Herring
Dear Editor: What happened to the herring this year? In January, the Board of Fisheries met here in Sitka. They heard reports from Alaska Department of Fish and Game on the health of the herring population. They also heard nearly 100 testimonies from concerned locals who urged them to listen as they repeated the same concerns they’ve been voicing for decades—that the herring are suffering, that there aren’t enough herring to even provide for tribal citizens’ subsistence needs anymore.
Clearly there is a discrepancy between fisheries science and what we locals are seeing here in Sitka. The Board of Fisheries is obligated to investigate this discrepancy.
They did not. Instead, the Board of Fisheries ignored the thoughtful, engaged, and observant testimony of nearly 100 local citizens, rejecting a set of modest conservation oriented proposals in favor of the status quo, and repeating a decades-long pattern of ignoring local voices around this issue.
We write this letter as a grassroots group of Sitkans who are both scared and angry about what we see happening to the herring. As concerned as we are, we spend a lot of time talking with other Sitkans about herring and the consensus is clear: The herring are disappearing.
Like you, we fear that the Sitka Sound herring population is under serious threat. Other similarly managed herring roe fisheries across Southeast Alaska have collapsed in recent decades - see Lynn Canal, Seymour Canal, Cat Island, Kah Shakes. See Hokkaido in Japan. See the history of harvest of forage fish around the world; the pattern is alarming.
So, we write you here today to call upon you to take action with us to protect the herring. Together, our voices will be louder than if we stand alone.
We believe it is time for this fishery to take a break. It is time for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to honor the traditional knowledge of this place and its people, to acknowledge that history tells us that Southeast Alaska herring stocks are at historically low levels, and to begin active work towards nurturing the herring back towards those historic levels. It is time to recognize that this fishery is bad for salmon, bad for fishermen, bad for halibut, bad for tourism, bad for whales, bad for subsistence users, bad for the future of this community.
Over the next week, we will be rolling out a series of initiatives, all of which you can easily take action on.
The first initiative will be a petition directed towards Governor Walker, Lt. Gov Mallott, and ADF&G Commissioner Sam Cotton, requesting an emergency moratorium on the fishery to allow the stocks to rebuild, reassess the fishery, and investigate the discrepancy between ADF&G science and traditional ecological knowledge / citizen observation.
Be on the look-out for the petition and for further ways to get involved.
Finally, we would like to extend our gratitude to Sitka Tribe of Alaska for being leaders in this movement, for voicing their concerns to fisheries managers for decades. And thank you, reader, for reading this letter and for raising your voice in support of the herring. Let’s make ourselves heard this time!
Peter Bradley, Louise Brady,
Amelia Budd, Lexi Fish,
Lakota Harden, Zach LaPerriere,
Blake LaPerriere, Nate LaPerriere,
Lucky LaPerriere, Jenn Lawlor,
Jackson Matthew,
Chandler O’Connell
and Elsa Sebastian
‘Addams’ Thanks
Dear Editor: The Greater Sitka Arts Council Sitka Community Theater production of “The Addams Family Musical” was a smashing success on so many levels. We celebrated our highest attendance levels (by 50 percent), we put our largest cast on stage and had unprecedented participation from volunteers from all parts of the community. We are so proud of the work we presented to you March 23, 24 and 25 at the Sitka Performing Arts Center.
For each of the 23 cast members you saw on stage, there was a support team of three or four, including designers, directors, scenic painters, prop builders, carpenters, set builders, costumers, running crew, technicians and the multitudes who helped round up and build props. We had amazing financial support from our sponsors, which helped us take the production to a much higher level. It truly felt like a team effort and we tried to acknowledge all those who contributed to the production.
We are proud to be a part of the Greater Sitka Arts Council, our umbrella organization, whose staff and board manage our books, provide moral support and advice, pitch in with volunteer hours, and always come out to support our shows. We could not do this without the organization or the board. We are also lucky to enjoy support from the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, its board, staff and director, who have played key roles in all of our shows.
We have a few thank you’s left, though: our friends, employers and families who supported our time away over the past three months and tolerated our uncontrollable urge to sing “Death Is Just Around the Corner” at inappropriate times. But perhaps the biggest thank you goes to our audience, from those who came to their first SCT production to those who never miss a show. We love seeing you there, and hope to rise to the challenge of making our next production even better.
Greater Sitka Arts Council’s
Sitka Community Theater
In Appreciation
Dear Editor: The school year is winding down and we wanted to write this before folks depart for the summer.
Our little girl is starting kindergarten next year. Raising an active toddler is a lot of work as any parent can tell you. In Sitka this task is made easier by many outstanding professionals and volunteers. We would like to take a minute and praise excellence where we have seen it. This is probably not everyone who deserves our gratitude and if we forgot someone or group please forgive us.
From an infant our daughter was able to enjoy Parents and Tots, a program allowing her time to play and interact with kids her age. The staff, and we believe Center for Community, were always there to lend an ear and offer advice when we would ask. In our daughter’s case she would not have had this early contact with other infants and toddlers given we are older parents and she is a lot younger than our friends’ and families’ kids.
