Tag Archives: Democrat congresswoman Mary Peltola
In Depth: Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
The late 1990s and early 2000s were boomtimes for halibut fishermen in Alaska. Over 80 million pounds of the flatfish were being harvested annually. Deckhands could earn $250,000 a season. The small boat harbor in the southcentral city of Homer, known as the “halibut capital of the world,” was bustling. Erik Velsko, 39, was one of those fishermen. He started buying annual shares in 2001 when the halibut population was at near historic highs. But within a few years, the stock plummeted by more than half and the quotas for commercial fishermen were slashed accordingly. Halibut wasn’t the only so-called directed fishery to experience such a catastrophic drop. The crab fleet — made famous in the reality show “Deadliest Catch” — has been mostly stuck in port for two years after the near total collapse of the snow crab population and the decades long decline of red king crab. Photos, >click to read< 11:42
Fishermen gather in D.C. to press Congress for ‘catch share’ changes
fishermen from each corner of the country descended on the nations capital last week banding together to confront what they describe as a predatory regulatory system that treats fishing rights “like stocks on Wall Street.” The group of more than a dozen fishermen make up a loose organization known as the Catch Share Reform Coalition. They presented a proposal to several U.S. senators, members of Congress and the head of NOAA Fisheries to rework regulations that they say have enabled investors to amass large amounts of fishing permits, cornering parts of the industry at the expense of local fishermen. Members of the group each fish out of different ports, using different types of gear and fishing for different species. But they said they are all united in their goal to keep fishing rights in the hands of local fishermen. >click to read< 07:06
Pro-fish or primarily pro-tribe? Critics say Peltola shows true goal as congresswoman for some, not all Alaskans
Is Mary Peltola really the pro-fish candidate? What does pro-fish mean, when the ultimate intent is to not put salmon in a wildlife refuge, but conserve a resource so you can kill the fish, slice them up, and eat them? According to some in the fishing crowd in Kodiak last week, Peltola misses the mark when it comes to fishing, as an economy and as a way of life for many Alaskans. Not all were impressed with her at the Kodiak candidate forum focused on fishing. Before she left Washington, D.C. at the end of September, Peltola, the Democrat congresswoman finishing Congressman Don Young’s term, voted in the House Natural Resources Committee to authorize a rewrite of the Magnuson Stevens Act with an important added provision: Bycatch would be banned, so severely curtailed that critics claim a judge could rule that commercial fishing itself could be shut down, depending on what environmentalist litigants want. >click to read< 09:18
