Vanished Between Tide and Dawn: Remembering Missing Fisherman Arvin Mack of Canoe Bay

A Quiet Name in a Vast Database

Arvin Dale Mack’s entire publicly known story can almost be summed up in a handful of lines: he was 28 years old, an American Indian / Alaska Native man, 5'7" and about 142 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. On a July night in 1984, he was aboard the fishing vessel Lisa Ann in Canoe Bay, Alaska. By the next morning, he was gone. The boat’s skiff—his most obvious means of getting off the vessel—was still tied up. Decades later, his disappearance remains officially unsolved, preserved mainly in online case summaries and a NamUs entry under case number MP53861.

The Remote Waters of Canoe Bay, Alaska

Canoe Bay is a small inlet in Aleutians East Borough, a region that stretches along the far-flung western Alaska Peninsula and out into the Aleutian Islands. Its coordinates place it at the edge of the North Pacific, in an environment defined by rough water, frequent fog, and isolation. The borough’s economy revolves heavily around commercial fishing and seafood processing; salmon, crab, pollock, halibut and other species drive the livelihoods of coastal communities scattered through this harsh maritime landscape. Nearby communities like King Cove are described as remote, with high winds, rough seas and persistent low clouds or fog that can complicate even routine travel.  This is the backdrop against which Arvin vanished—an ocean setting where fishing is both a way of life and a constant risk....Read More

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