Terry Haines is a Kodiak deckhand and representative for Fish Heads, an advocacy group dedicated to preserving the vitality of Alaska's fishing communities. Contact Terry Haines
May 28th
Prof I.B. SmirchI felt a strange sensation as I sat down to write this. Was it gas? A small stroke perhaps? Finally I recognized it- a slight pang of conscience. Have I been too tough on politicos like KY McCampbell, Benito Stevens and the Red Queen? Have I been throwing slushballs in a snowball fight? Desperate for guidance, my red rimmed eyes scanned the rows of leather bound books packed into the florescent confines of my lead lined lower library.
Ah yes, here it is: The Yellow Journalist by I.B. Smirch. Right between Under the Bleachers and The Yellow River. Without Professor Smirch my long years at the Sheboygan Snail Mail Institute of Internet Communications might have been wasted.
"Politics" he writes, "is like people chowder in New Guinea. Without heat it gets rancid fast. The purpose of the Internet Journalist is to set a fire under the Cauldron of State and scrape the blackened truth from the bottom."
"That's right," I thought, slamming a wayward wolverine between the books pages, "if you don't like the heat, get out of the chowder!"
The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is bringing their cauldron back to Kodiak. And they have scheduled an entire day, June Sixth, for public comment. This opportunity to stoke the fire should not be missed. Assuming they show up.
Scuttlebutt indicates some Council folk are nervous about attending. One local crabber was talking to an Advisory Panel member who described himself as "Afraid for my life." Enforcement officers from NMFS have apparently been asked to act as armed guards. The Crewmen's Association sponsored barbeque, Fishstock, where citizens will be offered coffee and salmon steaks while they wait to speak, is feared to cook up a smoking hot jambalaya of insurgency. The panic precedes the picnic.Relax, folks. The good people of Kodiak just want to be heard.
And we are constructing a Planet- of- the- Apes- type rolling human cage to confine our more outspoken citizens (rhymes with Green LaRue).
By the way, salmon fishermen: do you find it irritating that these meeting are always scheduled just as the season starts? Do you get the idea they don't like the thought of a hundred of you speaking up? Take time from your schedule. Tell them you don't want the opportunity to fish cod taken away from your future. Ask your family to speak if you can't.
Whoever you are and whatever your position, if Gulf of Alaska Groundfish rationalization will change your life come to the Kodiak High School between 9 AM and 5 PM, on Tuesday June 6. And bring the heat of right and reason.
Kodiak's Crab Festival is winding down. Sunny and beautiful. The buzz of the midway was about Frank Murkowski's decision to run again for Alaska Governor. It has been observed that for a large man "Frank the Bank" fits handily into the pockets of corporations like Trident and BP.Here in Kodiak we have been lucky enough to get a pretty good look at the legitimate candidates. Here's my personal take: Halcro, Berkowitz, Croft and Palin all have histories that show them to be committed, talented and ethical. Binkley seems very comfortable in the lap of the Republican Party. And Frank Murkowski is Frank Murkowski.
For my money, its Croft and Palin. Berkowitz is a fireball, but has said that when Knowles enters the race, he will drop out to be his lieutenant. And of course, Knowles can be thanked for starting this whole rationalization track. Halcro is honest and able, but probably too much of an outsider to win. Eric Croft is smart and scrappy and has built a record that shows he will put the interests of Alaska before those of Exxon and Nippon Suisan. Sarah Palin is a thinker and a doer. She asks questions and takes notes, rather than peppering the room with campaign zingers. And she's shown herself to be unwilling to be forced into the party mold. She would make a fine Governor. If it turns out to be Knowles vs. Murkowski I say we just start the recall right now.
June 6th
Fishstock – Kodiak
Tips on how to address the Council
The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will be hearing public testimony on June 6th in the Kodiak High School Commons. This will be an unprecedented opportunity for Alaskans to tell the Council what they think about a process that has produced Crab Rationalization and Processor Quotas. To facilitate full public participation the Crewmen's Association will sponsor Fishstock, a day of food, fun and fish.
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