Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
though he is, McGrath has lost his gear and had to be rescued more than
once from bay waters.
Anthony Mirkovich likes working in an urban fishery. “You can eat a
fancy lunch in the best restaurant on the Wharf and be out fishing that
night,” he says. Mirkovich fishes for herring in the bay, helps a friend crab
outside the Golden Gate, and heads to Alaska for salmon. Doing all three
jobs is the only way to make a living fishing on this coast now, he says. Yet
in the 1900s, every Bay town had a fisherman's wharf, and every other a
sardine cannery; the shallows grew oysters, and the coves teemed with
shrimp.
Mirkovich's grandfather used to fish out of Seattle, but Anthony didn't
inherit his boat and gear from family. His pride and joy is a 32-foot bow-
picker called the
Masterpiece
—a herring boat. Most years the herring fleet
is not allowed to bring in more than a few thousand tons of the tiny, sil-
very bait fish. It's a quota set by the state to protect the fishery. In 2007,
Mirkovich brought in 72 tons, his most recent big catch.
Mirkovich started fishing when he was 12 years old, when 130 herring
boats worked the bay. Today, the local fleet numbers around 30. But the
handful of guys Mirkovich fishes and barbecues with all help each other
out, and he enjoys the camaraderie. “In the early morning, there's the
smell of diesel on the docks, with the boats warming up, the guys slinging
Herring fishery research vessel tied up on San Francisco's Embarcadero. Seagulls
often follow fishing expeditions looking for easy pickings. (Ryan Bartling)
