Bering Sea

Growing up on the beaches of St. George Island, one of the fivePribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, I remember combing the beaches.There was, and is, so much to be found. Glass balls, I even found acontainer with chopsticks, very fancy, that I took to the GovernmentsIsland Manager’s house to find out what it was, and lots of otherdebris that we thought interesting and valuable. And so, after largestorms, we went out on our favorite beaches looking to see what wasthere.

I remember that as children, growing up on this littleIsland, we used to collect glass balls, little balls of glass about thesize of softballs today, covered with woven net. This was a prize. Weused to, as kids in school, brag about how many we found, what sizes,and sometimes where. We exchanged stories about them. We talked aboutwhat we did with them, what trinkets we made, how we glued themtogether to make Christmas trees, and how we used files, a steel toolused to sharpen other tools, to cut a slit in them to make banks. Andin these banks we put our dimes, nickels, pennies and the occasionalquarter to go to the company store, or canteen run by the United StatesGovernment to buy candy. And we wondered where they came from and whatthey were used for. We did not know. Now we know they were used to holdup the miles long nets on the surface of the water used to killhundreds and thousands of animals, mostly for fish, but birds, seals,whales, and anything else that would come into contact with them. Andthey were used by either the Japanese or Taiwanese Governments. We knowthat now, but not then. And they were a prize.

As time flowedby, now into the 60’s and 70’s we began to see different things comingashore on our Islands.  Along with the occasional coke bottle, plasticbottle, glove and basket, large pieces of net began to show up. Again,being on a small Island, we did not know what these things were beingused for. So, as far as we were concerned, all of this debris wasnormal. After all, everyone else in the world, our small world to besure, was going through the same thing. Sure. If it was happening hereit was surely happening elsewhere. Or was it?

You see? What washappening during the 60’s and 70’s while beach combing, miles andmiles, and yards and yards of monofiliment nets were used to catchfish. Nets made of plastics, which would never degrade, made of byproducts of oil, to stretch out over the Bering Sea to kill. We did notknow that, but now we do. And kill they did. They did not fall apart orcome loose. They were made of a product that would last years andyears. And they would, even if those who put them into the water, thefishers lost them, continue to kill and kill until there was nothingelse to kill. Whales, fish, birds, seals, walruses, plankton andseaweed, no matter what came into contact with them, they were doomedto death.

Today, in the 2000’s, not much has changed, really.We still comb the beaches of the Pribilof Islands, both St. Paul andSt. George and pick up stuff. Now instead of glass balls and chopsticks, we pick up nets, plastic balls, plastic gloves, plastic,plastic, plastic. Pop can  rings used to hold a six pack together iscommon. Plastic nets, ropes, lines caught in and around the necks ofcurious fur seals is oh so frequent. Often the nets are so tight aroundthe necks of these animals that their flesh shows because it cuts intotheir fur. Plastic whatever. Imagine it and we pick them up. I remembernot too long ago when I first began working for Greenpeace that we wereon St. Paul Island. I took my buds to see one of the long sandy beacheson the Island, to walk and talk. To discuss what it was that theyexpected of me, an Unangan person working for a conservation group, andhow I expected to fit in. We walked the beach and talked. At one point,one of the guys/gals stopped to pick up a plastic something, handed toone of the other Greenpeace persons with me and said, now its yourresponsibility. I did not know what that meant. Come to find out, ifyou pick up some piece of trash, no matter what it is, and handed itover to another of your buds, that person was now responsible for it.Needless to say, I did not accept anything from anyone else on ourwalk.

Today, large nets are still used to kill. The differencenow is, is that they are not left to drift out in the ocean toarbitrarily kill, but are focused. Its called “directed fishery.” I amgonna kill these fishes, but sadly in the process, hundreds of millionsof metric tonns of non directed fishes, called by-catch, are killedalso. But, this is legal. It is considered fishing for fish using thebest available science.

You know how it is said? That nomatter how much has changed, everything remains the same? It’s true.Today, instead of collecting glass balls, our Tribal Government of theAleut Community of St. Paul cleans our beaches every year. They go outto the same beaches that I used to collect collectibles and collecttrash, tons of trash. And its all plastic trash, made to neverdegrade.Look at  www.tribaleco.com/entang/

Instead of talking toour friends in school about making Christmas trees and glass ball bankswith what we found on the beach, we are now talking about what kind ofpeople live out there who allow this to happen. Who are they? What arethere values? What are they thinking? Indeed, what are we thinking thatwe allow this to happen?