JYDPDX
2009-02-19 19:46:50
I only have a comment regarding unity and political cohesiveness that was briefly mentioned in the discourse below. My brother came up to Sitka to fish this past summer and I introduced him to many of our finest and not-so -fine skippers and crewmembers from many of our fisheries. He has only fished Bristol Bay previous to this past summer troll season in Sitka. My brother is a very observant and intellectual guy and is not in touch at all with fisheries politics. He is, however, been a factory worker his entire life and is very knowledgeable regarding worker's rights and political action on the labor union front. After only a few weeks in Sitka, he commented that ,"There is absolutely no political cohesiveness in the fishing fleet. Everyone seems to be out for themselves and only a small few are taking action for a great many. It is the commercial fishermen themselves that are hurting themselves the most by taking no action and only complaining at the docks or at the bar. "
I DID make him aware of ATA and ALFA and similar organizations, but being a former political grassroots activist myself, I know that the ones who are actually involved and take action are a minor committed few and the burn-out rate is high. I have always given great respect and regard to those fisherman and activists out there who are committed and doing something (EJ, JF, LB, DF, SF...). How can we get all involved? How can we get fisherman to occassionaly look beyond the bottom dollar and attend meetings, write letters, take action, communicate with each other to make the fleet cohesive in thought AND action? It is a massive mountain to climb, but I believe that with more voices and a bigger entity positive action can occur. When I was young I learned that to scare the bear away from my camp I had to look bigger and growl and roar.
This was such a good post I thought it should start a new topic. I feel similarly to your brother. Having joined the fleet in 07, I see the same things as he does. There is very little unity and much bickering amongst ourselves. We have some common goals but differing ideas on how to achieve them. One problem, IMHO, is that fisheries politics are apparently so complex that laypeople (or new entrants) are useless in the process. The best we can do is pay our ATA dues and hope for the best. At my current rate of learning the pollical intricasies, it will probably take 10 more years of watching from the sidelines before I will have any chance of becoming active in the process.
Salty
2009-02-20 06:07:55
Jon,
You are right, great thoughts. There were several young people who have worked hard to participate this time. Casey Mapes from Yakutat for one. I have hardly had a chance to visit with Casey but heard his testimony and have seen him at various times.
I am not so interested in unity as I am in participation. A friend of mine, Fred Fayette, wrote a proposal(320) went to the Sitka AC meeting and explained it, met with ATA, a subcommittee of ATA, and the troll biologist and I think a version of his proposal will eventually gain ATA support and make it into regulation. It won't be exactly what Fred wanted but it will provide some opportunity to move some uncaught winter quota sometimes into the spring hatchery fisheries. If it works out or doesn't it will provide a basis for improvement in the future.
The guides obviously got together and organized testimonies in a unified front. Several knowledgeable people commented on how the repetition of the same theme became redundant and eventually re pungent. But, who knows, it might turn out to be an effective strategy but I doubt it. It is amazing how quick Board of Fish members detect orchestration and as one member said to me tonight, not in regard to any specific group but in regard to testimony in general, bs.
The most interesting testimony to me is the original presentation (I made a 3 minute power point presentation with pictures of chum trolling) by a sincere individual who cares about the resource and community in addition to his/her particular interest. There were several of those, including the one by our AC chair, Tad.
Is anyone interested in an interesting model/parody of a generic BOF testimony? If so let me know and I will post one that was e-mailed to me today.
ericv
2009-02-20 19:08:46
I'd like to second what has been posted above. Working together as a unified force and voice is critical in assuring healthy fish stocks, equatable allocations and rigid accountability for all user groups. Had this website not been launched by Jon, I do not feel I would have been as effective or informed as I am today regarding these issues at hand. Due to work constraints I was only able to attend Tuesdays 2/17/09 BOF meetings. As noted by others, the guided sport sector was heavily fortified and obvious, yet the commercial sector was deep and diverse as well. It was with deep disappointment that public testimony was not available that day as planned due to the extended biologist reports, with Salty's guiding hand I had written my comments but was not able to present them verbally to the BOF. I know I was a no-show when called on Wednesday, but I can only hope my comments and 20 copies were taken into account. It is with great respect and appreciation I extend to the men and women who have doggedly worked to bring proposals forward, keeping things in perspective and on the front burner so those such as myself can still earn a few dollars doing what we love best. It is a crucial time to maintain our wheel watch, to do our share, taking the waves of the fisheries destruction legions head on and to inch our way closer to that home port of equality, accountability, and sustainability.
Best regards to all,
Eric Van Cise - F/V New Hope - Sitka AK