"We are teaching our fishermen to be welders and learning a different set of skills," said Robert Andrews, operations manager for Yukon Marine Manufacturing LLC, a division of Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association.

The small, aluminum skiff building company just finished their 82nd boat, and just in time for spring flooding in Emmonak.

Emmonak, a village of less than 800 people located on the banks of the Yukon River a couple miles upriver from the Bering Sea, has always been a zone of commerce for the Yupik people. Residents use boats like most people use cars. This practice led the small Community Development Quota-funded firm into the boat manufacturing business.

The CDQ program is a federal fisheries program to promote fisheries-related economic development. It involves eligible communities that have formed six regional organizations. There are 65 communities within a 50-mile radius of the Bering Sea coastline that participate in the program.

"The ice didn't go out until last week; the water was getting pretty high. We almost had to use our boats to get to higher ground if the water had gotten any higher," Andrews said.

The aluminum skiffs, welded by villagers who are graduates of the Alaska Vocational Technical Center's welding program in Seward, are sturdy and sleek. The boats are built to compete with skiffs built in Canada and the Lower 48, according to Alaska boating experts.

"Their skiffs are beautiful and tough, just what you need in Western Alaska," said Mike Orr of Financial Inc. in Anchorage.

Orr's family owned the Bethel Boat Shop and sold boats for years before selling the business.

Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association LLC was born from Community Development Quota funds in the mid-1990s.

The all-aluminum skiffs vary in size from 5 feet to 9 feet wide, and in lengths from 20 feet to 24 feet long.

Prices vary, but Andrews said that they range from $9,500 for the basic boat to $12,500.

When fishing runs dropped off and local villagers' revenue dropped in the area, teenagers were sitting around doing nothing.

"There are only a handful of jobs here in the villages," Andrews said.

Because there were no jobs, the community decided to send a few men to Seward to learn how to weld.

The students included Fred Moore and Charley Redfox of Emmonak, Richard Kamkoff from Kotlik, and Raymond Oney of Alakanuk.

"It was a nice break for those fellas," Andrews said. "In the winter time, and all."

These residents started what is today a seasonal boat-building business that augments the fishing season.

According to Ragnar Alstrom, executive director of the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, broadening the skill set was meant to give fishermen maintenance and repair skills, but the idea has blossomed in a different direction.

"Initially the concept was to offer an off-season skill set so that fishermen could work at other jobs," said Ragnar Alstrom from Alakanuk. "But once the other commercial boat builders couldn't offer repairs, we thought these guys could do repairs. But as the demand for larger boat sizes grew due to depreciation, the idea to actually manufacture boats in Emmonak and Alakanuk came up."

Today the manufacturing business is based in Emmonak in a 40x80-foot warehouse, but also has welders working in Alakanuk and Kotlik.

Pre-built boats are too big to get in a cargo plane's door, so they decided to build them.

Andrews credits Alstrom with the idea of manufacturing in the Bush. He said building the skiffs is much like putting together a puzzle.

"We were having a heck of time getting boats out here in good condition," Andrews said. "Ragnar said we could do this in the village. His prediction was right, it worked in the Bush."

"This is like a puzzle, how we fabricate," Andrews said. "We get the frames and side cells pre-fabricated in Seattle, then (we) weld the pipes, bow, deck and air cells to them."

Most of the materials are ordered months in advance for boat building and barged to the Yukon River on a yearly delivery in 44-foot-long Conex containers.

"Sometimes these guys don't think I am doing anything, but you know, I have to stay weeks ahead of them ordering wire, and argon gas, and sheets of aluminum," Andrews said.

One of the welders also repairs boats for Yukon Marine on the Yukon River.

"The guys are spread out fixing older boats now," Andrews said.

"We do our building in the winter and use the boats in the spring, summer and fall for commercial fishing, hunting and hauling," Andrews said. "There are no roads out here."

"These are our cars out here," Alstrom said. "We use boats to get everywhere when the ice goes out, and right now the three miles of road we've got here in Alakanuk is covered with two feet of water and a bunch of muck."

Andrews, who spends much of his time at the boat building firm, said this was a good year and next year should be even better yet for boat orders.

"While I was talking to you, I just opened the mail and found a check for $9,500 from Russian Mission," he said. "Another boat sold."