The Salmón Salvaje Family
Salmón Salvaje NM is more than a fish distribution business, I’ve been a commercial fisher for more than 45 years.
Some of the fish I distribute I caught during the salmon season and I’m excited to bring these high-quality fillets to market.
Back in 1972 my uncle asked me to come and fish with him up in Bristol Bay Alaska. A teenager at the time I saw the opportunity to get away from the summer heat and miss the start of Hell Week, the intense pre-high school football training. My dad was super supportive as he hoped working hard while getting tossed around on a boat would ensure I studied hard and got gainful employment on dry land as I grew older.
More than 45 years later I’m still making the trek north every summer for Bristol Bay’s commercial salmon fishery. The big change for me is that for the last seven years I’ve been joined by my children.
— Matt Wiebe, Founder
Billy Barstow
Crew Member & Artist
“I embarked on my career as a commercial fisherman and artist simultaneously after graduating from college. I knew that making money as an artist would be challenging so when I got the opportunity to work on a boat in Bristol Bay, I jumped for it. Fishing not only heavily supplements my income so I have time to practice art in the off season, but it also inspires the work itself, whether it manifests itself in the imagery literally or even abstractly in the motion of the brushwork.
As an artist drawn towards landscape/seascape my time on the fishing vessel gives me an opportunity to interact with nature in its rawest and most direct expression. And I believe the experience has profoundly influenced my interest in movement in nature as a painter. Almost 30 years have passed since I began the seasonal cycle of traveling to Bristol Bay to rendezvous with the salmon and the friends I have made there and then focusing on creative expression when the season is over. The Bay and the salmon still inspire and feed me. I feel lucky to take part in this ancient ritual every year. Fishing has been very very good to me! And my art!”
Generations Sharing Tradition
Maddy Wiebe
“Although I grew up eating and loving salmon, it wasn’t until I came up to Alaska to fish for the last six years that I really understood what it was like to eat fresh fish and appreciate quality. Catching salmon on the boat and being involved in the process of providing salmon to stores from the very beginning made me more conscientious when buying food from the store. It is nice to see wild salmon from Alaska in a grocery store knowing exactly where and how it came to be there.”
F/V Zola Budd
Maddy and Willy Wiebe
F/V Zola Budd
Gillnetting in Action
Photo Courtesy of Alaska Seafood
Gillnetting at Dawn
Photo Courtesy of Alaska Seafood
