Web posted
Friday, July 20, 2001
Reflections on why fish industry in midst of 'Changing Tides'
As we close out the "Changing Tides" series in today's Peninsula Clarion, we thought it would be appropriate to highlight the words of some of those who helped provide perspective to our stories.
We appreciate all those who took the time to share their views and knowledge with us. We hope the series has been valuable to readers, and we hope it will spark continuing dialogue about one of the region's most contentious issues. As always, we hope readers will share their views on the series and fisheries issues in general.
"It was a different story back then. Different gear, different prices, different marketing. It was more family-oriented, not as much greed. We didn't have the part-time fishermen like we do now."
-- Caroline Huhndorf on the early days of her fishing. She has setnetted with her husband, Stanley, on the beach north of Nikiski since 1954.
"The income from the fishery was good until 1999. Then, we had a couple bad years, and the prices went down, and the politics -- 40 percent of our historical fishery has been reallocated from us to someone else."
-- Kenai driftnetter Bob Merchant, president of the United Cook Inlet Drift Association. He and a partner paid $185,000 for their drift permit in 1988.
"I've often said we look at Alaska fisheries like an onion. It seems like each year for the last few years, another layer of the onion -- representing another layer of fishermen -- is peeled away. We're getting pretty close to the core. Fewer and fewer people are able to make a living fishing in Cook Inlet."
-- Ed Crane, chief executive of the Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank.
"I had a 15-year-old boy that caught a 60-pound king. The Kenai's one of the few places where you can have things like that come true."
-- Joe Hanes, past president and a current board member of the Kenai River Professional Guides Association, on a recent trip guiding a family on the Kenai River.
"I'm glad I'm as old as I am, because I remember having fishing holes to myself. I could never fish elbow to elbow like people do today. I just wouldn't go fishing if that were the only way I could go fishing. I just wouldn't do it."
-- George Pollard, on the changes in sport fishing he's seen during the 65 years he's lived and fished along the Kasilof River. Pollard hasn't fished at his boat landing for several years.
"I've come here for years and years. I like coming here even when there's no fish."
-- Linda Seetomona of Anchorage, who was dipnetting on the Kenai beach earlier this month.
"Why can't you sit down and work together, instead of fighting and fighting and fighting? Why take the Kenai residents out of it? Why cater to the tourists? Why cater to the fishing guides. Why not cater to the Kenai Peninsula people? It seems like the Kenai Peninsula residents are always at the bottom of the barrel -- especially the Kenaitzes."
-- Kenaitze chair Rosalie Tepp on a recent Federal Subsistence Board decision to rescind the Kenai Peninsula's rural designation.
"The funny thing is, it's not really even about fish. It's about the life of the tribe. There are very reasonable arguments, but I don't want to reason the tribe out of existence."
-- Former Kenaitze tribal chair Clare Swan on the Kenai Peninsula and subsistence.
"The river is only so big. I really don't know how you'd go back and correct all that stuff that's existing now. You could put on some controls. There's a lot of people that come and build their businesses. If the river fails and it's overfished, what will you do then?"
-- George Jackinsky, 74, who grew up in Ninilchik.
"Two things happened. Farmed salmon first began to appear in the Japanese market, because sockeye salmon were so expensive. Second, we decided to sue the Japanese. How many people sue their biggest customer and still expect that customer to be the biggest customer?"
-- Former Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation director Chris Mitchell on changes in Alaska's commercial fishing industry.
"There's 1,400 commercial fishing permits in Cook Inlet and 240,000 sport fishing licenses that fish those same runs. The fact that Cook Inlet is adjacent to 60 percent of the state's population says one thing -- eventually, the public wins."
-- Anchorage businessman and sport-fishing advocate Bob Penney.
"I think this is one of the most conservation-minded (fish) boards around. They're going to look at escapement goals and make sure there are enough up the river for a sustainable fishery. If that means scaling back the commercial fishery or the sport fishery, this board will do it.
"Every time you go into a Cook Inlet meeting, it's like Ali versus Foreman. Both groups are hardened. There's not much give between the user groups there."
-- Former Board of Fisheries member Robin Samuelson, a Bristol Bay commercial fisher.
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