Help The Roche Family

Shaun is a commercial salmon fisherman in Bristol Bay, AK and an urchin diver out of Santa Barbara, CA. He lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Tricia, and son, Teddy.

In the final hours of the 2023 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon season, Shaun was spray-painting the engine of the F/V Sun Wing when a spark of unknown origin ignited the accumulated fumes in the room.

Shaun was medevaced out of Naknek and taken to Anchorage, where he was determined to have sustained third degree burns on 16% of his body, namely his hands, arms and back. He will undergo surgeries on Monday July 31 and Wednesday August 2 for skin grafting. The outlook for recovery is positive and we are grateful that he is stable. As of right now, there is no determined date for his return home to Santa Barbara.

There will be some hang time before Shaun is able to regain the use of his hands, with rehab to follow, and while the sum total of medical expenses are as yet unknown, we can safely assume they won't be small.

Shaun will be unable to work for the foreseeable future. On the heels of one of the worst price/lb in the history of Bristol Bay fishery, with urchin season in Santa Barbara on the horizon, we ask that you help the Roche family as they navigate this difficult time, and allow for full-spectrum healing.