April 09, 2004
Friday

I was wondering when the commercial (executioners - exploiters) fisherman were going to write opinions trying to justify the slaughtering of herring and all other species of fish in Alaska. These are strong words that readers understand. You don't have to be a fisheries biologist to see the demise and effects of over fishing in Southeast Alaska.

I was a commercial fisherman in the early 60's and at that time we were commercial fishing salmon 6 days a week. We would pull in to Ketchikan on Sunday, to curb-up, fuel-up and back out to the fishing grounds. Remember those days? We have over fished and flooded the world fish markets.

The commercial fisherman defending the State of Alaska Dept.of Fish and Game science. There is no science or management of fish, only people taking orders from the Governor's Office and trickles down to the Fish and Game employees that want to keep their jobs that perseveres the slaughtering of herring till the commercial industry destroys fisheries to extinction and only then they will have to go away to find other fishing grounds in the world to exploit. Look at the timber industry for example. They clear cut all the old
growth and now they have to put on logging shows to tourists. How sad is that?

Yes, there seemly to be abundance of King Salmon and Cohoes but most of them are hatchery Kings and Cohoes from Herring Cove (how funny is that?). The bottom line is that the abundance based management of Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game is not working and proven that it is not working. Mother nature may not be able to repair itself under the existing management practices. Stop the herring and sac roe fisheries now.

We need a new Governor! Are you still out there Mr. Steven McAlpine? This is my own opinion.

Don Hoff Jr.
M/V Prince
Ex-Fisheries Tech-U.S.Forest Service
Gaanax i Clan
Yei l hit
Taan ta kwaan
E-mail: Unukriver@aol.com
Hixson, TN - USA

 

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