The Entangling Net: Alaska's Commercial Fishing Women Tell Their Lives

"Truly remarkable portraits
of courage." -- John van Amerongen, editor, Alaska Fisherman's
Journal
"These little-known tales
of women working in Alaska's commercial fishing industry make for great
reading. . . . Readers will be amazed by their stories." -- Laine
Welch, Alaska Fish Radio
"A richly textured story,
a multi-genre text that invites readers to witness women's conversation
with America's last frontier, Alaska." -- Patricia Foster, University
of Iowa
Why do women choose an occupation
that has been ranked the most dangerous in the nation? What do women give
up--and get in return--when they take on the tasks of fishermen? The
Entangling Net explores these issues through the stories of twenty
women who have chosen to work in this extremely risky, male-dominated
profession.
Leslie Leyland Fields lyrically
weaves their stories with her own experiences as a fishing woman. She
tells of long, exhausting days in skiffs, catching fish in brutally cold
weather on waters that are often violent. Her words and those of the women
she interviews convey the paradoxical relationship the women have with
commercial fishing: they face extraordinarily difficult working conditions
made more difficult and dangerous by male crews and skippers who don't
welcome women, yet they feel impelled by the challenge of the work to
return to their jobs season after season.