There were a series of close calls and rescues in Bristol Bay last week.
On June 28, Alaska Wildlife Troopers responded to a report of an overturned commercial fishing boat in the Ugashik district, near Pilot Point. All three of the people onboard were rescued, as reported by KDLG.
That same week, deckhands fell overboard in the Naknek River and in the Egegik district. They were both rescued by nearby crews.
Rescue on the Naknek River
Rob Foster operates a commercial salmon tender – the Captain Alaska – out of Kodiak with his son Jay. Foster says he’s been fishing for 60 years, and in his decades in the industry, dozens of friends and family members have died on the ocean.
“It's gotten a lot better with regulations and safety equipment,” said Foster. “But it's just a way of life. It always has been.”
Falling overboard is the second most common cause of death in commercial fishing, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The CDC says commercial fishing remains one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, but from 1990 to 2023, deaths due to fishing injuries in Alaska decreased by 70%.
“We were in the right place at the right time, and we would've had a tragedy otherwise.”Rob Foster
On June 29, Foster was working on the Naknek River. After delivering fish to Silver Bay Seafoods, Foster says he was trying to fix the Captain Alaska’s anchor, when his son Jay hit the general alarm – he had spotted a man overboard coming down the river.
Foster says they threw the young man a life ring twice with no success, while his son Jay backed them down the river, avoiding hitting other boats. On their third try, Foster says they were able to get the life ring into the overboard man's hand.
“It was keeping him floating a little bit, but he was losing his grip,” Foster said. “You could just tell he had no strength.”
Then, a drift boat called the Second Chance pulled alongside the Captain Alaska. Foster says the crew grabbed the young man by the shoulders, pulled him out of the water and over the rail of the Second Chance.
The crew of the Captain Alaska watched, Foster says, until they saw that the rescued man was alive. He added that his crew was shaken by the close call.
“I believe the hand of God reached down and touched him,” Foster said. “We were in the right place at the right time, and we would've had a tragedy otherwise.”
KDLG reached out to the man who fell into the Naknek River, but he didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Close-call in the Egegik District
In the Egegik District, Shawn Kane described the mishap that sent him falling overboard.
Kane has worked as a seasonal commercial fisherman off and on since 2018. This season, he worked as a deckhand on the drift boat Vortex.
He says that last week, in the Egegik District, he was trying to step from his boat onto the fishing vessel, the Labrador, when his foot slipped and he fell backwards between the two boats.
“I remember it taking my breath away,” Kane said. He clung to a suspended tire between the two boats. Eventually someone threw him a rope, and pulled him out of the water.
Kane says that he felt shaken and experienced night terrors over the next few days.
He credits the crew of the Vortex for saving his life and treating him well after his fall. Eventually, his captain gave him a check for the portion of the fish Kane helped catch, and he flew home to Ohio before the end of fishing season.
For now, Kane says he’s not sure if he’ll fish again.
“I don't want to be afraid of the water,” Kane said over the phone while driving home from the Cleveland airport. “But at the same time, you want to have… reverence for what you're doing, because it is really dangerous.”
Kane says that someone else in his situation might have stayed and worked through that experience. At first, he tried to do that as well.
Ultimately, after his close call, he says it was more important for him to be with his family.
