From Sea to Table: Cape Cleare is Perfecting the Art of Sustainable Fishing

The Cape Cleare crew celebrates a catch out on the sea.

By Kaila Janders, Cape Cleare Crew

Trolling is a simple, humble method of fishing that uses lures to attract salmon to bite theirhooks. It is an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to fish commercially that has been around for 150 years. Bycatch - the occasional and unfortunate halibut, rockfish, or lingcod - is simply released back into the ocean, albeit with a sore lip. Trollers typically own small boats, and are family run.

Rick Oltman, fisherman, captain, and entrepreneur, has been trolling along Southeast Alaska’s coastline for wild King and Coho salmon since 1977 and began direct-marketing his catch to our community in 1998. With a humble beginning as a young man in a 27 foot dory, Rick now operates a locally built 80 foot schooner that embodies his passion for beautiful craftsmanship, engineering efficiency, and the rich maritime trade of Port Townsend.

The Cape Cleare is a freezer boat, which means it is equipped with -35 degrees Fahrenheit freezer that is capable of holding 18,000 pounds of fish. Each fish we catch is frozen within an hour of being caught. Having a freezer on the boat is beneficial not just for the fish, but also for the crew and the community who we bring our catch home to. It enables us to store dressed fish immediately, which ensures the highest quality meat, and eliminates the need to run into town to offload our catch, which means we have the freedom to venture many miles from port. We also use the freezer for our own food stores, and we bring enough frozen and dried food for the whole trip. This allows us to focus on fishing.

To catch a salmon is such a privilege. We feel that with such privilege comes a certain level of responsibility and care. We face each salmon individually as we bring them onto the boat by hand. A quick and painless death — a single thwack — honors the life taken, a life taken to nourish the lives of those in our community. We meticulously clean the fish and immediately place them in boat’s freezer, which is held around the clock at -35 degrees Fahrenheit. This process preserves the quality of the meat and allows us to bring home the finest wild salmon available.

We sell our catch locally to the people and restaurants of Port Townsend. Being the fisherman as well as the marketer gives us the opportunity to connect our customers with where their food is coming from. At the Jefferson County farmers market, we answer questions and tell stories of Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery.

We live in a world where the producer doesn’t often get to see the impact of his work. The reward of every meticulous action taken on the boat — handling our fish with care, valuing quality over quantity, and honoring sustainable fishing practices — is that we get to feed and nourish our community with delicious, sustainably harvested and nutrient-dense wild salmon.