Father-daughter team hauls in salmon harvest
Entrepreneur has an annual tradition of joining dad for hectic sockeye openings
She is the apple of her father’s sockeye.
Each summer since she was four years old, Kirsten Jantunen has cherished days on the boat with her dad Roy, 55, helping work on the net, pick fish, drive, and whatever else a fisherwoman can do.
The 28-year-old realtor and owner of a uniform company keeps a packed schedule, but each season since her teenage years she has set aside time for fishing with her dad.
She plans to keep the tradition going for the foreseeable future, she said Tuesday, in the middle of a sockeye opening in the Lower Fraser River.
“My dad’s pretty cool,” she said. “We have a really good relationship and it’s probably something I’ll continue doing with him until ... we don’t.”
Usually it’s just two or three people on the 32-foot Finn Boy, and openings can last 24 hours with no sleep, she said.
This season has been packed with sockeye and openings, so there has been tension on the water as people fight for space and try
You’re not in an office space. You’re in a really intense setting where you have to be on all the time.
to protect their gill nets from other boats, Jantunen said.
“There’s some battles for sure. People kind of yell at each other if they’re setting in the wrong area.”
But when things get too tense, Jantunen likes to crack a joke to lighten the mood.
She’s up for whatever comes with a couple days of commercial fishing, she said.
“It’s cool, it’s different,” she said. “You’re not in an office space. You’re in a really intense setting where you have to be on all the time.”
Roy Jantunen agreed that it’s been a good year and reckoned he’s caught at least 1,000 of the 14 million sockeye that Fisheries and Oceans Canada forecast to return to the Fraser River this season.
“It’s been pretty good,” he said. “They’re looking beautiful.”
In a May report, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said Fraser River sockeye survival had been low the past three years when there were unusually warm land and ocean temperatures and a “warm blob” in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.
In a weekly report last Friday, the Pacific Salmon Commission said sockeye migration through marine and Fraser River assessment areas was on the increase, with a high proportion migrating via the Juan de Fuca route. The commission’s report put the total Fraser run at 4.8 million so far.
Sockeye have been coming out of the Fraser healthy and firm, said the elder Jantunen, who sells them to local packers.
It’s been a few years since he’s had sockeye, due to the dwindling runs.
Jantunen said he wishes he could make fishing a full-time gig, but said it can be tough without multiple licences to cover more of the coast.
“In this business, it’s tough to keep it going with just the gill netting,” he said.
“Years ago, you could. Guys made their career out of it. Not so much anymore.”
Meantime, he hopes to be on the water a few more weeks this season, and will enjoy his time this week with his daughter.
“She’s a hard worker,” he said.