To change the course of events, you have to organize and raise a little hell.
They don’t teach that in high school civics class, but they should.
History’s great men – Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi – were not beloved in their lifetimes. They were pot-stirrers maligned by authorities and resented by the masses for agitating and challenging the status quo. No one much liked them until after they died.
Much more would get done in the world if we acted on our convictions. But we are, for the most part, sheep who allow ourselves to be led, sometimes into bad situations, sometimes to the slaughter. We don’t like to rock the boat.
So bad things happen. Locally, that includes the continued decline of our Chilkat king salmon run.
The run of these magnificent fish up the Chilkat River each year is dwindling, disappearing before our eyes, falling short of sustainable numbers for six of the seven past years. In absolute numbers, we are the Alaska town nearest to losing its king salmon run forever.
Yet the community has taken no collective action to address this very real threat, and if we continue to rely solely on the state Department of Fish and Game to save our king run, that may not happen.
Fish and Game biologists may not save the run simply because they’re not paid to. They’re paid to do their best, and they’re paid the same amount whether the king run survives or not. Plus, they don’t work for people in Haines. They work for state bureaucrats in Juneau, whose priorities don’t necessarily match ours.
Recent history tells us that salmon runs have disappeared all over the Pacific Northwest and around the world while under the assumed protection of professional fisheries managers.
We, the people of Haines, have to save the kings because we are the front line. We live here, we have harvested and survived on those fish for decades or for millennia, and we will suffer most if they disappear.
To save the kings, we need to raise holy hell. We don’t need to figure out what’s going on with the kings. The biologists eventually will – but we have to put strong pressure on the state government for that to happen.
Here’s a model that might be a good start.
Form a committee of the most affected parties: Subsistence, commercial and sport fishermen. Keep the numbers on the committee low, which makes for easier quorum and quicker action. Perhaps five seats: 2 representing subsistence users (one seat each for the Chilkoot Indian Association and Chilkat Indian Village), 2 representing commercial fishermen, and 1 representing sport fishermen.
(King salmon mean a lot to a lot of different people, but they mean the most to fishermen.)
Come to agreement on some practical steps the state could take to improve king survival (habitat projects, incubation boxes) and start hammering away. The committee should bring its goals to the Haines Borough Assembly, who could lend money and political muscle. Letters, resolutions and lobbying all need to be aimed at decision-makers in Juneau.
The king salmon committee could host events, fund-raisers and cultural observances to keep a focus on the plight of our kings. It could invite statewide and national media to cover a town losing a landmark species. It could ally itself with tribes, sportsmen and commercial fishermen all over Southeast and Alaska who are concerned and working on this very issue, to raise more hell and money to help these great, endangered fish.
The Chilkat Valley has a lot to lose if the Chilkat kings disappear. And the kings may disappear despite our efforts. But if we sit by idly as this run dwindles, we will all be guilty if today’s bad becomes tomorrow’s worst.