Sarah Fisken

Marine Operations Specialist

Resume

Expertise

  • Commercial fisheries
  • Seafood marketing and quality
  • Vessel safety

Sarah came to WSG in 1982 from commercial fishing, a background that helps immensely in her work to improve safety and operations on the water. Starting in the 1970s in Puget Sound, she fished on a troller and worked on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea and for nine seasons as one of a handful of women in the purse-seine fleet out of Southeast Alaska. Fishing in the days before survival suits and safety training, she came to appreciate the value of prudent safety measures.

Today Sarah coordinates WSG’s U.S. Coast Guard-approved safety classes, which have been widely credited with reducing fatalities at sea, particularly in tribal fisheries. She also coordinates classes on marine weather, watch standing and first aid at sea (which she and an instructor designed). She coordinates hands-on workshops on such essential technologies as marine hydraulics, refrigeration, and small-engine repair. And she works with tribal and non-tribal fishermen to upgrade their products’ quality and prestige. Each year the popular annual Lark Lunch, which Sarah co-hosts, brings fishermen, chefs, seafood vendors and food writers together to celebrate the Washington coast’s distinctive marbled king salmon.

Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Washington.