FEBRUARY 22, 2018 // 21
Fisher Seitz gears up to cast his amusing lines
Poet wooed his wife, then
penned an ode to lingcod
By PATRICK WEBB
FOR COAST WEEKEND
P
oetry has loomed large in the life of Rob
Seitz.
He grew up one of five kids packed
with his parents in a single-wide trailer in
Fairbanks, Alaska. “When it’s 65-below, you
need something. Dad used to make us memo-
rize poetry in the winter months,” he smiled.
Robert Service’s classic “The Cremation
of Sam McGee” chronicled a prospector who
froze to death.
“It planted the seed,” Seitz said.
After his schooling, he gillnetted for
salmon with his grandfather and brother
around Alaska’s then-lucrative Cook Inlet,
before the devastation of the Exxon Valdez
oil spill prompted a move to the North Coast.
Between 1992 and 2011, he fished here for
Dungeness crab, pink shrimp and albacore.
He met the love of his life, Tiffani, who
had been a welding student and assistant
instructor at Clatsop Community College.
“I wrote a lot of poems trying to win her
over,” he said, looking across to catch her eye
and share a smile. “Once she relented, I went
on to write about fish!”
Seitz, 51, will be one of the presenters at
the annual FisherPoets Gathering in Asto-
ria this weekend. He said he is delighted to
connect with audiences whose lives afloat
parallel his.
“At the beginning, I was afraid to get up. It
was very stressful,” he said, remembering his
performing debut. “Going to FisherPoets was
important, though. It helped remind me why I
got into fishing. It was like a support group.”
Organizer Jon Broderick recalls that
initial nervousness. “Rob was apprehensive
at first, but now he’s a star,” he said. “He’s so
authentic — the real deal. They are both very
steady, progressive people, wanting to use
the resources wisely and preserve jobs — in
some ways, visionary.”
Tiffani Seitz recalls encouraging her
husband, too.
“I kept saying he could do that,” she
said, then teasing about certain ironies. “If
people are writing poetry about it, it’s a dying
industry.”
Gallons per flush
His success performing in Astoria led to an-
other appearance four years ago at the Working
Waterfront Festival in New Bedford, Mas-
sachusetts, an opportunity to entertain while
learning about East Coast fishers’ concerns.
PATRICK WEBB PHOTOS
Fisherpoet Rob Seitz and his wife, Tiffani, have returned to the North Coast after about five
years fishing in California. The couple has four children. They are grateful for widespread assis-
tance while turning a former Flavel storefront in Astoria into a fish market. “It really made us feel
like we are a part of this community,” Rob Seitz said.
“KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU,
ALWAYS BE READY TO DUCK.
IT’S A FOOLISH FISHERMAN
WHO DEPENDS SOLELY ON HIS LUCK.”
—FROM “A STRATEGY FOR FILLING THE BOAT” BY RON SEITZ
In 2013, Seitz self-published “2.5 g.p.f.,”
a book of poetry and prose. The title refers to
the size of bucket used for onboard bathroom
use (g.p.f. = gallons per flush). It includes an
ode to lingcod, poems about net mending and
beloved yet feared fishers’ wives. Interspersed
are poignant observations on responsible
parenting, the cancer death of his young sister
and intimate revelations of troubles he has
overcome.
They’ve given many to family and friends
as presents, and a few remaining copies will
be available when they open a new fish mar-
ket in downtown Astoria.
South Bay Wild, will be housed in a Ninth
Street storefront in the Mary and Nellie Flavel
Building in Astoria, which has been vacant
for decades. The building was recently pur-
chased by Marcus and Michelle Liotta. The
Seitz crew will also prepare fish and chips
and fish tacos.
It’s part of what economists label a
vertically integrated business model where
the producer/supplier sells directly, without a
middleman.
“It helps people feel that they have con-
nection to the people who are providing their
fish,” Tiffani Seitz said.
They have taken Small Business Devel-
opment classes to enhance their practical
knowledge on marketing and branding.
Rob Seitz added, “We are going back to
the way it used to be.”
Help from many directions
The unglamorous task of preparing the
store is alleviated by support the family have
enjoyed on their return from Morro Bay on
the central California coast.
A five-year stint away fishing for petrale
and Dover sole, rockfish, lingcod and thor-
neyheads gave them experience marketing
their own catch, plus success with a commer-
cial smoker.
They worked with a nonprofit organization
studying how fishers best adapt to regulatory
changes and make the industry more sustain-
able. But groundfishing was still diminishing,
In 2013, Rob Seitz published a book of his po-
etry and prose titled “2.5 g.p.f.” The title refers
to a certain bucket size.
and the high cost of federal observers and
other difficulties led them back to the North
Coast with their 59-foot F/V South Bay.
“Going away really made us appreciate
this community,” Seitz said.
“I think you have to really go away to
understand its value, the infrastructure and the
fishing support group, the hydraulic people,
the net guys. Everyone. We got help from so
many directions.”
Punchline
Seitz anticipates being asked what percent-
age of his poetry is work or inspiration.
“Some stuff I want to write about, but it
takes a while to figure out how I want to say
it. I try to make it humorous,” he said.
“I have got one that I have questions
about and one that is a long way from being
finished.
“Then, as FisherPoets approaches, I con-
centrate on it.”
His reward is sharing the experience.
“I have the opportunity to do something
that a lot of people never have the opportunity
to do,” he said. “I try to make people under-
stand some of the aspects of fishing.
“And fishers say that’s exactly how they
feel — that’s one of the things I like.”
He offers a punchline that’s clearly re-
hearsed, but totally appropriate.
“It’s a dangerous combination being a fish-
erman and a poet … because it doubles your
chances of dying penniless and insane!” CW
