Tag Archives: commercial fisheries advocate
Fight of his life: Well-known NL advocate must travel to Toronto to await lung transplant
Merv Wiseman is literally fighting a battle for his life, but he still wants it to be about finding a way to help others. The retired Canadian Coast Guard employee has spent his life leading the advocacy charge on several fronts, including issues affecting wild commercial fisheries, the fur industry, search and rescue services and agriculture. Now, the 71-year-old is dealing with worsening symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis, a condition he was diagnosed with several years ago, which has rapidly progressed within the past year. Wiseman, whose mobility these days is hampered by having to constantly be connected to an oxygen tank, is still at his home in North Harbour, Placentia Bay, but is hoping to be in Toronto by the end of March. He has no idea when he will get the double lung transplant, he requires, but needs to be close to Toronto General Hospital for when a matching donor does become available. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:04
Remembering Ken Coleman, longtime commercial fisheries advocate
Ken Coleman, a longtime Kenai resident and commercial fisheries activist, died in his home May 7 at age 72. Anyone involved in Cook Inlet fisheries politics in the last 40 years probably either heard of or from Coleman. He was a staple presence at Cook Inlet Board of Fisheries meetings, always ready to put in a word for commercial set-netters, especially with the recent effort to create a permit buyback program. I’ve been at this now for 10 ten years on this reduction thing, the inception and where we are today. And I don’t know if I have another rodeo in me, if this doesn’t pass here,” Coleman said in an interview last year. Though recent years have been poor for setnetters, Coleman often talked about how he wanted the fishery to be available to his children and grandchildren. Coleman fished the beaches of Cook Inlet south of the mouth of the Kenai since the 1970s. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:31
