Port Duty
Dear Editor: Having enough and accessible port-a-potties for a, hopefully, burgeoning tourist season next year is a sign of good citizenship on Sitka’s part.
We should have a naming contest for the “loos.” Instead of more common, humorous names like “Call-a-Head” or “The Mobile Throne” we could be more local specific. There’s “Halibut Cheeks,” “Hali-Butt,” “Salmon Run,” “Call of the Wild,” “Whale of a Tail,” “Sitka Sprint,” “Rainforest Mist,” “Tongass Forest,” “Fortress of the Bares,” etc., etc. It could be fun.
Rebecca Osborn, Sitka
Herring Management
Dear Editor: In the last week a majority of the Sitka Advisory Committee to the Alaska Board of Fisheries has voted in opposition to two proposals from Sitka Tribe of Alaska that would take a more conservative and balanced approach to herring management in Sitka Sound. Proposal #156 is a common-sense measure to prevent overharvesting in years when fewer herring return to Sitka Sound, protecting the last sac roe herring fishery and subsistence herring roe harvest in Southeast Alaska. The proposal would not impact commercial harvests during high-abundance years. Proposal #157 would likewise limit harvest of the older, more fertile herring that are critical for good spawning.
The process has been long and frustrating. The AC has been able to cover only one proposal per 2.5 hour meeting. With only a handful of members of the public testifying, most of the time has been taken up by AC deliberations. Attendees have had to sit through hours of deliberation just to offer no more than three minutes of input, without opportunities to ask questions or have their questions answered. Worse, the meetings institutionally exclude local subsistence experts. The ADFG staff present have little data and little to say on subsistence needs. This is not a personal shortcoming on the part of the ADFG staff, but rather is a pervasis symptom of institutional neglect towards herring subsistence. But the result is the same: commercial guideline harvest levels and exploitation rates are micro-analyzed ad-nauseum, while subsistence costs or benefits are unexamined.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff were not prepared to speak on the ongoing lawsuit over their management of this fishery, but we already know that the court decided in favor of STA that ADFG does not adequately document how it ensures reasonable opportunity for subsistence and that ADFG fails to show how it considers the quality and quantity of herring spawn in its management. The meetings were conducted as though these rulings had never happened, and as if no changes were necessary.
Herring populations across Southeast Alaska have already collapsed under ADFG management. People remember abundant herring eggs on the beaches around town just a few decades ago. But in recent years, abundance has declined and harvesters have had to travel farther and farther to find less consistent herring roe. In most recent years, the Amount Necessary for Subsistence (ANS) has not been met. The commercial fishery didn’t occur in 2019 and 2020 for the same reason the subsistence harvests were poor that year – the seine fleet had already scooped up all the mature, fecund females in prior years, and there were none left. The harvest in 2021 was likely good for both groups because of this very fact, that the seiners hadn’t scooped any fish since 2018, allowing the population to mature.
Committee members acknowledged that herring abundance increased in the last year due to reduced fishing pressure in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but in a bewildering move used the increased abundance due to lack of fishing as a justification to return to the fishing status quo that led to the depressed age class structure in the first place. As if that circuitous logic weren’t enough, ADFG staff stated that the “Average Unfished Biomass” assumptions – central to setting harvest levels every year – haven’t been revisited since 1998, and that ADFG is long overdue for updating that model. Given ADFG’s quarter-century-old data, their proven track record of collapsing herring populations, and the unknown risks of global warming, we should err on the side of caution, especially since we’re talking about the last viable population in Southeast. Yet the committee seemed to take this woefully outdated and incomplete data as an excuse to do nothing.
Considering that a ton of herring saved from the sac roe fishery is not a ton of herring wasted, but rather a ton of herring turned into far more valuable salmon, it’s baffling that more folks, from personal use fisherman right on up to seiners themselves, don’t see the advantages of conserving the resource. With a literal ton of herring fetching the same price as one big king salmon, it should be an economic no-brainer to keep them in the ocean as wild salmon food. But before all those considerations, the highest priority in herring management ought to be sustaining reliable subsistence harvests.
The most frustrating aspect of the whole AC process so far has been committee members and sac roe seiners simply dismissing the quantifiable fact that the Amount Necessary for Subsistence (ANS) has rarely been met in the last decade. And folks wonder why people get weary of advocating for herring, when their experiences are dismissed even when supported by hard data and judicial rulings showing that subsistence needs are not being met. Subsistence harvesters are left on mute while the finer details of the commercial harvest are debated for hours.
