Tag Archives: Kami Cabana
Rammed or shooting the gap? Salmon seiners clash in Prince William Sound criminal case
An unusual criminal case in Cordova that centers on a violent fishing boat collision two years ago is expected to wrap up without jail time. The June 2016 crash between seiners in a Prince William Sound cove near Whittier revealed a dark side of Alaska’s multimillion-dollar pink salmon fishery. Kami Cabana, the 25-year-old third-generation fisherman at the helm of the Chugach Pearl, faced first-degree felony assault charges for what prosecutors called an intentional ramming. Her attorney argued it was Jason Long, the Cordova-based skipper of the Temptation, who was actually at fault: He tried to force his way through a lineup of boats with a dangerous maneuver. Video, >click to read< 11:08
Still on the hook
Alaska officials are denying they’ve officially cut a deal to let off easy Kami Cabana, the now notorious seine-boat skipper indicted on charges of felony assault with a weapon after a Prince William Sound ramming, but they admit plea bargaining is underway. The 27-year-old Cabana was at the controls of the 58-foot, 81-ton Chugach Pearl in the summer of 2016 when a 49th state fish war escalated into actual ship-to-ship combat. Part of a Cabana-family led effort to wall of the back of Hidden Bay on Culross Island about 20 miles east of Whittier prior to a commercial, pink salmon opening, Cabana took aggressive action when the F/V Temptation tried to run the blockade. >click to read<08:04
Fishing for Felony
Not often do Alaska’s notorious fish wars take a turn toward jail. Usually they are the source of much stomping and snorting at public meetings, and maybe some gunwale banging at sea. Most often they feature angry set-gillnet fishermen snarling at anglers or troll fishermen ranting against purse seiners and drift gillnetters, or subsistence fishermen mad at everyone not a subsistence fishermen. Rarely, almost never, do these battles turn violent. Unprecedented is the only word to describe a violent encounter at sea that features as the villian a friendly young woman who stars in her own music video and is locally known for her prowess as a downhill skier. >click to read< 09:09