Before she was six months old she was attending swimming. Growing around water and boating we felt it important to teach her to swim. Blatchley pool staff have been professional every time we swim. We have watched lifeguards, many of whom are still in high school, behave like adults and often the staff at our pool go the extra mile teaching toddlers and kids not to fear water and to learn to swim.
BMS pool staff even go so far as to bring Disney music from home so the toddlers can hear tunes during swimming.
This concern for our kids and effort was not unrecognized.
We were able to make frequent trips to both the Sitka Sound Science Center and Fortress of the Bear. Both spots offer annual passes that we could afford and made it easy to utilize.
The Science Center had a free weekly science class that working class folks like us could attend and supplemented pre-school nicely.
At the ages of three and four our daughter got to start playing sports. The gymnastics program here is great as is Kenwa Kai karate.
Three to Five Preschool was really wonderful as a preschool. The staff there have been helpful and we have watched as our daughter made academic and social progress under their guidance.
Finally both Sitka Lutheran Church and Assembly of God have been great to us. The Lutherans host Messy Church monthly and Assembly of God has the Cubby class each week. Both have been excellent.
Raising a child is made a lot easier in a community like Sitka, and, with all the family and friends who have been there taking part in our little girl’s first stages of life, we are very grateful.
Mark, Tisha and little Ellen Bagley
Senior Tax Exemption
Dear Editor: I am a senior citizen living in Sitka. I wish to advocate for change in Sitka’s senior citizen sales tax exemption.
Removing the exemption would increase revenue to the borough “general fund.” That account supports services that all seniors use: public education, EMS, fire, police, hospital, library, Centennial Hall, parks, recreation, maintenance of public buildings, roads and storm drainage.
What are the ethics of forgiving us seniors from paying a tax that provides the largest local portion of borough operating funds? A broad sales-tax exemption for a growing population of citizens over age 65 deserves review. 2016 U.S. Census data shows about 15 percent of Sitkans are age 65 and up. Is it right that every infant, child, youth and adult bear the cost of local services while those over 65, without discrimination, are off the hook?
Long-ago decisions of those, now senior, residents have given rise to the current difficult financial situation. During the hay day of abundant oil money, state grants built much of Sitka’s general infrastructure. Roads, water distribution, waste water collection, harbors, schools, and buildings were included in state grants. Sitka Assemblies back then chose not to collect taxes adequate to pay for replacement.
Property owners and residents at the time benefited from unrealistically low sales tax and property tax rates. That was forty years ago. Infrastructure has worn out. Those same folks are now senior citizens and are given a pass on sales tax. Note that seniors enjoy a state-mandated property tax exemption on the first $150,000 of their home’s real estate value. (At its maximum, now worth $900 each year.)
Voters in the ’70s and ’80s didn’t address long-term maintenance and replacement costs. In fact they chose very minimal local contributions: sales taxes ranging from 2 percent to 6 percent; property taxes from $2 to a cap of $6 per thousand dollars valuation. Understandably, those low rates pushed replacement costs to their children, grand-, and great-grandchildren.
My point is that individual seniors who are able to pay should support their community as does everyone else. Seniors have enjoyed the benefits of the state infrastructure gifts. Seniors should be supporting Borough services and facilities that they use.
John Stein, Sitka
White E Donation
Dear Editor: The teachers, board members, families and students of 3 to 5 Preschool would like to thank the White Elephant Shop board and volunteers for its $5,000 contribution to our scholarship program. Because of its generous support over the years we are able to continue to help support the early education of some of our youngest Sitkans each year, eliminating some of the financial stress parents have, while preparing them for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Please feel free to visit our preschool anytime! We would love the opportunity to show you what we do and how you help provide a loving and educational learning environment for our future doctors, lawyers, fishermen, scientists, teachers, first responders, business and community leaders, volunteers and more!
3 to 5 Preschool, Sitka
Chandelier Art Auction
Dear Editor: The Sitka Pregnancy Center had their Gala Black Tie chandelier art auction Saturday, March 31, at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi. It was so much fun at the art auction. The chandeliers were from the remodel of the Centennial building and we asked artists to decorate these for an art auction. There was a wonderful response and we want to say thank you to all who donated time and talent with the chandelier makeovers. Also, a big thank you to all who made very generous donations for the silent auction. There was some fierce bidding going on in the last minutes.
Thank you to the planners, decorators, servers and other volunteers who helped make the evening’s events run so smoothly. It could not have been done without you.
Thanks to Sitka Tribe for the perfect venue for this event and thanks to Sea Mart for the sparkling cider, and thank you to those anonymous donors. Keith Perkins did an awesome job as auctioneer. But most importantly, thank you to everyone who came out to support Sitka Pregnancy Center. Hope to see more at the next fun event. There was so much fun at the chandelier art auction.
Sitka Pregnancy Center
Board Directors
