Sac-Roe Fishery
Dear Editor:My name is Dennis Gray, Jr. and I am a commercial fisherman and the city administrator for the community of Hoonah. I am writing this letter on my own behalf. I care deeply for my community. That is why I am writing to the Sitka Sentinel and appealing to the Board of Fish in solidarity with the Assembly of Sitka in support of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s efforts to encourage more conservative management of the sac-roe fishery. Sitka’s herring are not only important for Sitkans.
I remember hearing stories of herring spawning in Hoonah so we could harvest herring roe locally but those days are gone in Hoonah and, unfortunately, for much of the Southeast.
Today, our residents depend on relatives in Sitka. We also depend on the Shirly N, a troller in Hoonah whose crew volunteer their time and vessel each spring to head to Sitka Sound and chase the herring spawn. They spend weeks away from home, laying and pulling branches hopefully filling their fish hold with eggs. The task is becoming increasingly difficult, the herring spawn more sparse and unpredictable. When they return to Hoonah, our docks are jam packed with eager residents clambering in anticipation for the return of the Shirly N. Within minutes, those eggs are gone. Hoonah’s residents are grateful for this resource and we fill our freezers with eggs to share on special occasions, at koo’eex’s, with family and with friends.
When making decisions this week that impact the future of this important resource, please remember that herring are not only critical for Sitka’s people. They are invaluable to families and communities across the state who look to the final stronghold of Southeast Alaska’s once abundant herring to fill their plates with herring.
Dennis H. Gray Jr., Hoonah
Legislators’ Per Diem
Dear Editor: I was interested in Senator Stedman’s interview on KCAW on Friday morning, Jan 12. He talked about his pre-filed resolution, SJR9, that would spell out how the state can use Permanent Fund earnings and that the dividend rate would be about $1,800 a year. I am thinking many Alaskans will like that.
I will take exception to his notion that it is unnecessary to hold our Legislature to their job – pass a budget and not go three sessions with nothing accomplished while earning a more than generous per diem. Currently legislators can claim per diem stipends of $295 a day for each day they are in Special Session and for each non-legislative day in which they work a certain number of hours. Given the number of days the Legislature was in special session this last year, legislators could receive up to $35,000 each in per diem payments from that alone. That to me is a “kiddie game,” as he referred to the current ballot proposition. We need to hold our elected officials’ feet to the fire to show up and get their work done, like the rest of us.
Jeff Budd, Sitka
Herring Eggs
Dear Editor: My name is Wade Martin and I have been harvesting herring eggs in Sitka Sound for over 45 years. I’ve seen many changes.
The commercial sector hosting the Sitka Herring Conservation Alliance has more to do with the ‘‘conservation’’ of their special interest than of the species and subsistence harvest. Giving out herring eggs to tribal citizens is an insult. My daughter and I have caught their people red-handed stealing our trees and these men come off of the F/V Katlian. They don’t care about the quality of the branches, or how they get them. They care about the poundage that they can ‘‘give away’’ to support their commercial interests. There is no replacement for harvesting herring eggs by hand.
There are also mortality issues. I think that the test sets for the sac-roe fishery kill many fish unnecessarily. I see huge quantities of these herring floating dead on the surface with so many more sinking to the bottom. These fish are killed for no reason.
I have also managed and marketed seafood for eight years. By limiting the amount they harvest, the sac-roe fishery can drive up the price per ton and leave more herring in the water. Currently, the harvest is needlessly wasteful.
Each year, it is getting harder and harder for me to get any return of herring eggs on branches. Directly and indirectly I estimate that 100-150 people from across Alaska depend on me to harvest eggs for them because Sitka is the final herring stronghold of this culturally important food.
When I was a kid, I remember going down to First and Second Narrows and we would get herring eggs at Dorothy Narrows, Pirates Cove, Jamestown Bay, Sam Sing Cove, Sandy Bay, Halibut Point Road, Kasiana Island, Katlian Bay, Siginaka Island, Big and Small Gravanski, Hayward Strait, Nakwasina Sound, Saint John the Baptist Bay, Marine Cove, Sukoi Inlet, Rodger Point, Vixen Islands, even Silver Bay. Today, the only places where I can reliably harvest are Middle Island. And they say that because we don’t have scientific data that this is hearsay. To us, the people who harvest these eggs annually, this is factual. We have no reason to lie about this.
I will close by saying that I really feel we are on the brink of a total collapse of the herring stock. Without the herring we will have a catastrophic event that nobody in Sitka has seen before. Everything here depends on herring. I hope that I am not speaking on deaf ears, I hope that it is not too late.
Wade (Marty) Martin, Sitka
Student Activity Fund
Dear Editor:I wanted to take a moment to thank the following people, who for the greater part of 2017, came together to see the Student Activity Fund off the ground. Loyd Platson of Sitka Counseling/Sitka Health Summit Coalition, Laurie Hood of the State of Alaska Division of Public Health Nursing, Doug Osborne of Sitka Community Hospital/Sitka Health Summit Coalition, Chandler O’Connell of the Sitka Conservation Society/Sitka Health Summit Coalition, and Sue Ross of Sitka High School.
I would also like to thank Paul Cotter of EvaluLogic and Caitlin Fondell the Student Activity Fund contractor, for the extraordinary work they have done to help us execute our plan. Above all, my absolute appreciation goes to Gus Adams for his generous donation to the Student Activity Fund.
This venture has been dear to my heart because I was once a child who desperately wanted to play basketball. It was a $25 fee that stopped me from signing up but thankfully an individual stepped forward and covered that fee and because of that I was able to play basketball. This is the heart of the Student Activity Fund. We want to lift the barriers that keep our children engaged in school activities, activity fees being one of them.
It is because of everyone’s hard work, I am happy to say that applications are now at the SHS front office. Applications will also be available on the SHS activities page. Funds available will be for the spring semester 2018 activities.
SAHEF is a needs-based scholarship program that is offered to Sitka High School and Pacific High School students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. The scholarship will help cover the cost of registration fees for all Sitka School District extracurricular activities. For more information, please feel free to stop by the SHS front office or contact Sue Ross at 966-1956.
It is my goal to see this fund broaden to support our Sitkan families and children. The Student Activity Fund has limited funds at this time but we all can help this fund sustain and grow. We cannot reach this goal without our community support.
Please stop by the SHS front office and donate, or send your contribution to SHS at 1000 Lake Street, attention: Student Activity Fund. Your donation will go directly towards our Sitka High School and Pacific High students.
Blossom Twitchell, Sitka
Global Solidarity
Dear Editor:Sitka RESULTS wants to share the following statement.
Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2018, statement from Joanne Carter, executive director of RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund:
At RESULTS, our mission is grounded in our belief in the value, dignity, and rights of all people, everywhere. Our advocacy model is grounded in our belief in the power of the voices of all people, everywhere. The reported remarks from the President last night cut against both.
Our movement is driven by advocates in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Africa, in Asia, and in every corner of the world. In the United States, our volunteer advocates come from all backgrounds and walks of life – some were born in the U.S., others came as children or later in life. This diversity makes us stronger.
We are united by a shared belief in equity, a shared belief in justice, and a shared belief that the end of poverty is not only needed, but possible. As people, we stand together against discrimination and rhetoric based on harmful, racist stereotypes. As advocates, we work across the political spectrum to reject policies that push people to the margins, and we fight for policies grounded in equity and justice.
In our movement and in our world, people who have been discriminated against and marginalized need to come first, not last. In this work, every voice matters, and together we are even greater than the sum of our parts.
Michele Friedman, Sitka RESULTS
