Petersburg

COMMERCIAL POWER TROLLER, WELDER

I’m third generation Petersburg. My grandpa moved here in 1908 and was in his early 20’s. He came from Norway to the East Coast, and then to Seattle and moved here to go fishing. My dad was born here in 1920 and lived his whole life here. I was born here in ’55, and I have two sons, one is 21 and the other one’s 18. My kids grew up on the boat that we’re standing on. Both of them gillnetted, Dungeness crab fished, and now they both fish on seine boats to pay their way through college.

Without our fish resources, I don’t know that Petersburg would be here. That’s what Petersburg is, it’s a fishing community. If the rivers are clean when the fish go up to spawn, it keeps the habitat healthy and makes it so we can go harvest the fish when they return. We need to keep the water clean to keep our resources healthy.