The AC’s votes this week against STA’s proposal 156 and 157 will make the path towards a management approach that works for subsistence users and the ecosystem longer and more difficult. There is a follow up meeting to discuss the rest of the herring proposals on Wednesday, and I considered encouraging folks to attend, but honestly I think it would be a waste of your time.
Matthew Jackson, Sitka
Thank You, Veterans
Dear Editor: It has been brought to my attention that this is a “Month of Gratitude” and you are accepting letters of gratitude. I would like to take a moment, a month, and a millennial to thank the men and women Veterans of the Armed Forces who will be celebrating Veterans Day this Thursday, November 11. In addition, I want to wish the Happiest Birthday Ever, to the Men and Women of the United States Marine Corps, who will be celebrating their 246th Birthday Wednesday, November 10. It is in the defense of our freedom that they fight for every day, that makes me eternally thankful. God bless our local Sitka Veterans and Veterans across this nation.
Honorably submitted,
Sam Pointer, Commandant,
The Marine Corps League,
Robert B. Johnstone Detachment
of Sitka
WhaleFest Run
Dear Editor: I want to thank all the runners and walkers who came out to support our run and our great cause. Also, a big thanks to the volunteers who came out and helped greatly with this annual community wellness and open aired event. A wonderful and memorable time was had by all at the 24th Annual WhaleFest Run, and 2021 proved to be special indeed!
The WhaleFest Run is a fundraiser which contributes to supporting the Sitka Sound Science Center, the WhaleFest Celebration, Sitka High cross country, and in many ways, Sitka’s unique marine environment.
Again, a big thanks to Sitka’s running environment for supporting our run, we had a wonderful time (we even saw whales), and thank you very much for your generosity in supporting a great cause. We’ll see you all next year.
Brian Beall, WhaleFest Run
Anti-Semitism
Dear Editor: I attended an Assembly meeting in late October where several people equated vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. This was not the first time I heard this false equivalency at a Sitka Assembly meeting. This rhetoric is deeply offensive and dangerous. I appreciated Lisa Busch’s Oct. 27 letter to the editor on this subject and feel strongly it cannot be up to the Jewish community alone to defend against this anti-Semitic tactic to disagreeing with vaccine mandates. We all have this responsibility.
The Holocaust was intentional genocide, with more than 11 million Jews and others murdered by the Nazis. Vaccine mandates are intended to save lives, whether you believe that they do or not. Our neighbors and friends are offended and we should all be frightened by how easily the political discourse by vocal opponents of vaccines have become anti-Semitic. As Elliot Malin of Jewish Nevada has said “the Holocaust is not a political tool, so stop using it as one.”
Thank you,
Tory O’Çonnell Curran, Sitka
Much Gratitude
Dear Editor: I am writing today inspired by the challenge from Sitka’s Decolonization Discussion Group to express gratitude for Sitkans Against Family Violence and the Pathways to a Safer Sitka Coalition for their work in youth mentorship. I have seen firsthand their amazing dedication to Sitka’s children as a coach for Boys Run I toowú klatseen, Girls on the Run, and Keet Kids Run I toowú klatseen (last year’s virtual adaptation) and am buoyed almost daily by their efforts.
It is a difficult time to be a kid. Growing up in the social media era, kids today – even those too young to be directly on social media – receive messages about the world and about themselves at an unprecedented (and ever increasing) rate. Through no coincidence, anxiety disorders, low self-esteem, and depression are all increasing for youth. Now more than ever, kids must learn how to make sense of media messages and develop the social-emotional skills necessary to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.
The Keet running programs led by SAFV and the Pathways Coalition equip kids with the necessary tools to empower themselves and make healthy choices. Ideally, kids use the tools they learn to improve their wellbeing through adolescence and reduce their likelihood to turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms like drug use, self-harm, and verbal and physical violence. From there, healthy kids make healthy adults make healthy communities.
When I moved to Sitka just over two years ago, I felt privileged to be able to contribute to Boys Run I toowú klatseen. As someone who grew up in the social media age and struggled with low self-esteem throughout adolescence, I wish I’d had the emotional processing tools taught by this program when I was growing up. Further, while coaching my first season, I realized “Wait, these tools aren’t just for kids. I can use them too!” Nowadays, I unironically use some of the strategies I teach third, fourth, and fifth graders. And they work!
All’s to say: Thank you so much to SAFV, the Pathways Coalition, and the dedicated organizations who make these programs happens year after year. You keep our youth healthy, your coaches inspired, and our communities safe. Gunalchéesh, and keep up the good work!
Johnny Elliott, Sitka
