Docklines May 2011
Docklines June 2011
Docklines July 2011
Docklines August 2011
(The links below will take you to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute website in new browser tabs.)
Matt Lawrie is not the first fisherman to work on Alaskan waters with a college degree, and he won’t be the last. What makes a young man work hard in college and then choose to live on a troller? In this own words, “being my own boss, freedom to make my own decisions, out on the water, owning a business that produces a tangible, high quality, unambiguously good product. It’s simple - producing something to eat - it’s satisfying.”
Lawrie was introduced to commercial fishing as a boy fishing with his dad, Stephen Lawrie, and their family. He didn’t envision being a fisherman, it kind of happened by default - deckhanding for dad as a teen then buying his first boat at 20, fishing in summers to help pay for college, then...well, you know the rest.
This freezer boat follows industry standards for a high quality product. Here’s the process: fish caught at the peak of its life cycle, landed, bled, headed, pressure bled, gutted, residual blood and sea lice removed using vacuum, clean nape of neck, blast freeze to -30F core temperature within 1/2 hour or so of being caught, before rigor mortis sets in and held at that temp for the duration. Glaze in salt water solution with a little bleach which protects from frost bite. Fish are stacked and covered with a tarp. He says this is the highest quality seafood he’s ever seen, especially salmon.
Sitka has always been a fishing community, whether catching some for your own table or to sell. And down on the docks or out with the fleet there’s a shared bond that’s been there for generations, passed down from parent to child, captain to deckhand. Lawrie likes the people in the industry, they’ve been a part of his life for a long time. When he came back from his years at college he saw this and wanted to be a part of it. Now you can find him at a local coffee shop, on his boat or out on the water living the lifestyle.
F/V Born Again (644 kb PDF file)
