November 22, 2019 — Sixty-year-old Frank Miles has fished for cod around Kodiak since he was a teenager.
“Started out at the age of 15, in an open skiff, back when salt cod was a staple,” he says. “I think I’ve missed one cod season in 44 years.”
Miles eventually graduated from an open skiff to a 58-foot pot and longline vessel called the Sumner Strait. He’s been around long enough to see fisheries cycle in and out, from the decline of king crab in the 80’s to the rise of groundfish like pollock, sablefish and of course, cod.
“If you look back just 10 years ago,” he says. “I mean, goodness, we used to fish eight months out of the year on just cod — me, personally.”