FISHERYNATION.COM

This is our son Kyle.

Kyle has spent most of his young life battling cancer. For many years, we were told he had no future. His battles have been long and merciless, but after nine years, he is finally winning this war. He now officially has a future, and to us, it is nothing short of a miracle.

Could you imagine living nine years not knowing if your child would live through the next 24 hours? As his parents, his care and his new life are everything to us. We support him (& our other six), like all parents support their beloved children. In the obvious ways; through love & guidance, hugs & direction, but also through the security, that hard work provides, in our jobs & careers.

Like all dedicated parents, our child’s future & his children’s future is our #1 concern, worry, & priority. It is our life’s work.

We set about investing in our children’s futures, laying the groundwork, paving the roads, for their futures. We teach them right from wrong, we put braces on their teeth, we set up college funds, sign them up for dance classes & little league. Many of us even dare to hope that they will choose to carry-on the torch, for our family businesses.

We are commercial fishermen. We are generations of fishing families.

We are no different than you & our children’s futures are no less important to us. Yet, we have been painted as an enemy of man, of marine life, of the ocean.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The ocean is our LIFE, it is our future, it is our present.

Understand that we cherish it, we must. It is the future of our children’s children. It is our retirement plan, it is the sustainable source of our children’s grandchildren’s, grandchildren’s college funds.

We have more respect for the ocean and it’s bounty, than you could ever even understand. We have a larger stake in fishing sustainably, and protecting her bounty, than any self proclaiming activists on the planet.

If you want to know about fish species thriving and/or endangered fish populations, ask a commercial fisherman. There are always bad apples in every walk of life, but don’t judge many by few. We need the ocean to continue to thrive so much more than your local regulatory agencies, corporate-owned nonprofits, or any activist group could ever dare dream.

For Kyle… for all our children, and for yours. Protect your local fisheries. Support the voices of your local, sustainable, commercial fishermen.

-Katrina & Jerry Wetle

Sustainable Commercial Fishing Family & Local Purveyors

Monterey Bay, CA