There were more fish than people.
Sisters Claire Neaton and Emma Teal Privat were raised on a remote Alaska island in a region where salmon outnumbered humans exponentially—10 billion salmon, a few hundred people. Privat and Neaton, whose family ran a commercial fishing operation, lived on a homestead near False Pass, in the Aleutian Islands. They grew up living, breathing, and eating salmon, and absorbing the values a pioneer subsistence lifestyle creates.
“We learned resourcefulness, determination—growing up in such a remote area meant that we relied on ourselves to overcome obstacles,” recalled Privat. “This taught us that nothing was impossible, and we could get through most challenges if we just worked at it for long enough….