Jim Toteff, Jr.
West Side Stories
These oral histories chart the personal stories of individuals with a longtime connection to the west side of Kodiak Island, defined for the scope of this project as the area buffeted by the Shelikof Strait that stretches from Kupreanof Strait south to the village of Karluk. The project endeavored to create historical primary source material for a region that lacks substantive documentation and engage west side individuals in the creation of that material.
Jim Toteff, Jr. and Joe Lindholm were interviewed by Anjuli Grantham in Larsen Bay, Alaska, on June 13, 2015, as part of the Kodiak Historical Society’s West Side Stories project.
Jim was born in 1948 in Washington state into a fishing family. He recalls summers on Larsen Bay as a child, when his father supplemented income by purse seining in Alaska. Jim began fishing with his father, fished for the Alaska Packers cannery, and then independently on his own boat. He recalls his many fishing seasons, describes changes in the fishery and cannery, and changes in gear and boats. He touches on his experiences part-owning Larsen Bay Seafoods cannery with other fishermen, and the impact of limited entry on local fishermen.
Joe Lindholm was born in 1965, lives in Washington state, and fishes partly in the Kodiak area as his father, Jim’s former partner. He describes his encounters with local residents, describes different styles of fishing and fishing boats that contrast with his and Jim’s styles of fishing, and touches on the impacts of the Valdez oil spill on fishermen, the fishermen strikes, and the changing ownership of the canneries, and changes in gear and equipment.
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