The Tuna Boys

An adventure story about life at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean and west of Samoa. As the helicopter pilot flying off a tuna boat with the boat captain beside me, I witnessed first hand how tuna are harvested for the world market.

An adventure story about life at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean and west of Samoa. It revolves around supplying tuna for the world but more specifically to StarKist. Living in a closed society with many different personalities. This applies to sea going vessels anywhere in the world. Boat captains make all the decisions because it works best that way. Every boat that has ever gone to sea operates under that system. No matter, the crew is always at the mercy of the captain. As for myself, who served as captain of his own fishing boat for many years while never losing sight of land, going out to sea was an eye opener that lasted a little over three months. A million dollars of experience has enriched my life immeasurably.

Ted Mattson was born and raised in Pennsylvania and graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Agronomy. He specialized in turf grass management and worked for a golf course that hosted several nationally televised golfing events. But his heart was always in Alaska, and he eventually quit the golf business and learned to fly a helicopter in Oregon which he eventually flew up to Prudhoe Bay. There he finally arrived in his coveted North. Mattson later drifted into commercial salmon fishing in the Bering Sea and for the next thirty-nine year spent summers as the captain of his own fishing boat. He is now retired and lives on a small farm in northeast Wisconsin with his wife Cindy.