Coos Bay World: Aid form frustrates salmon trollers

CHARLESTON - Bandon salmon troller James Moore calls the application for state monetary aid for salmon fishermen “foohaw.”

He says it with a chuckle - he's been through a similar process when he was a farmer - but he and several other Oregon fishermen are worried that perhaps the $500,000 from Gov. Ted Kulongoski's Strategic Reserve Fund won't reach the right people, the people who already have spent thousands on fixing their boats but were caught without a season this year.

“(The state) made it very confusing,” Moore said.

A lot of deserving boats won't get the money, he said, and a lot of other boats that maybe don't deserve it, likely will get the money.

But state officials disagree.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture is the agency tasked with collecting the completed forms, arranging for a review committee to consider the applications and, ultimately, disbursing the funds.

“We need to get direct resources to this fishery with as little red tape as possible,” ODA Assistant Director Dalton Hobbs said. “We're trying very hard to do that.”

The two-page form requires fishermen to assemble a variety of information, such as receipts for fixed costs - moorage fees already paid, insurance, vessel loans, haul-out costs, survival suits, liferaft repack, fishing equipment, etc. They need to document their vessel and permit numbers. Contact information needs to be included. Estimates of income from fishing, whether salmon or another fishery, and outside income must be included.

But one question really has fishermen drawing a blank: There is one big box in the middle of the second page that is labeled a “Statement of Need.”

Honesty

The statement of need is explained thus: “Please explain how the 2006 closure of the commercial troll salmon season has impacted your business. What has been the economic impact to your family? Why is this assistance important to ensuring the ability of your business to survive? (Feel free to attach additional pages if necessary.)”

It's those kinds of questions, the nebulous, open-ended, creativity kinds, that make fishermen worry.

“They panic,” Charleston troller Jeff Reeves said.

Commercial fishing is a world of action/reaction. A fisherman sets his gear and he catches fish. If not, he pulls his gear and moves to another spot. Results - good or bad - are instantaneous. Decisions must be made quickly. Turn the boat to avoid hanging the gear up on the bottom or to avoid another vessel. Get the fish on board, get them in the fish hold as quickly as possible, stow the gear and clean the deck, get ready to return to port.

Two pieces of paper that may require additional sheets are enough to make many fishermen give up.

Don't do that, Hobbs said.

The statement of need is where everything will come together and give application reviewers a true picture of the individual circumstance of each fisherman. There are no right or wrong answers.

“We want their honest, heartfelt concerns and fears, I think, about what their life is going to be like,” Hobbs said.

As of Friday, the department already had received about 30 applications, all with their needs statements filled out and many with additional pages attached.

“They are very compelling stories,” Hobbs said, “things that are gut-wrenching.”

Hobbs added that the applications so far have shown a range of earnings and of very different circumstances. For instance, one boat had thousands of dollars' worth of landings, but that made up only a small fraction of their overall income. At the other end of the scale are fishermen who derive their sole income from salmon.

More questions

Fishermen still had several questions about other parts of the application, too, but there are port outreach specialists to help (See sidebar).

Questions such as reporting other income from outside sources has fishermen worried that it will automatically disqualify them from getting state aid.

Not necessarily, Hobbs said.

“We would encourage folks not to be so concerned about a formula or right mix of income,” Hobbs said. “Just get their receipts and application in by the deadline.”

And again, Hobbs said, extenuating circumstances can be explained in the needs statement.

Hobbs addressed other questions as well:

n Why do fishermen have to supply the values of the fish they delivered when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife already has that on record? “It's important to put down what they believe are their landings,” Hobbs said. Yes, the state will verify it with ODFW, but there could be a mistake. Maybe there was a glitch on the state's side and some of the landings didn't get posted to the right fisherman's permit. “You never know,” Hobbs said. “It's important to have two sets of data.”

n Does a fisherman have to pay the $20 for a records request from ODFW if he needs to refresh his memory on landings? And does the request have to be notarized? “The $20 fee normally associated with obtaining landings records has been waived for the purpose of this application process,” says a letter from ODFW to salmon permit holders. However, they do need to be notarized due to the confidential nature of the landing records. Often, banks have staff who can notarize documents, Hobbs said, and there are listings of notaries public in the phone book.

n Does fuel qualify as an expense? No, Hobbs said. “The decision was made not to pay for variable costs such as fuel.”

n Why is there such a short time to get this in? The governor wanted to get money to fishermen as soon as possible, the ODA said in a letter to fishermen, and it plans to begin distributing financial assistance by mid-August.

Moore, like other fishermen, are apprehensive, but patiently filling in boxes, dotting their I's and crossing their T's. Still others are outright distrustful of government - state or federal - in general. How can we trust a government to give us money that shut us down in the first place, they ask.

That's a harder question to answer, but Hobbs said there is a huge amount of sensitivity to this at the state level.

“Now the federal government has got to step up and do more,” he said