If your talking about fishing with a net there are some parables and stories of Jesus that are natural fits. The parable of the dragnet (Matthew 13:47-50) springs to mind or the story of Jesus telling the disciples to let their net down on the other side of the boat (John 21) known as the "Miraculous Catch of Fish" (what fisherman doesn't what that?). However, I have been thinking all week about the parable of the bumper crop (Luke 12:13-34)(2). In that parable a man has a huge harvest and wonders what to do with it all since it is more than his barns can hold (3). So he builds bigger barns to hold it all. He then sits back to enjoy life. Then God comes to him and says he is a fool because he will die that day. Following the parable Jesus reprises the Sermon on the Mount telling his listeners not to worry about what they will eat, drink, or wear and to trust that God will provide for their daily needs.
As I read this parable a couple things prompt thought. One the parable seems tied to the Exodus story about not taking more manna than you need. The parable also seems to me to be, at least in part, about storing up more than you need, or greed. It also appears to be a parable about generosity since the parable portion, before the Sermon on the Mount bit, ends with "This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God." We know from other points in Jesus' ministry that how we treat others is how we treat God. So to be generous toward God is being generous with our fellow humans. In the parable if the bumper crop we have a story about greed and generosity, but what does this have to do with dip netting for salmon?
As Alaskan residents, my family of 5 is allowed to dip net a total of 65 fish. If we limited out, that is more fish than we could use. We are not alone. I have heard people for years say, "I have more salmon than I can use" or speaking of their personal or family limit "it is more fish than I could ever use." This is clearly the case because I have witnessed many times people with fish in their freezers that went unused from the season before, or even years before. In essence they took more than they used. When I read the parables I often try to think of what the contemporary equivalent of the story is. I am not a farmer, and if I were I don't think I would be at risk of a bumper crop. But my family is participating in dip netting - an activity where there is a strong pull to take more than you need or can use. Is it possible that dip netting has a component of greed? Is there a chance we can misuse the bumper crop of fish? Is our personal use dip net fishing an modern parable?
While I think dip netting is an opportunity for us to reflect on what it means to take what you need and how that relates to not worrying about what you will eat or drink - trusting God to provide - it is not the issue with dip netting I have been thinking about the most. What I have been thinking about is a matter of justice.
This is gonna be a bit journey, but stay with me I am going somewhere.
I often hear people talk about the dip net fishery as getting "free fish." This is simply not the case. Dip net fishing has a cost. You must have a fishing license and permit to dip net. Since it is a really hard activity to do alone, you likely are buying two licenses. That is $48.00. You will need to drive down to the river. If your traveling from Anchorage to the town of Kenai that is 160 miles. At 20 miles per gallon using $3.50 a gallon gas you will spend $56.00 round trip - and likely more since the drive is through a mountain pass. You will need a cooler or two. If you need to buy one or two that will be around $50. You will need chest waders and boots, another $100. You will also need a net - $200. So with just these basic numbers (I know you can borrow stuff and you don't need to buy gear every year and you can make a net...) the cost of the "free salmon" is $454.00 (if you need a freezer the cost is going to be much more). If you have everything and just need a license and gas its $104. But the real cost is much higher, and this is where the justice issue shows up.
Dip net fishing is a fishery based on privilege. While it is open to all Alaskans, not all Alaskans are able to access it and those in the most need of a pile of fish are shut out. Half the State population lives just 3 hours from the Kenai River in Anchorage, but in order to get to those fish you need a few things that those in poverty have little access to: reliable transportation, disposable income, and the ability to drop everything and get to the river when the fish are in.
In simple terms, if you work a minimum wage job ($8.75 per hour) the $454 cost calculated above reflects 52 hours of work. That is more than a weeks pay, not taking into account taxes. Even if the cost is only $104, it would take a minimum wage worker 12 hours to raise the cost and that is assuming that they have a car that can make the 160 mile mountain pass drive to the fishing hole and then make it back. It also assumes that when you get home you have some place to put the fish, like a big freezer. Then there is the matter of time off. You have to fish when the fish are in. If you are working a minimum wage job it is not likely that you will get time off for fishing at the prime time or even be able to miss work because you need to work to survive.
The more I think about dip netting the more it appears to me that you have to be middle class or higher to participate. It is because of this matter of privilege that dip netting becomes a justice issue on some level and a parable on another level. Rather that those who are able participate in the fishery (people with the means to do it) packing their freezers with fish they may not be able to use, can't we figure out a way to help people who could really use those fish - those in poverty - get to the beach and get some fish? What if instead of packing more fish into our "barns" we figured out how to help others access that same resource? What if instead of joking in the lobby at church that we should have had services on the beach in Kenai because that is where everyone is anyway the church spent a few weekends each summer filling a bus with people and gear who would never go dip netting and helping them provide for their families?
The Kingdom of God is like a person that went dip netting...
(1) That's how we do in our family...the girls go fishing and the guys stay home. GIRL POWER!
(2) Your Bible likely calls it the Parable of the Rich Fool. That name does a disservice to the story by giving you a set lens in which to read the parable.
(3) As a kid that grew up in a farming community I can't for the life of me figure out why this guy is storing grain in a barn. Silos are where you store grain.
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