Bering Sea

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It Never Ends...

Posted by: pribilof| 19 May 10 | 1 comment |MoreDuring the Summer of 2007

I was fortunate enough to travel on Greenpeace’s wonderful vessel, the Esperanza.As we left Homer Alaska to begin our two-month journey into the BeringSea, my home, we made a quick stop at Port Graham in Kachamak Bay inthe southern Cook Inlet. This was a blessing for me in many ways,mostly because it was one of my Parishes in my other life for eightyears! Port Graham was also one of the many Alaskan Native Villagesseverely impacted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. Here is someof what I learned during this visit.

May15, 2010 - Dr. Erica Miller, a member of the Louisiana State WildlifeResponse Team, cleanses a pelican of oil at the Clean Gulf AssociatesMobile Wildlife Rehabilitation Station on Ft. Jackson in PlaqueminesParish, La. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd ClassJustin Stumberg/Released)

Read more latest news about the BP Deepwater Disaster, view more pics, and take action to prevent the next oil spillWearrived in Port Graham and immediately visited one of the TribalCouncil’s most respected elders, Eleanor. She had so many stories totell that if we had stayed for a whole day we would not have heard themall, so she chose a few important to what we were doing. One of thestatements she made regarding the impacts of the oil spill was, “Itnever ends….never goes away.” And to this day I am deep in thought overthose words. What did she mean? Why did she say that?

She saidthat her grandchildren, born right around that time in 1989-90, werelost children. Lost because they would not know what it means to gohunting, fishing or berry-picking and gather food, their traditionalfood, and share it with the village. They did not know, nor would theyever experience, the joy of giving a five-gallon bucket of clams to theelders in the village, the shear goodness of carrying on thislong-standing and sacred tradition. They would not know the blessingsof capturing a harbor seal for food — not killing the animal but ratherreceiving it from the animal itself as a gift to them. They would notknow the experience of bringing the animal to the beach andceremoniously thanking the animal, and returning unused parts of theanimal back to the sea. They would not know that respecting the sealand all foods in this way and returning parts of it back to the sea wasa respectful thank you. They would not know the certainty that theanimal will return once again to offer itself as a gift to the villageas food. They only would hear stories of how it was done once and whatit means.

Eleanor continued to speak in a way that only asuffering grandma can speak: in slow, quiet, well-chosen words pepperedwith patience and longing.

She continued: "My grandchildrenwill not know the joy of being hungry and exhausted following one ofthese food gathering journeys so familiar to those of us blessed tohave been born at a different time. When one gathers food in such amanner, creating an unmistakable tie to centuries of ancestors, doingwhat they did in a manner considered the only way to do it, it opensthoughts and feelings in the mind and heart one can only experience bydoing these activities. They will not know this. And the exhaustion,the hunger can only be granted by following these traditions, feelingsgranted by our ancestors because of our efforts. This is not suffering.This is real connection to life, to holy things. They will not knowthis."

“It never ends,” she concluded. “These generations ofyoung people cannot experience these gifts because they have grownolder and these things can only be done at a certain age, at certainplaces, at certain times and certain seasons.”

The forlornsounds and expressions in her voice and deeply in her eyes said it all.They are lost. This is a part of what the oil giant Exxon spewed uponan ancient people. Not only was the environmental disaster totallydestructive to the ocean and its flora and fauna, but to generations oflost people, as well. People who can only dream about what could havebeen. People who could not experience this important transitional timeof their lives. Surely the ocean and lands, mother nature may some dayrecover so future generations can return to their sacred traditions.But can they really? There may not be anyone around who knows thesethings to teach them — or worse, they just would not know what theycould have learned.

And now Shell plans to begin drilling in the Arctic Ocean, even as the oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico.

It never ends.

Cochabamba Bolivia. April 25, 2012. George sharing information with participants of the International Conference of Indigenous People on Climate Change. He handed out material on Greenpeace's Polar studies: "Polar Oceans in Peril and a Planet at Risk" and several DVD's of Bering Sea Communities and Bering Sea Canyons.

Assault on the Corals and Sponges

Of the Bering Sea

April 2010

Palmer Alaska

On Thursday April 15, 2010 a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council representing Washington State submitted a motion for consideration by the entire Council. Basically he said: “Motion to make corals and sponges ‘observed catch’ rather than ‘by catch’” as they are currently classified. What is that? The motion passed unanimously.

According to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Act (MSA), “by catch” means fish which are harvested in a fishery, but which are not sold or kept for personal use, and includes economic discards and regulatory discards.”

“Fish” means finfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and all other forms of marine animal and plant life other than marine mammals and birds. Here again quoting from the MSA.

Quoting from my friends’ testimony on this issue, Bubba Cook of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states:

“The logic of this proposed change is not clear to me, but it makes me recall a quote from a Council member.  Ed Rasmussen once said “Let’s just call a spade a spade!” Now, a cynic might say that this effort to reclassify or redefine bycatch into “observed catch” is a backdoor effort to skirt the spirit and intent of the law to reduce bycatch of corals and sponges…”catch as many as you want fellas, no restriction in the law for “observed catch”.  In fisheries, under the governing law, it is either “catch” or it is “bycatch” and there is no other term to describe fish, in this case corals and sponges, captured in the fisheries this Council governs.  Now, if someone can explain to me how this does not apply, then, to quote another Council member not present, “Please pass me the Kool-Aid because I just don’t get it.””

Now I am led to believe this idea came from the Council’s Ecosystem Committee Chaired by Stephanie Madsen the former Chair of the Council and current employee of At Sea Processors in Juneau Alaska. Very interesting goings on I’d say.

It seems like something-fishy going on here. To classify corals and sponges in the same vein as a rock, a nonliving thing, just seems plain wrong!

I don’t know the histories of the many commercial fisheries that have crashed on our small planet, but somehow this is beginning to sound like the industry is getting pretty desperate. Becoming more and more nit picky as this process moves on. Now they want us to support their claim that corals and sponges are not living things!

And so, now, what can you do to help? Write them. After all they, the Council Members, have been chosen to represent you when managing your fish and ocean resources. Here is the contact page of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). (http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/contactinfo.htm)

Also when you write them a comment, request that the NMFS also develop a map showing where the known coral and sponge habitats are. They are supposed to do this work and keep putting it off. The areas of the Bering Sea where this is critical are Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons. We need to get these areas protected from bottom and mid-water trawling because of their uniqueness. Zhemchug Canyon is the largest underwater Canyon in the world, almost twice the size of the Grand Canyons. Imagine that!

Please help our Bering Sea from being destroyed. When this is done it will be a very long time until it can be restored, if ever.