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: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

So, let me tell you one of the dumbest things about living in Alaska. People here tend to assume a person is correct based solely on the number of years they have lived here. So, for example, here is an example of a typical conversation in Alaska.

Man 1: The sky is green.

Man 2: No, it is blue.

Man 1: I have been here 14 years, how long have you been here?

Man 2: 3 years.

Crowd: Oooooooohhhhhh, the sky is green!

Take these pictures for example. Not the greatest quality I know. We had some people over last night and this show came on about Dick Proenneke. I said 'wow look at that sockeye salmon' (also known as a 'red'). Jesse claimed it was a 'pink'. All the others said 'well he would know, he has lived here longer than you'. Besides the fact that is just dumb, we all know there are no salmon in the waters of coastal British Columbia where I grew up. Only Alaska has salmon apparently. So now I have been called out. All my 'friends' were sure vocal when it came to telling me I was wrong. We'll see if they are man enough to be vocal enough to admit I was right. What do any of you think? Sockeye or pink? It was caught in Upper Twin Lake in 1991 by the way. Not only is it called a sockeye in the video, the size and shape of the fish clearly makes it a sockeye. Pinks are generally 3-5 pounds with the Alaska record just about 13 pounds. Assuming this is a 10 lb fish, it is very unlikely a pink (even without the green head and other indicia that it is a sockeye). Going to the webiste on Upper Twin lake (part of Lake Clark National Park) shows you can fish for "Lake and Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden,Arctic Grayling
Sockeye and Coho Salmon and Northern Pike. (See for example http://uppertwinlake.com/tripinfo.html although there are many web sites that say the same thing) Tomorrow I am getting on the phone to a biologist. This seems like a minor issue, and it is. But I have had enough of this Alaska attitude that one can be right simply by saying "I have been here longer than you". And having people from Arkansas, West Virginia and New York tell me what fish are is just unacceptable too. P.S. Winter is dragging on so I need to find something to do. This is as good as anything I guess.

Full post as published by A Public Defender's Life in Alaska on March 22, 2009 (boomark / email).