Parting can be such sweet sorrow especially when the loss is of a long-time, beloved, super-committed and energetic board member! Jon Zuck of Anchorage has served on the AMCC Board for 9 years and will complete his final term at our October board meeting. Jon has served as Board Treasurer as well as Board Chair several times during his tenure in addition to helping to lead our social enterprise and nominations committees. He has gone above and beyond for AMCC volunteering numerous hours and we are extremely thankful for Jon’s dedication and tremendous contributions. Read below to learn more about Jon and his long history in Alaska’s fishing industry. We are so grateful to Jon for being a part of our history here at AMCC!
How long have you lived in Alaska? If you were raised elsewhere, what brought you to Alaska?
I’ve lived in Alaska for almost 35 years. I was born and raised in New Jersey; attended college (Zoology) and graduate school (Environmental Sciences) in Ohio; worked with Battelle National Labs in Washington State and as a consultant in Seattle before making my way to Alaska. I first arrived in Alaska to work as a NMFS observer onboard Japanese longliners in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands. This was September 1981. I returned the following year as an observer and then joint venture representative on Taiwanese joint venture catcher-processors around Kodiak Island. I finally made the move to Alaska for good in July 1983. The mystique and uniqueness of Alaska, the vast wilderness and wildness, the open spaces, I believe, is what first attracted me to the state and has kept me here ever since.
Tell us about your connection to the ocean and Alaska’s wild fisheries. If you participate in a commercial fishery, please tell us about your fishery and gear type.
Working in the commercial fisheries in Alaska was a second career for me. While working as a NMFS observer and joint venture representative on Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean catcher-processors starting in 1981, I spent a total of 18 months at sea over a five-year period. Over the years, I’ve also fished for halibut in the Central Gulf (3A) and worked with local fishermen on St. Lawrence Island (4D) and gillnetted for herring at Togiak and in Norton Sound. In later years, most of my experience and time was spent managing fishing operations and working with local fishermen in western Alaska through the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association and Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation, one of six Community Development Quota groups in western Alaska.
Why do you choose to support AMCC?
I’ve been a member of AMCC since the early days and on the Board of Directors for the past nine years. The fisheries – commercial, sport, subsistence and personal use – are the lifeblood of this state for all of us. AMCC promotes and advocates for healthy oceans, sustainably harvested seafood and viable coastal communities. AMCC is unique and a bit of a hybrid amongst conservation groups in that while advocating for conservation interests, it is also promoting and supporting responsible resource utilization in the fisheries. AMCC has a great track record for accomplishments and respected reputation with those involved in the fisheries.
What part of AMCC’s work interests you the most?
The fisheries conservation work at AMCC is of greatest interest to me. However, our work focused on access of the small boat fleet and young fishermen to the commercial fisheries and maintaining thriving working waterfronts are extremely important for the viability of economies of our Alaskan coastal communities.
What is your most vivid fishing memory?
It’s from one of my last trips working as a JV representative on Japanese boats during the pollock roe fishery in the mid-80s. Not a good memory but seeing mile after mile of pollock carcasses floating amidst the fleet during the roe fishery in the Bering Sea. This was before the ban on roe stripping and one of the reasons that I became so interested and focused on fisheries conservation in waters off Alaska. I also have so many good memories from nearly twenty-five years of working with local fishermen in communities throughout western Alaska. I’ll never forget fishermen in Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island hand lining for halibut in small 18 or 20-foot Lund skiffs, pulling in monster 7-8 foot halibut and then bringing their catch to shore by running their skiffs at full blast up and over the rocky beach.
What do you love most about fishing?
What’s not to love!?
How do you celebrate your connection to the ocean as an Alaskan?
Cooking, smoking, eating wild harvested Alaskan seafood as much as possible.
What do you love most about living in Alaska, or in your community?
I love being an Alaskan and bragging to people from Outside that I’m from Alaska! I continue to love all of those things that first attracted me to Alaska.
Where in Alaska would you like to visit or spend more time?
I’ve traveled and worked extensively in western Alaska, and live and spent lots of time in South Central. I think that would like to explore and spend more time in Southeast Alaska.
Comments