{"id":8933,"date":"2016-01-20T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T17:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/ccw-salmon-life-fish-and-family\/"},"modified":"2016-01-20T09:00:44","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T17:00:44","slug":"ccw-salmon-life-fish-and-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/life\/ccw-salmon-life-fish-and-family\/","title":{"rendered":"CCW: Salmon Life: Fish and Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lexi Fish Hackett has fish in her blood in more ways than one. Until recently, her last name was simply \u201cFish,\u201d which she says is merely a coincidence. Her dad, however, who hitchhiked his way up to Southeast Alaska in the \u201870s to try his luck at fishing, believes the name is more destiny than chance. Either way, fish runs through her veins.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hackett grew up on boats and in gear-supply stores, eating fish, processing fish, and writing fish tickets aboard her father\u2019s salmon tender. Before taking root in Sitka, her family lived in small communities scattered across the region. Their boat served as a second home, with Hackett building forts in the pilot house and spending hours badgering her father\u2019s crew with questions and pleas to play I-Spy while they baited gear.<\/p>\n

Later, at the impressionable age of 15, when many high school freshmen were spending their summers daydreaming or flipping burgers, Hackett joined that same fishing crew as a paid deckhand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember vividly how hard it was, physically and mentally. My hands would cramp, and at the end of a set, I remember feeling like I wasn\u2019t going to be able to use my hands again, ever,\u201d Hackett said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Quitting, however, wasn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cFishing and being around that level of intense dedication and teamwork has definitely shaped my character,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s those experiences, fishing that year, and every year since, that have given me a solid work ethic across all aspects of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

That work ethic has paid off. Today, Hackett and her husband, Adam, own their own salmon troller and are building a successful family business. Adam, who also grew up near Sitka, worked as a troll and longline deckhand for 12 years in Southeast before buying his first ice troller, F\/V Illahee, in 2010. In 2014, the couple upgraded to a freezer troller, F\/V Myriad, a transition that allows them to fully process each salmon at sea.<\/p>\n

Aboard the Myriad, Hackett bounces her daughter Isla in a backpack while cleaning king and coho salmon for their clients at Fish + Family Seafoods, the Hacketts\u2019 startup company. Fish + Family Seafoods line-catches, processes and markets wild Alaskan salmon direct to markets in the Pacific Northwest. Currently, you can find their salmon at Etta\u2019s in Seattle as well at Deschutes Brewery in Portland and Bend, Oregon. The Hacketts said their ultimate goal is to market all of their commercial catch to chefs and retailers who share their respect for this important Alaskan resource.<\/p>\n

Not all of the salmon the family lands is sold commercially. They donate salmon to Sitka\u2019s Fish to Schools program, an initiative Hackett helped start that puts local fish on the lunch trays of Sitka\u2019s schoolchildren every week.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s catch is also reserved for feeding baby Isla\u2019s voracious Alaskan appetite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsla loves salmon. She loves roe. She eats salmon skin. She loves berries and seaweed. Pretty much anything wild \u2013 she\u2019ll eat it,\u201d Hackett said of her daughter.<\/p>\n

As Isla grows, it\u2019s becoming clear that, like her mother, she shares an early affinity for boat life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsla has never been seasick and as she gets older we participate more in all aspects of fishing. She loves to be on deck, watching everything with such curiosity, playing with fishing gear or salmon eggs, or flying in her swing,\u201d Hackett said.<\/p>\n

Balancing a family and a startup business can be an arm-full. However, the couple said they are grateful for the opportunity to spend time at sea, doing what they love with the people they love most.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to stay in the present moment and enjoy everything we have to be grateful for — which is a lot,\u201d Hackett said. \u201cWe\u2019re able to work in nature harvesting a wild resource, which is really rare globally, and a special opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more on the Hacketts, visit http:\/\/www.fishandfamily.com\/<\/p>\n

A version of this story also appeared on The Salmon Life, a blog hosted by The Salmon Project, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The group\u2019s stated mission is to \u201cgive voice to Alaskans\u2019 deep relationships with salmon to ensure that Alaskans\u2019 lives will always be salmon lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit http:\/\/salmonlife.org and http:\/\/www.salmonproject.org\/ for more.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Bethany Goodrich is a freelance storyteller and the Communications Coordinator for the Sustainable Southeast Partnership. SSP is a diverse group of partners dedicated to the cultural, ecological and economic prosperity of Alaska\u2019s rural communities. Visit www.SustainableSoutheast.net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lexi Fish Hackett has fish in her blood in more ways than one. Until recently, her last name was simply \u201cFish,\u201d which she says is merely a coincidence. Her dad, however, who hitchhiked his way up to Southeast Alaska in the \u201870s to try his luck at fishing, believes the name is more destiny than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":8934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8933"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}