Tidelines: Tales of Alaska Fishing Communities Celebrates Melanie Brown

Posted on November 19, 2025

Tidelines: Tales of Alaska Fishing Communities is AMCC’s storytelling series celebrating the people, places, and traditions that define life on the water. Our goal is to showcase the daily lives of the AMCC community and demonstrate how we are connected while working, advocating, and thriving together.

A fitting time to again celebrate women in fisheries, as this month we honor longtime AMCC Board Member Melanie Brown. She’s just wrapped up her second stint on the board, and we were delighted when she agreed to serve a third term. A Naknek River District set netter, Melanie is a fisherwoman, a mama, and also the Outreach Director at SalmonState—a well-known initiative that supports campaigns, SalmonState aims to preserve Alaska’s wild salmon and wild salmon habitat.

Born into a fishing family, Mel shares a first memory on the sea of “being in a dinghy where freshly picked fish were being held and a lively king was put in the boat with me… pretty scary, but also put me in close contact with the power of salmon.” It’s quite clear that Melanie is a leader and was raised to respect the power of salmon. She also respects her neighbors and works hard to advocate for her “Indigenous brothers and sisters being denied their fishing way of life because of salmon not returning to their rivers.” 

When asked about a ritual while out on the water, Melanie shared that consistency is her guiding practice. “It keeps you from always having to explain things to your crew. You can rest on consistency and get through the work more efficiently.”

Did you catch Mel’s early-November National Fisherman article, The Fishing Work of Women? AMCC is certainly not the only non-profit organization touting the importance of the first-ever International Fisher Women’s Day, November 5th, 2025. In honor of the day, Melanie, a fourth-generation fisherwoman, shares some of the history of the set net fishery in Bristol Bay where she grew up. The photos alone are reason enough to enjoy that incredibly woven account of her roots.

AMCC thanks Melanie for sharing her story, her leadership, and the reminder of the sheer power of the salmon. She is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the World Forum of Fisher People and attended the first Global Fisherwomen’s Assembly this August in Hat Yai, Thailand. When she’s not on the water or advocating for Alaska’s fisheries, Melanie performs in the acoustic duo Sunny Porch, check them out on Instagram!