serving portions.