Cordova District Fishermen United Cordova, Alaska
PRESS RELEASE
March 25, 2010
Unanimous vote leads to Chitina fishery remaining for Personal Use
The Alaska Board of Fisheries at a meeting in Anchorage on March 20-21, voted unanimously against classifying the Chitina Subdistrict fishery as subsistence, which has a higher priority under state law than that of commercial, sport or personal-use fishing.
On December 31, 2009, Judge Mike McDonald released a Decision and Order relating to a lawsuit filed by the Chitina Dipnetter’s Association and Alaska Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund against the State of Alaska to reclassify Chitina dipnetting as a subsistence use. Judge McDonald directed the Board of Fisheries to revisit its 2003 decision reverting a previous subsistence finding back to personal-use. With this reversal, the Judge tasked the board with clarifying the phrase "subsistence way of life" utilized in the eighth criterion for customary and traditional use before deciding whether dipnetting at Chitina qualified. Consequently, two board-generated proposals were slated for the March Statewide Finfish Board of Fisheries meeting to tackle these two requirements.
Cordova District Fishermen United board members and staff spent considerable time reviewing the Judge’s Decision and Order, and developing written comments relating to the two proposals. Executive Director, Rochelle van den Broek was very pleased with the amount of time invested by the CDFU Board on this topic. “I would estimate that several board members put in at least 100 hours each on these proposals,” she said. “We’d start around lunch-time each day, and continue working until well after dinner time. It was a considerable investment of time.” Those sitting around the table working on the comments included CDFU Board members, Curt Herschleb, John Renner and Andy Craig.
“In addition to the written comment preparation, a very important part of the process is physical attendance at the meeting. Over 100 fishermen made the journey to Anchorage for this meeting,” van den Broek said. “I am very happy with the turn-out, it demonstrates just how important this fishery is to the livelihood of our commercial fleet.” CDFU organized and facilitated the travel for 25 key representatives to attend. Many drove from Homer, and some traveled all the way from Seattle.
The Native Village of Eyak organized a special room at the Hilton Hotel where allies upriver and down met for a pre-meeting briefing on Friday night. Native Village of Eyak’s Director of Environment and Natural Resources, Keith van den Broek wanted the room to be made available to all groups working together on this issue. “The space was intended for people to have access to CDFU and NVE resources, a photocopier, and a meeting space for strategizing and planning together,” van den Broek said. The Native Village of Eyak sent seven representatives to the meeting.
During the pre-meeting briefing, CDFU representatives and members of the commercial fishing fleet, sat together with the Native Village of Eyak, and other tribes and representatives from upriver including Ahnta Corporation, Chitina Native Corporation, the Gulkana Tribe, and the Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium. Also present in the discussions were Trident President and Cordova Plant Manager John Garner and Rick Isaacson, ready to testify on the economic benefits of Cordova’s commercial fleet, the number of jobs created through this fishery, and the number of Alaskan’s that depend on commercially caught salmon.
Together, strategies were developed including a special tactic adopted by CDFU to streamline the public testimony process. CDFU President, Jerry McCune, commended the partnerships developed between the tribes and commercial fishing fleet. “It is not often that things come along like this where we can all set aside our differences and work together,” McCune said, “and CDFU greatly appreciates the willingness shown by the upriver tribes to work together with us down here in Cordova to ensure that the Copper River resources are protected for those subsistence users that truly depend on them.”
49 people signed up to testify before the Board of Fisheries, which commenced on Saturday, March 20 at the Anchorage Hilton Hotel shortly after staff reports were delivered by ADFG. With the room filled to capacity, all participants were anxious for the meeting to get underway. The majority of those in the room represented the interests of Cordova’s commercial fishing fleet, and the upriver Glennallen Subsistence users. A very limited number were present supporting the views of the Chitina Dipnetter’s Association and the Alaska Outdoor Council.
Sitting around a u-shaped table, facing the room, the Board of Fisheries were ready to hear from the public on whether the Chitina fishery should remain a personal use fishery or change to subsistence. John Jensen, a former commercial fisherman sat next to Bill Brown, a Professor of Economics. Karl Johnstone, a former Judge sat to the left of Chairman Vince Webster, a setnetter from King Salmon. Mel Morris sat to the Webster’s right, a former ADFG biologist. Howard Delo sat next to Morris, an avid writer and owner of an outdoors store in Big Lake. Newest Board of Fisheries recruit, and Palin appointee Janet Woods, did not show up for the meeting.
