The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-06-19
WE HAVE HERE
TOM NESS

Hardship at sea or boredom ashore this difficult choice has had veteran halibut fisherman Tom Ness debating the career values oi commercial fishing throughout g lifetime
 Ness two attempts to quit fishing ended in purchase of larger boats Reviewing the 19 years fishing in Norway and 36 in Alaska, he com mented:
 The lifes as healthy as it's tough, if you know tides, grounds and weather. But you must start while you're young-in your twen- ties at least. You work hard, eat and sleep well and you're free - that's the main thing.
 If I were young I'd head for Area III. The Gulf is rough but there are great possibilities there. All they need is a cold storage plant big enough to handle heavy land ings for the whole district to open up.
 If it gets much more crowded in Areas I and II, we'll meet our selves coming back on our way out. If it weren't for the black cod, a man couldn't make living hali- out fishing here any more"
 Ness said the biggest halibut area from Vancouver Island through Hecate Strait to Cape Spencer - is packed not only with American but with Canadian boats. He added that although the quota has been expanded slightly, it can not begin to keep pace with the fleet. The individual boats also are growing larger all the time with improved gear for heavier catches. The main increase is due to the ad- ditional native halibuters and the many trollers who fish halibut in the spring before salmon fishing, he surmised.
 Ness scorns trolling as ''too easy" Besides, he added, the salmon is a delicate, subtle fish 'too smart for a halibut man" When he is obliged to give up halibut and cod (which are caught with the same type gear) he will quit for the last time. That may be fairly soon the 1946 halibut quota was filled in 42 days, allowing the fishermen only two or three trips apiece.
 Started Fishing at FiUe
 The long-liners used to fish all year, Ness recalled, going back to his first season on the Alaskan banks in 1913.
 Product of generations of fisher men, Ness started fishing at five (yes, five) from his native village Titran, near Trondheim, Norway. The principal Norwegian fish is "scray" (called gray cod here) . During the spring there is salmon which is scarce but twice as good as Alaskan salmon and in the fall "the fat Norwegian herring = the worlds best!"
 Ness left these superior fish at the age of 19, Seattle bound. His first and most successful attempt to give up fishing occurred dur ing his first few years in Seattle - but he worked around fish houses.
 An in-law persuaded him to come to Douglas Island to work in the Treadwell mine. The upshot of Ness brief mining career was a return trip to Seattle to order the 37-foot Little Emma, which is still fishing from Juneau. skippered by John Winther.
 The Little Emma was a big boat in those days. Fishermen bucked old man winter in 37-footers during an all-year season-which some times offered ridiculously small pro- fits, thanks to the commission men," The commission men sold the fish in Seattle and sent what it was worth" to Alaska. One hali- but man received a two-cent stamp for a boatload, Ness recalled. Al that time the halibuters also did their own salting and icing. They had to meet the weekly Seattle freight boat or their catch would start to rot before another arrived