About Us

David grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, left home at 17-years-old, fueled by a desire to see the world. He took a boat to Norway, where he was granted a 100 day work visa and quickly landed a job in a foundry in Odda, Western Norway. This 100 day annual job provided the platform that launched his travels, which ultimately took him to many countries across five continents, and in his travels, he heard about fishing in Alaska.

He went back to Norway, saved every penny, flew to Boston, hitchhiked to Seattle, got a job at the Trident plant in Akutan, one of the Aleutian Islands, and finally got hired on as a deckhand on the trawler, Western Dawn, fishing for cod.

Thus began his career in the fishing industry, which included trawling, long lining, gill netting, and purse seining for salmon and herring.

After getting married and starting a family, he was offered a job at Seattle Marine as an assistant to George Hamilton, the Vice President, and a highliner salmon purse seiner in SE Alaska. For the first few years at Seattle Marine, David continued to fish during summers and vacations, where he continued to learn the fishing from the perspective of a deck hand. Primarily focused on purse seines, it did not take long to realize that some of the materials themselves were a limiting factor. So, in an effort to develop new materials, he began working more closely with the manufacturers and quickly developed a reputation for having a comprehensive understanding of nets and materials, from the shop floor to the back deck.

Eventually he took a job with Garware, a progressive manufacturer in India, and played an integral role in Garware opening a net shed and developing new products, many of which are an industry-standard today. After ten years at Garware, he decided to start Gannet Nets, allowing him to work with a broader range of manufacturers and directly with the fishermen.

David is currently working with fishermen in Alaska, West Coast US, East Coast US, Gulf of Mexico, Sea of Cortez, Cornwall, UK, Peru and Australia. With access to products and materials from manufacturers all over the world, Gannet Nets is uniquely positioned to be able to offer some of the most advanced seine net designs and high performance materials available today.