The majority of public testimony urged the Board of Fisheries to adopt Proposal 200, and the clarified definition of “subsistence way of life” and to oppose the classification of the Chitina fishery as subsistence, leaving it as personal use.
Strong testimony was delivered from CDFU’s key spokespeople, and the special tactic described during the pre-meeting briefing was unveiled. CDFU representatives approached the table, followed by 5-15 other fishermen who stood behind the person testifying to show their support. The representative spokesperson then read off all of the names of the people they were testifying on behalf of. Throughout the testimony, the fishermen standing behind the speaker faced the Board and did not speak.
Board of Fisheries Chairman, Vince Webster appreciated the streamlined testimony approach and the efforts shown by those that combined their testimony. “I really appreciate the fact that you saved us a lot of time, and prevented us from having to hear the same testimony over and over again,” Webster said, “If all 15 of you had of signed up to testify, we would have only been able to give each speaker two minutes instead of three minutes for each person”. CDFU sent forth 5 key spokespeople that utilized this approach, and consequently all faces in the room were given an opportunity to stand up and be heard. Key CDFU and Copper River/Prince William Sound Advisory Committee spokespeople included Andy Craig, Jason Lee, James Burton, Eric Manzer, Mike Mahoney, John Renner, Tom Carpenter and Rochelle van den Broek. At least 15 other fishermen also testified before the board, in addition to 10-15 tribal representatives from upriver and down.
The streamlined testimony process allowed the board to commence deliberations ahead of schedule, on Saturday afternoon. The board voted first to define the term “subsistence way of life” as "a way of life that is consistent with the long-term reliance upon the fish and game resources for the basic necessities of life." The Chitina Dipnetters Association and several ADFG Advisory Committee’s preferred the phrase to include the words “to supplement the basic necessities of life”. Ahtna Corporation and CDFU both supported strengthening the definition to prevent subjective interpretation in the future. The Board voted in support of adopting the Board generated proposed definition, with no modification.
Breaking for the day, Chairman Webster announced that the Board would reconvene in the morning to take up Proposal 201 – the classification of the Chitina fishery.
Back on the record at 8am the following day, Chairman Webster decided to offer members of the public a unique opportunity to supplement the record in light of the new definition of “subsistence way of life”. Opening up a public town-hall style panel, participants were invited to briefly discuss whether the Chitina Subdistrict met the new definition.
Chitina Dipnetter’s Association President and co-owner of a commercial charter business operating in Chitina, Mark Hem, explained to the Board just how much the Chitina dipnetters depended on Copper River salmon stocks for their “basic necessities of life”. Board of Fisheries member and economist, Bill Brown, challenged Hem’s statement and asked “If you lived in Fairbanks, would you drive down for only 5 fish?”, Brown was referring to a small run year. Hem responded, “Probably not.” Brown was held up by the fact that the efficiency and economy of the fishery did not make sense.
Following this one hour discussion, the Board of Fisheries were ready to hear final staff reports from the Division of Subsistence before making their decision.
Brown was first on the record, and provided a systematic breakdown of the Chitina fishery in relation to the 8 criteria for customary and traditional use. Closing with a somewhat subjective statement relating to how subsistence is difficult to describe, but you know what it is when you see it, Brown later went back on the record to objectify this statement.
Next up to deliver his verdict was John Jensen. Jensen described the difference between personal use fisheries and subsistence fisheries as a “need to, want to situation.” Jensen explained that in personal use fisheries, users make the decision to harvest fish, compared to just doing it in subsistence fisheries.
“Reliance is the key word,” Jensen said “There are several types of reliance. I rely on fish to some extent, but can live without it. This is the difference between personal use and subsistence.”
Following Jensen was former Anchorage Judge, Karl Johnstone, who went on the record to give a thorough analysis of the Chitina fishery. “It is important to look at the users in evaluating reliance,” he said. Further to this opening remark, Johnstone analyzed the handing down of traditional subsistence knowledge. “Fishing skills, using a dipnet etc. are taught by families to youth that live in an area,” he said. “You are taught to respect the resource not to play with it. I am sure that this level of love and respect for nature does not exist in the Chitina fishery.” Johnstone also spoke of long-term reliance, and articulated his points very carefully. “Reliance directly and indirectly provides for the basic necessities of life. The ability to pass down history, skills and lore depends on the health of the resource,” he said. “If you have enough fish, you don’t have to buy those resources and can instead use [that income] to pay for the basic necessities such as gas, heat etc.”
