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Passion helps fishing family in lean years
By ANNE RADFORD
THE DAILY WORLD
WESTPORT, Wash. -- Long after the fishing poles are put away, the last
fish is filleted and customers head up the ramps toward home, the work
at the Westport Marina carries on.
Skippers and deckhands spray down their charter boats, check machinery
and fuel up for the next day of fishing.
Some days, they work through the night on their boat, ensuring it is
ready for the next round of adventurers who pay their fee to go after
salmon, bottomfish, tuna and more in the Westport waters.
Most are on their boats by 4 a.m. each morning, putting on coffee and
greeting guests as they arrive around 5 a.m. for a day on the ocean.
There, they seek out fish using technology such as Global Positioning
Systems and depth sounders, help their clients perfect fishing
techniques and guide them as they reel in their catch.
When schools of both fish and customers arrive, the work can be
unforgettable - something to be relived in the cold winter months.
But days - or seasons - of poor fishing and sparse customers can be
heartbreaking. In Westport, the industry faced years of ups and downs,
especially in the 80s and early 90s, which caused some clients to shy
away and the charter fleet to shrink.
Though Paul Mirante, 52, and three of his sons who have joined him in
the charter boat industry lived through some hard times, they love every
single minute of their work.
Brian, 26, the skipper and owner of Sea Angel, Robert, 19, the skipper
on Angela C, and "Little" Paul, 17, a deckhand on Freedom, can't really
pinpoint what age they were when they started fishing - it's always been
such a major part of the Westport residents' lives.
They went out with their father on fishing trips throughout their
childhood, getting a taste of what their own careers could be.
And they all wanted more.
"It's a challenge," said Paul, the owner and skipper of Pescatore (which
means 'fisherman' in Italian). "You have a sense of accomplishment at
the end of every fishing day from the obstacles that come up during the
day. You always feel good about yourself. No matter how many years you
do it, there's no limit on how much more you can learn."
While they all have outside interests, such as cheering on the Seattle
Mariners, most conversations center on their day at sea - which they
admit can be a little trying for their other family members.
"This is where my passion is and what I want to be and I will hopefully
always be here," Brian said. "I've known I wanted to do this since I was
a little, little boy."
This passion saw the family through the lean years when fish weren't
biting and the boats didn't fill up - years that are imprinted on the
minds of Westport residents, charter boat operators and their clients.
Still, "we'll never want to give up on it," Paul said of his fellow
operators. "We're passionate about it."
Mark Cedergreen, the executive director of the Westport Charter Boat
Association, said he is glad to see younger generations such as the
Mirante brothers get into fishing.
The Mirantes "are very much into fishing," he said. "They are quite a
family. ... It's great to see (the brothers) get into fishing. They
build up hope of a good future here."
The family sees benefits in having each other out at sea or on the docks
alongside each other.
"My dad and brothers have done this forever," Robert said. "If I don't
know something or understand something, they are always there to answer
questions and give advice or help."
Paul started out as a skipper 32 years ago when about 270 charter boats
packed the Westport Marina. Back then, charter boat offices were
extremely competitive and there was a "code of ethics" that prevented
fishermen from talking about the day's hot fishing spot, he remembers.
Charter offices even had their own channel over the radio to keep such
spots a secret.
The industry reached its peak in 1977 when 267,000 people flocked to the
boats for a day at sea, according to Cedergreen. The industry went
"downhill" from there until the late 1990s, and the industry has been
fairly stable since then, he said.
There are a variety of things that brought about the decline, Cedergreen
said, including natural stocks being overfished, the effect of the Boldt
decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that dealt with tribal fishing
rights, shifting ocean conditions - such as currents and temperature -
that impacted the survival rate of salmon, and new fishing quotas that
affected season lengths and bag limits.
These changes led to the downsizing of the fleet and made some clientele
refuse to go fishing under the new rules, he said.
Still, some charter boats stuck it out. Paul's boat is one of 32 charter
boats in the marina this summer.
New clientele have sprung up to create a new base group of regulars and
fishing was even better this year than recent years, Cedergreen said.
Competition has lessened, according to Paul, and boats now stay on the
same radio channel and share information about good spots. Everybody
knows each other and some have known each other more than 30 years.
"We're trying to keep the industry alive," he said.
Even through the ups and downs, Cedergreen said the thrill of having a
salmon on the end of the line will always be there.
"Beyond the statistics, the good years, the bad ones, once you have a
nice big salmon on, that experience is timeless," he said.
During the downswing of charter boat fishing, Paul drove a truck for a
bakery supplier in Kent. But he still kept his hand in the charter boat
industry by running trips on the weekends in Westport and on the Puget
Sound. Now, Paul has returned as a full-time skipper in the summers and,
about a year ago, moved back to Westport full-time.
He calls it a "reasonable, responsible living" that depends on getting
people on the boat and going after all different species of fish to
bring in enough money - not just salmon.
"A season is put together like a quilt," he said. The fish species "mesh
together to make one full season. If you only go after salmon, you can
pay off rent but not make your boat payments or pay yourself anything
decent."
The salmon season, which opened July 1 this year and closed after Labor
Day, exceeding charter boat operators hopes.
This is encouraging to the industry and the Mirantes agree this year has
produced the best fishing of the last few years.
"It's been very good, actually," Brian said. "It's been good for
everybody."
A look at the Westport Charter Boat Association's fishing report reveals
exclamations such as "We dropped in our lines; they bit; we caught,"
"What are you waiting for?" and "You could call this sort of fishing
'just like the old days.'"
Through all the uncertainties of the past, Paul neither encouraged or
discouraged his sons to follow in his footsteps. Instead, he let them
know they could do whatever they wanted.
"I'm proud of them," Paul said. "I know how much work it takes to do it
and they do it. They developed their reputation pretty much on their own
down here. To get where they are, that speaks for itself."
"Little" Paul said he's drawn to the variety each day brings.
"There is something different each day and different people," he said.
"You don't get to see this in an office building. I like being out on
the ocean. "
His brothers agree.
"I like it because it's unique," Robert said. "Not a lot of people do
it. It takes a special person to do it. I also like the thrill people
get when they catch their first fish. Their first reaction to it is joy.
They don't expect what happens when they get a fish on. They're
expecting something totally different."
While summer is the prime season for attracting charter boat clients,
the money made from March to October - or even less time than that -
isn't always enough to support the operators and their families for the
entire year.
While Paul heads off to work at his brother's car dealership in Kirkland
and "Little" Paul is in school at Ocosta High School - where he will
serve as the Associated Student Body President this year - Brian and
Robert look toward commercial crabbing to help pay the bills.
While Robert knows he will be on the sea this winter, Brian and his
wife, Karyn, will soon decide if Brian should spend the winter
maintaining his boat full time or head out to sea in someone else's
going after crab.
"The winter depends on how good we do during the summer," Brian said.
In the end, the foursome all agree that as long as they have a breath in
their body, they will fish.
"We never want to know when our last day is on the ocean," Paul said.
"It's not easy, but we'd do if forever if we could." |
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