Still Here: Welsh Coraclemen Meet Alutiiq Fishers
In this piece Gareth Thomas reflects on an extraordinary cross-continental journey that brought Welsh river fishers and Alutiiq communities together in Kodiak. Rooted in the international Coastal TALES project, this story explores how shared stories over salmon stocks, environmental regulation, and cultural survival can connect two vastly different worlds — "It is not every day that you set off from Wales in the middle of the night, bound for Kodiak Island in Alaska with two traditional Welsh coraclemen. But that was exactly what I was doing in August 2026. After four flights and around 36 hours of travelling, we landed at a small local airport to meet our American research colleagues and their Alutiiq partners. Somewhere among our luggage, carefully carried across several thousand miles, was a miniature traditional coracle made by one of the last people in Wales still making them. We unwrapped it in airport car park and breathed a sigh of relief, the fragile miniature boat had made it."