Board of Fisheries member, Mel Morris gave his comments next, and focused on the long-term pattern of reliance as demonstrated within the Chitina dipnet fishery. “Only 20% of users have used the resource for more than 20 years. This doesn’t meet the long-term requirement of customary and traditional use,” he said. Morris also described the economy of the fishery based on survey data presented by the Division of Subsistence. “The cost to access the fishery is considerably higher than the amount demonstrated in the surveys. The costs to use guides etc. does not indicate an economy of effort, especially when the average harvest is 14 fish,” he said. In closing, Morris spoke about the opportunity that personal use fisheries provide. “The Chitina dipnet fishery is a wonderful experience for families to participate in and share in the resources,” he said, “But, if it were taken away from me, my basic necessities would not be in jeopardy.”
Chairman of the Board, Vince Webster shared his viewpoints with the audience and explained that the eighth criteria for customary and traditional use is a way to apply the difference between personal use and subsistence. “The cultural, social, spiritual, and nutritional values requires the need to be tied to the basic necessities of life,” he said, “and it is essential to distinguish between personal use and subsistence.” Webster explained that although the two categories look similar, a sliding scale can be used to determine the level of reliance on the resource. “I’m looking at subsistence as a higher point on the scale than I would personal use,” he said.
The final board member to share his position, Howard Delo, gave a thorough comparison of an Alaska “outdoorsman” lifestyle as opposed to a “subsistence lifestyle”. In a statement that surprised most people in the room, Delo said on the record, “I am the only member on the board with Chitina dipnet experience, and I can relate to the Fairbanks crowd.” Delo explained that he led an Alaskan outdoorsman lifestyle and appreciated the recreational aspects of the fishery. His closing remarks left the audience stunned. “Although I did this, I never considered myself a subsistence user,” he said. “I’m probably going to upset a lot of people by saying this.” Delo also made a lot of people happy with his remarks.
Upon hearing the board’s deliberations, and once the Department of Law was confident a thorough, objective record had been created relating to their decision, Board of Fisheries Executive Director, Jim Marcotte took a role call vote. By a vote of 0-6, all 6 members of the Board failed to find a customary and traditional use of Chitina salmon stocks.
Following this outcome, commercial fishermen and tribes were very happy. CDFU Board member, John Renner was very pleased with CDFU’s strategy during this meeting. “Our presentation and relationships with upriver and downriver tribes made all of CDFU’s efforts worthwhile,” he said.
Copper River commercial fisherman, Shawn Gilman was also pleased with the outcome. “I would think that the majority of dipnetter’s that visit Chitina every year would agree with the board’s decision,” he said. “This does not in any way affect their opportunity to harvest salmon for their households.”
Also present at the meeting to testify on behalf of other fishermen, Mike Mahoney offered the following observations following the meeting. “I thought that CDFU did a great job. Making great testimony, having done very thorough researching and being well organized and professional paid off well,” he said. “The cooperative relationships with the upriver tribes and with the Native Village of Eyak were extremely helpful. It’s a solid foundation for CDFU to work from in the future. This was a huge issue for us and even though we had a unanimous decision, in no way was this ever a shoe-in. There was a lot at stake and CDFU was very well prepared.”
CDFU Executive Director, Rochelle van den Broek said that this was the very best outcome CDFU could have hoped for, yet she was already looking to the future following this Board of Fisheries decision. “While I’m absolutely thrilled with this outcome, it’s important to realize that this won’t be the end of this issue. There is already talk of the Chitina Dipnetter’s Association and AOC pursuing this further through the Alaska Supreme Court,” van den Broek said. “It is our hope, by way of this unanimous Board of Fisheries vote, that the odds of a Judge taking this up are dramatically reduced.”
CDFU President, Jerry McCune, said that this decision could have disrupted the balance between fisheries statewide. “It was a precedent setting decision, with potential long-reaching effects, and I am very happy that the Board of Fisheries set politics aside and continued to demonstrate their care and concern for Alaska’s fishery resources,” he said.
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