Feb 8, 201203:56 PMBlog: Fish Bytes
Kodiak fisherman offers unvarnished view on council process
One of the more entertaining (and informative) parts of the recent North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Seattle was the public comment offered on numerous topics from Kodiak fisherman George Hutchings.
Hutchings, who identified himself as a trawler, crabber and longliner, offered some refreshingly candid and blunt assessments on the issues before the council such as halibut bycatch, trawl sweeps, bottom-trawl chinook bycatch, the use of crucifiers during the derby days of the halibut fishery ("Yeah they were illegal but we all had them"), VMS, and finally, council process.
One of the first things many people who begin attending council meetings routinely notice — I certainly did — is the short turnaround time between the end of public comment and the council deliberations when typed motions are often introduced.
Here's how Hutchings concluded his public comments during staff tasking on Monday:
Last but not least, I’m a little appalled by motions typed up and copied before public testimony is given. This action on the part of the council gives the appearance of insincere scrutiny of user groups who are affected every second of their lives by what you as a council do in the way of actions. We as industry are but puppets and you are the puppet masters.
As you may expect, this set off a lively conversation around the council table. If you have 12 minutes, it's worth a listen (9 Mb wav file).
After attending a few meetings I understand the process reasons behind the preparation of type-written motions prior to deliberations, and have seen how public comment is incorporated into motions and through amendments (though certainly not to every user groups' satisfaction). However, it is a legitimate issue of appearance for the council that it's been aware of for some time, as Chairman Eric Olson notes in his response to Hutchings.
The discussion gave Hutchings opportunity to offer a few more one-liners if you don't have time to listen:
"I understand that you need to streamline things in this process, but at least take a 10-minute break so we think you thought about it."
"To just have a motion typed up, 'all right let's vote on this so we can go to lunch' — there's a lot of us that feed ourselves every day of the year on what you decide in here."
Andrew Jensen can be reached at andrew.jensen@alaskajournal.com.
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