Home > Latest News > Achievements > Alaskan fisherwoman travels over 4,000 miles to visit Fishing Heritage Centre

Alaskan fisherwoman travels over 4,000 miles to visit Fishing Heritage Centre

Chris

5/22/2025 12:20:27 PM

Achievements

4 mins read

Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre were thrilled after a fisherwoman from Alaska took a tour of the museum and the Ross Tiger.

 

Selby LeBlanc, from the port city of Cordova, is a deck hand on salmon fishing boats and came to Grimsby to learn more about the area’s maritime history. She was fascinated to hear all about it from tour guide, former skipper, Robert Mogg.

 

“In Alaska we are very proud of our fishing history and I know this town has that same culture,” she said. “I had heard about Grimsby through a friend and always wanted to come.

 

“I have absolutely loved it and can’t wait to come back,” she said. “You can see the history and culture in the fabric of the buildings and it’s amazing.”

 

Selby has been in the industry for four years and in the summer works on a salmon tender – a mid-sized boat that collects fish from smaller gillnet vessels when they reach capacity at sea and transports it to a processing plant.

 

She said there are five types of Alaskan salmon, which gets processed and goes out into the world in ways from oil to fillets.

 

At other times of the year she goes longline fishing in the Gulf of Alaska - a method where a long main line is deployed with numerous baited hooks attached at intervals – with two months off in the winter.

 

The worst conditions she has experienced are 30ft seas and 35 knots of wind. She added: “Alaskan winds can be really gruelling – overall it’s very cloudy and rough.”

 

Her aim is to become a captain and buy her own boat.

 

“I have quite a few female friends who are captains. It’s a lot of pressure and responsibility but I think I would be good at it,” she said. “I absolutely want to own a longliner and fish for halibut and black cod.”

 

She said being a woman in the industry could still be hard and there were captains who would refuse to have females on board. However, she added: “The captain I have now does nothing but encourage me and teach me.”

 

After the tour, Selby bought several fishermen’s jumpers from the museum shop to take back to her friends and colleagues and would be telling them, “you have to go to Grimsby”.

Other Articles You Might Like

Chris

9/16/2024 2:49:57 PM

Popular celebration of Louth’s local food and drink producers returns this September
A celebration and showcase of the great, unique range of local food and drink producers will be coming to Louth on Sunda...
Events 4 min read

Chris

10/16/2024 11:02:54 AM

Lincoln Graduate Wins Prestigious Freelands Painting Prize
Parker White, a recent graduate of the University of Lincoln’s BA Fine Art programme, has been awarded the highly esteem...
Achievements 4 min read

Chris

4/7/2025 10:57:32 AM

Refurbished clock tower in first public school in Grimsby looks resplendent following repairs
Restoration works to a clock tower that has formed part of the Grimsby skyline for almost 150-years are almost complete.
Business 4 min read

Chris

4/14/2025 8:25:52 AM

Council to reopen Yarborough and Birchwood Leisure Centres’ outdoor facilities this weekend
City of Lincoln Council is very pleased to announce that outdoor facilities at both Yarborough and Birchwood Leisure Cen...