Juneau Empire Story Archive

Greenpeace helping fishermen

Letter to the editor

I have been salmon fishing for forty-five years, long enough to experience the fluctuation of salmon prices. I have watched with disgust as the king salmon prices plummeted from over $5 per pound in the 1980s to under $1 per pound in 2003. As we all know this fluctuation was and still is largely the fault of salmon farming, which floods the market with an inferior product.

We have gotten help in the past year from national media explaining how wild salmon is much better for our health than farmed salmon due to the chemicals used to raise penned salmon.

We are starting the 2004 season off with a price of $1.75 per pound for kings, which is much better than last year, but a far cry from the high prices of the past. We still need a lot more help.

I just received word that our Greenpeace friends are on their way north and will be stopping in British Columbia ports. They are working with the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council (MTTC) to protest the continued development of salmon farms. The MTTC represents three nations in the northern Vancouver Islands region: the Kwicksutaineuk-Ah-Kwaw-Ah-Mish, the Namgis and the Tsawataineuk, all of whom have been fighting salmon farms in their respective territories for several years.

The MTTC have invited Greenpeace and Alaska Natives to celebrate with them in their Big House (singing and dancing) on July 9. On July 10, Greenpeace will fly a MTTC flag on their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, and sail with a flotilla of local fisherman to a series of fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago, near Alert Bay. There they will stage a protest with a net banner that will have traditional native salmon drawings on either side along with American and Canadian flags. The banner will read, "Keep it Wild and Fish Farm Free."

I express my gratitude to Greenpeace for their ongoing efforts to protect the environment for the health and prosperity of us and future generations.

Floyd Peterson

Hoonah

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