Food, Family, and Fishing

Posted on September 19, 2025

This month, while AMCC celebrates the people, places, and traditions that define life on the water, we feature a recent conversation with AMCC Board Co-Chair Kinsey Brown. Her first glimpse of commercial fishing came on the coast of Maine, where the lobster industry sparked her curiosity and set her on a path that led to Cordova, Alaska. Today, as both a fisherman and social scientist, Kinsey blends lived experience and science to advocate for healthy, adaptive fisheries and thriving coastal communities.

If you happen to be dockside in Cordova, between hauling nets and preparing for the next longline season, close your eyes. Can you hear Italian music? The lilting, upbeat tunes of Italian singer Patty Pravo are dancing across the bay. Inhale deeply. Under the fishy harbor scents, you just might catch a whiff of what Kinsey Brown is cooking for dinner. From inventive ways of using leftover salmon to introducing her young daughter’s palate to good protein and colorful vegetables, everything that Brown touches feels genuine, rooted in Alaska, and downright delightful.

Food, family, and fishing are all woven together for Brown, though the first tug of the thread came from thousands of miles away. Brown’s gateway to commercial fishing? The Maine lobster industry. “I found it fascinating and loved seeing all the small boats each operating on their own,” she recalls. At the time she was still in college, but the pull was strong enough to change her entire course of study and career trajectory. Before long, she was standing on the back deck of a gillnetter on Copper River as her first fish, “a beautiful King”, rolled over the reel.

Today, Cordova is home, where she and her husband, Ezekiel, fish together and raise a young family, finding rhythm in the grind and grace of Alaska’s seasons. She touts him as her greatest mentor. “Through his actions, he has shown me the possibilities that the fishing industry holds for young people who work hard and have a good attitude about staying consistent.” Brown finds inspiration in his deep ties to their community, noting how he “upholds a lot of commitments with others and is always sure to return favors, ask advice, and offer a hand when needed.” Together, they lean on the informal networks of small-boat community members – generous, gregarious, and quick to lend support – finding strength in the web of relationships that help hold them steady.

But balance is not always easy. Even as Brown and her family find their rhythm each fishing season, she is clear-eyed about the challenges they face. “Fitting in life between onshore jobs, a growing family, and increasingly difficult weather windows for fishing trips” are just a few of the daily hurdles she names. And then there is the broader strain: “It seems that the last few years have been difficult for fishermen to make a living.” The thin margin and need for supplemental income is downright exhausting, however it often makes “more sense to gear up and try even if the price is low than to sit at the dock”. 

It is in the push and pull of that reality that her optimism takes root. Brown believes that while the state has a strong foundation for sustainable management, more flexibility is needed to keep fishermen working on the water. “We must look into more adaptive management plans that can respond quicker to fishery issues in ways that retain access for fishermen while protecting the resource.” She sees promise in blending technology with local knowledge to create more proactive systems and avoid the drag of “overly burdensome political processes.”

Those ideas guide how she shows up beyond the deck. Alongside fishing, she works as a social scientist and co-chairs Alaska Marine Conservation Council’s Board of Directors, carrying her perspective into broader conversations about Alaska’s fishing future. Whether speaking up for adaptive management or helping younger fishermen find a foothold, she is intent on shaping a future where small-boat families can endure. Her advocacy, like her fishing, is steady work, season after season.

The joy of that first King remains a touchstone – keeping her grounded in gratitude and lifting her hope for the future. Brown envisions safety nets for young fishermen and small boats, recognizing, as she says, that “they are food producers, and we need food security on a national level.” Though regional politics sometimes sow division, she sees promise in the rising generation of fishermen determined to shape a resilient, sustainable marine economy.

AMCC thanks Kinsey for sharing her story, her leadership, and her vision for Alaska’s fishing future. As we raise a much-needed hot toddy (her favorite drink) in her honor, we also celebrate the many fishermen and fishing families who help carry this work forward. Together, we step into the season ahead strengthened by the community behind us.