Alaska Codfish Chronicle: A History of the Pacific Cod Fishery in Alaska

by James Mackovjak

Cod is one of the most widely consumed fish in the world. For many years, the Atlantic cod industry took center stage, but partly thanks to climate change and overfishing, it is more and more likely that the cod on your kitchen table or in your fast food fish fillets came from Alaska’s Pacific Cod Fishery.

Alaska Codfish Chronicle is the first comprehensive history of this fishery. It looks at the early decades of the fishery’s history, a period marked by hardship and danger, as well as the dominance of foreign fishermen. And the modern era, beginning in 1976 when the United States claimed an exclusive economic zone around the Alaska coasts, “Americanizing” the fishery and replacing the foreign fleets that had been ravaging the resources in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. Today, the Pacific cod fishery is, in terms of poundage, the second largest fishery in Alaska, and considered among the best-managed fisheries in the world.

This history is extremely well documented, does not spare details, and is accessible to general readers. It incorporates nearly a hundred photographs and illustrations and is sprinkled with numerous observations from fishing industry journals and reports, even incorporating poems and recipes, making this an especially thorough and unique account of one of Alaska’s most iconic and important industries.

574 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2019

Reviews

[Karoline Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read it for my research but kind of a slay nonetheless, consider me a mackovjak fan

[Mike Sigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive history of the Alaska cod fishery from the 1800s to the present. Best suited for people specifically interested in Alaskan fisheries, like myself. Not a more general history like “Cod” by Mark Kurlansky, Alaska cod chronicles is a documentary history specific to a regional fishery. The writing is clear and well organized, lots of good detail without losing the thread of the history. The evolution of the fishery is well described. The influences of events stretching from the California gold rush to endangered Steller sea lions are woven in. My only complaint is that the history of the foreign fishery is a little thin, but this is a minor complaint.