Bering Sea

Village Life: constant sufferingPosted by: pribilof| 16 Jan 09 | Leave a comment |More

This is a story, or part of one, written in today's Anchorage Daily News (you can read the whole story at ADN.com):

Aheartsick letter describing cash-strapped families choosing betweenfood and heating fuel in the village of Emmonak has state officialsreconsidering a long-simmering request to declare a financial disasterin the region.

"I'm just now today getting information in fromsurrounding villages," said Tara Jollie, director of the state Divisionof Community and Regional Affairs.

A letter written by NicholasTucker of Emmonak describing parents battling to feed their families inhis hometown -- plus concerns from others in the region -- promptedstate department heads to plan a teleconference this morning. Thetopic: a crippling combination of high fuel prices, poor commercialfishing prospects and an unusual cold snap in the Yup'ik village andothers like it.I am posting this story here because I hopeyou focus on the problem of the people in Western Alaska not being ableto care for themselves, much less their families. This can be due tothe large salmon by catch the pollock industry has when they arefishing for pollock in Bristol Bay. We at Greenpeace have been workingto force the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to cut down thesalmon by catch, or cut the pollock fishery down to a few days to stopthe constant raping of the ocean, taking much needed food away from ourpeople in the villages.  Oneof the more serious problems facing the people, especially the childrenof Village Alaska, is malnutrition. When we are not able to get ourfoods, especially the food we have depended upon for thousands ofyears, many physical and spiritual problems develop. This is the mainreason we have been working on the establishment of the Marine CulturalHeritage Zones. We need to bring attention to this serious problem. 

Thankyou all for your continued support and attention. We are workingdiligently to bring environmental justice to Village Alaska.