The Entangling Net

"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.