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

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”.