WINCHESTER BAY - It seems the
only progress on the 2006 commercial salmon season is political - at both the
state and federal levels.
Trollers are tied to the docks, frustration building hour by hour, day by day.
On the few days in June they could fish, the wind blew. One fisherman caught
only a handful of fish and the price has dropped by more than $1 a pound since
the season opened.
Relief from the government, slow in coming, adds to their frustration.
State Sen. Joanne Verger, D-Coos
Bay, understands that.
“They're in dire, dire straits,” Verger said.
Verger was one member of the Coastal Caucus - a group of state legislators who
represent coastal communities - who spent hours with the legislative Emergency
Board last week in an effort to secure relief funding for fishermen.
The caucus was successful in getting $500,000 for fishermen, but a few trollers
were disgruntled at first, hoping for more money.
So was Verger, but she realizes that often, changes at state and federal
government levels take time.
The caucus asked for $2 million, she said. “We were hoping to get $500,000
that day, $1.5 million later.”
It didn't work out that way - the E-board agreed to another $500,000 in
September - but Verger isn't giving up. The board may have more funds later, if
the fire season isn't too bad this summer and if there are no other catastrophes
that require the board's approval.
“We plan on going back in
September and re-evaluating what the E-board has been through at that time,”
Verger vowed. “We'll stay on topic.”
Drowning in debt
The F/V Ladee G in Winchester Bay looks nice - from the waterline up. It's got a
new coat of paint, a pale green color, with darker trim. The deck is clean and
neat, the trolling wires and cannonballs used for weights are in their holders,
neat and shiny, awaiting use.
“It looks a little different,” owner Alvin Gorgita said, noting that he
hasn't had the money to haul it out and paint the bottom.
He has the days he can travel north to fish - nine days this month, three days
in August and a couple weeks in September and October - highlighted in pink in a
tidebook in the wheelhouse.
In late February, Gorgita and his fishing partner were cleaning up the boat,
getting ready for the season to start on March 15. At the time, he'd spent about
$5,000 fixing the boat and replacing supplies.
Less than a month later, federal fishery managers closed the early commercial
salmon season and warned trollers there may not be much of one later in the
summer, either.
Gorgita's bills are still piling up, but he's grateful for one thing: “Thank
God we owe nothing on the boat,” he said. “There are so many guys who have
it worse than us.”
Stories abound on the docks of fishing towns about the “other guy” - the one
who has it worse. Payments for expensive medical procedures for one fisherman's
family are stamped “past due” and the family may have to declare bankruptcy.
Another fisherman on the South Coast decided to get into salmon fishing a couple
years ago and got a loan to build a boat. He'd made no salmon landings yet, so
he may not even qualify for state or federal aid - yet his loan payments still
are due.
Gorgita estimates that probably half the salmon fleet in Winchester Bay has boat
payments, in addition to the other fishing-related bills: moorage, insurance,
liferaft repacking, raingear, boots and gloves, fishing equipment such as
trolling wire, lures and cannonballs; and paint and other supplies for boat
maintenance; etc.
Throwing a lifeline
Oregon Salmon Commissioners and the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association
met with the Oregon departments of Agriculture, Administrative Services and Fish
and Wildlife earlier this week to help shape the eligibility requirements for
$500,000 worth of state aid granted last week.
They hope the money can reach qualified fishermen by the end of the summer and
that the eligibility criteria will be released in the next couple of weeks.
The half a million doesn't seem like much, when compared with the estimated
potential losses of $30 million or so - and that, initially, also frustrated
fishermen.
“We haven't seen anything yet,” Gorgita said.
But it's not for a lack of trying.
State Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, also a member of the Coastal Caucus, said
in an e-mail that getting relief to fishermen is the caucus' main topic right
now.
“We're in danger of losing the entire history of commercial fishing on the
Oregon Coast,” Roblan said. “I'm very concerned about that.”
He, too, realizes that the $500,000 was a beginning, and is working with Verger
and other caucus members to find more funds. The governor may have another $3
million or so available, due to unanticipated lottery dollars.
“This isn't just about salmon fishermen, but the whole industry on the Oregon
Coast and those who supply the industry,” Roblan said.
Salmon commissioners, too, appreciate the efforts of lawmakers, even though the
clock is ticking.
“They're jumping on board at both the state and federal levels,” Oregon
Salmon Commission Administrator Nancy Fitzpatrick said. “There's been a lot of
action going on to address the needs of fishermen. It's been a difficult process
to get things going, but they are going.”
Federal help
Both Verger and Roblan said that the bipartisan caucus also is keeping in touch
with federal lawmakers.
Earlier this week, in another bipartisan effort, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio,
D-Ore., and other members of Congress caught U.S. Department of Commerce
Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez as he was headed into a committee hearing.
The meeting came two days after they met with National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Administrator Conrad V. Lautenbacher Jr. and got no response from
him regarding declaring the salmon fishery a failure. NOAA is one agency under
the Department of Commerce.
“We made the case that we can't wait until February (for a decision),”
DeFazio said, noting that Gutierrez said he would review the matter. DeFazio
also noted that Gutierrez said it might be easier to get a formal disaster
declaration if the remainder of the season were closed altogether.
“We can't go any higher,” DeFazio said Thursday. “We've made our case and
we'll see what happens.”
It's similar to a message U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., delivered to fishermen
in Coos Bay recently.
On Wednesday, Smith listed the things he's done to try and get help to the
fishermen: adding an amendment to an emergency spending bill that was
subsequently ruled non-germane to the bill; asking for current budget funds that
haven't been used to be redirected to the salmon industry; and getting language
in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that would
provide monetary aid and a study of the Klamath River water issue.
“All of these things I'm doing, trying to work the inside avenue to get the
actual dollars and, ultimately, a change of policy ... (is) to let farmers and
fishermen thrive together,” Smith said.
If a fishery failure is declared and if the money is appropriated, those federal
dollars likely will go to both fishermen and related businesses - fish buyers,
gear shops, processors, ice plants and the like.
The language in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which likely will remain in the bill
when it's signed into law, is still months away from actually being useful - and
Smith is concerned about that, too.
“I'm optimistic we'll get relief,” Smith said. “I wish I could get it for
them yesterday. It's just not happening fast enough.”