July 1, 2023 — Venturing into deep, often treacherous waters. Winching ropes in gale-force winds. Leaning into waves that whip over the bows of their boats. Commercial fishermen face extraordinary on-the-job hazards. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor ranked their profession the second deadliest, behind logging.
Many assume this tough and dangerous profession is a man’s job. That notion is reinforced by the popular TV series The Deadliest Catch, where crabbers brave winter winds in icy waters, or movies like The Perfect Storm, in which fishermen face a monster storm after leaving their women behind.
But winds of change are brewing. A generation of women is heading out to sea, defying age-old taboos about women being bad luck aboard fishing boats. They are entering the field not only as deckhands and crewmates, but as fishing-boat captains and marine engineers. People readying their boats for the summer fishing season at Fishermen’s Terminal in Seattle clearly illustrate this trend.
Breaking into a man’s industry isn’t easy, but “in large part, the industry is welcoming to women,” says Captain Allison Demmert, preparing her boat dockside at Fishermen’s Terminal. Allison is gearing up for the Alaska salmon season on the 58-foot F/V Chirikof (named for the Russian navigator who explored the Northwest coast of North America).
Having captained the F/V Ultimo, moored one dock over, with four women out of a crew of five aboard, this year she will co-skipper their purse seiner with her father Captain Guy Demmert and a crew of two men and two women.
Born into an Alaskan family that has fished salmon for generations, she expanded her hands-on training with a maritime-engineering education. Mastering credentials like “advanced firefighting,” she’s in charge of “navigation, route planning and vessel maneuvering in all kinds of weather.” It’s a job that calls for “stamina, agility and above all, calm.”