Kodiak in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska — Northwest (North America)
This Boat was Built For Salmon
Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 26, 2026
1. This Boat was Built For Salmon Marker
“The role that salmon plays in our lives is one you can’t even put into words. We’ve relied on them. I think people take their presence for granted, but if we want them to continue to come back year after year, then we need to honor them and take care of them, just as much as they’ve taken care of us .”
In the summer, after spending up to five years growing in the North Pacific, five species of salmon return to spawn in the rivers and lakes of Kodiak Island where they were hatched. Once hatched, they return to the sea to grow to adulthood.
People have been harvesting this rich resource since the ancestors of today’s Alutiiq people arrived on Kodiak from the Bering Sea in skin boats, 7,000 years ago. Those first Kodiak people used stone river weirs to funnel fish into shallow water where they could be speared. The dried or smoked fish provided food through the long Kodiak winters.
The first salmon cannery on Kodiak was built at the mouth of the Karluk River in 1882. To supply the canneries with fish, fishermen rowed beach seine nets around the fish and pulled them ashore by hand
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Fish traps were often owned by large Seattle and San Francisco canning companies who favored lax federal salmon management. By the 1950s, Kodiak’s salmon runs had been depleted by overfishing. When Alaska became a state in 1959, legislators outlawed fish traps and the state instituted a rigorous science-based salmon management system. The salmon rebounded, and today - with good management and hundreds of pristine rivers, streams, and lakes to spawn in – Kodiak’s salmon fishery is healthy. Millions of wild salmon are harvested every summer by subsistence users and sportsmen, and by commercial fishermen using gillnets, beach seins, and purse seine boats like the Thelma C. Every year, Kodiak’s commercial salmon fishery provides jobs for hundreds of fishermen and processing plant workers, and puts millions of dollars into the local economy.
Topics. This historical marker
Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 26, 2026
2. This Boat was Built For Salmon Marker
Location. 57° 47.177′ N, 152° 24.412′ W. Marker is in Kodiak, Alaska, in Kodiak Island Borough. It is on Mission Road south of W Marine Way, on the left when traveling south. Marker is located at Oscar’s Spit in St. Paul Harbor. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Kodiak AK 99615, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) Region and on Kodiak Island. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, on the Ring of Fire, on the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Russian Empire.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: A Community (Re)Built This Boat (here, next to this marker); This Boat Was Built For Kodiak (here, next to this marker); Kodiak’s Native Fishermen (a few steps from this marker); Construction of the Thelma C
Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 26, 2026
3. The Salmon Boat Thelma C
More about this marker. Photographs on the marker depict Offloading salmon at a cannery, 1960s; and A double beach seine haul of salmon at Kodiak, 1890s. There is also an illustration of a salmon boat Purse seining.
Credits. This page was last revised on September 12, 2026. It was originally submitted on September 12, 2026, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 6 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on September 12, 2026, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.
