Visitor from Alaska says it how it is: 'There's nowhere on earth like Grimsby - it's such an incredible place!'

                                                       

All the way from Alaska - Selby with heritage centre tour guide Robert Mogg

ONE of the most recent visitors to the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre and Ross Tiger trawler has been a fisherwoman from Alaska.

Selby LeBlanc, from the port city of Cordova, is a deckhand on salmon fishing boats.

She came to Grimsby to learn more about the area’s maritime history and was treated to a guided tour by 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 visit.

"I have loved being here, and I can’t wait to come back!

"You can sense the history and culture in the fabric of the buildings -  it’s amazing!”

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

There are five types of Alaskan salmon all of which are processed, then exported worldwide in various ways from oil to fillets.

At other times of the year, she goes longline fishing in the Gulf of Alaska.

Here, a long main line is deployed with numerous baited hooks - attached at intervals.

But the industry takes a breather for  two months in the icy depths of winter.

The worst conditions she has experienced are 30ft seas and 35 knots of wind. 

"Alaskan winds can be really gruelling," she says. "Overall it’s very cloudy and rough."

Selby's aim is to become a captain and to buy her own boat.

"I have quite a few female friends who are captains," she continues. "It’s a lot of pressure and responsibility, but I think I would be good at it.

"I absolutely want to own a longliner vessel and fish for halibut and black cod."

She said being a woman in the industry could still be hard and there are captains who would refuse to have females on board. 

However, the captain she now has does nothing but encourage and teach her.

After her heritage centre tour, Selby bought several fishermen’s jumpers from the museum shop to take back to her friends and colleagues in Alaska.

What advice would she be giving them?

"You have to get yourself to Grimsby - it's an incredible place."