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Published every Friday at Kodiak, Alaska
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Karl Armstrong, Editor
City Council Report (Cont.)
The subject of having the city budget printed up in the paper
each year was brought up by Lloyd Cannon also. Councilman Wilton
White said that he had given his copy to the paper but nothing was
ever printed. (Ed Note: Copies of only part of the budget were pro
vided the Mirror, making any analysis meaningless.) City Manager
Poland suggested the possibility of having detailed budget reports
printed hereafter and cited those which appeared in Anchorage
newspapers.
INVESTIGATION
The final subject involved the editorial of two weeks ago charg
ing city officials with making investigations of the editor and some of
his friends. Councilmen, mayor and city manager all expressed state
ments to the effect that they knew nothing of such investigations
being made. Chief Rhines said the city files do not contain any file
on the matter. City Manager Poland said that if such investigations
took place that copies of the file would have been given to him and
none ever had. Councilman White said that the only thing he knew
was what former Patrolman Frank Pagano had voluntarily told him
and that was that the editor had been investigated but that he knew
nothing about any investigation of others. The editor cited Pagano
.and said he had Pagano’s permission to quote him on the subject of.
being made a subject of an investigation but told the council that
he was unable to obtain permission of his other sources of informa
tion to identify or quote them by name due to their fear that they
would lose their jobs. City Manager Poland strongly denounced
the editor for what he termed “outrageous abuses of press freedom.”
The editor replied that Poland undoubtedly felt as he did due to the
fact that he had received unfavorable criticism in the paper.
It was decided to hold similar special sessions every three
months to air what Pete Deveau termed, “The things the man in
the street is talking about.”
Kodiak Doomed?
The future of Kodiak has perhaps the brightest prospects of any
community on the Pacific Coast or in Alaska. Lying in the cen
ter of the richest fisheries in the entire Pacific Ocean, the people of
Kodiak have excellent reason to display their faith in the future of
their community.
There are two threats facing the continued prosperity of this
community. One is largely, but not completely, beyond the influence
of the people of this relatively small island fishing town. That is the
threat posed by the increasing pressure of foreign fishing fleets ap
pearing in or near our immediate waters. We must not apathetically
excuse ourselves with lack of interest in the halibut fishery or any
other fishery of the North Pacific merely because we may not at
this moment have a direct vested interest in such fisheries. Any
time one of these fisheries is disrupted it invariably will have an
effect upon our own recognized crab, salmon and shrimp fisheries.
American and Canadian halibut fishermen displaced by foreign fish
ing efforts would undoubtedly turn their efforts toward another
fishery . . . very likely our king crab, shrimp and salmon fisheries
here. At present, under the obvious appeasement policies applied by
our federal government in the matters concerning fisheries, par
ticularly in the North Pacific, there exists no methods by which we
could obtain protection for our own fishing industry here. Unless
more of the good old American spirit of sounk and guts is voiced
and demonstrated on the matter of our North Pacific fisheries, it
appears these fisheries are doomed ... and Kodiak’s prosperity, of
which we have been so proud, along with it! We urge you all to read
the column of Bill Ritter of Pan Alaska Fisheries elsewhere this
issue. He displays the spunk and guts we admire.
The second threat to our community is wholly and completely
within the influence of this community. That threat is posed by
community apathy and is best illustrated by the impending water
shortage here. It has been said, and it is an inescapable fact, that
“Kodiak’s future is WATER.” Our blossoming seafood industries
literallv live on fresh water . . . quantities of fresh and pure water.
This fact was not just discovered recently, although from the
current state of affairs it would appear that some people wily last
week or last month discovered to their amazement that seafood
canneries consume immense quantities of fresh water and require a
dependable supply. Last year’s water shortage apparently failed to
impress these people.
This present looming spectre of a water shortage could easily
result this year in the shutdown of our canneries without whose
payrolls Kodiak is through as a bustling, fast-growing and prosperous
community. The shutdown of our present existing canneries would
have grave consequences insofar as attracting other seafood firms
and processors to this area is concerned. Other nearby Alaskan towns
such as Seward, Homer, and Seldovia are making every effort to
attract these same prospective seafood processors. They are, and
have been for many months, busy on such matters as water supply
and boat harbor facilities. It is apparent that they have recognized
that this is just the beginning of the development of he fisheries of
the North Pacific and that the community that comes up first with
the most is likely to develop accordingly.
In short, Kodiak faces the most crucial period in its history. It
will either arouse itself to this fact and its citizens will take ap
propriate action recessarv to get the man or men with the train
ing and knowledge and the faith and vision to manage our affairs
on such matters as water.
THE BUOY LINE
There isn’t much good news
this week. Russia has just
granted a 5% increase in the
Jap high-seas salmon quota. Hal
ibut skippers report that the
Japs are definitely long-lining
halibut in the Bering Sea regard
less of the fact that it isn’t yet
legal for them to do so.
But this tops It all:
Just last week the Japan
Fishery Agency — Japan’s
FWS — dropped a REAL
bomb. They licensed a 500-ton
“experimental” king crab pot
fishery expedition for the Ko
diak-Shumagin Island area in
the Gulf of Alaska!
Their excuse was that market
demand for canned king crab
made it necessary to expand
south of the Peninsula — the
Japs have never before fished
king crab in the Gulf. And I
suppose this pretty well sums up
the Jap attitude. They “regu
late” their fishing in response
only to market demand. “Con
servation,” for them is some
thing other people do. They
don’t understand the meaning
of the word!
They couldn’t — or they’d
never have made this move. The
license calls for one cannery
ship and three fishing boats —
but you can bet your bottom dol
lar it doesn’t say anything about
a 30-pot limit! or area licensing.
Just by looking at the com
panies involved, we can get a
pretty good notion of what to
expect. Taiyo Gyogyo, one of
the biggest fishing companies in
the world, has operated the
Tokei Maru in the Bering Sea
tangle-net fishery for many
years. Its partner in this new
venture is Hokuyo Suisan, KK—
another giant in the industry—
manily noted for its vacuum
cleaner like efficiency in help
ing deplete the Bering Sea bot
tom fishery nearly to the point
of extinction in a half-dozen
years.
I’m pretty sure we can expect
another vacuum-cleaner opera
tion on our king crab. After all,
this 500-ton target amounts to
25% of the total Alaska king
crab pack in 1962. The resources
can’t take this pressure, and I
think the Japs know this as well
as we do.
What’s their game, then?
Some people—this comes from
Japan—feel it’s related to the
Canadian attitude on halibut.
Unlike our own government,
you know, the Canadians aren’t
going to permit Jap halibut fish
ing this season in the Bering
Sea. Others think it may just
follow the new Russian line on
salmon and amounts to a kind of
pressure for a “better” treaty
which will open for discussion
in about two months—just when
the summer crab season begins.
My idea is that they wanted
to get into the Gulf and saw this
as being a good time to do it. So
another chunk of our fishery
goes on the block. Time is really
running out for the whole in
dustry. Will we cave in on this
as we already have on so many
issues? Or have we reached the
point where we can’t do any
thing but fight! 1 don’t think Are
have any choice. We either fight
—or kiss our crab fishery good
by. Think it over.
Sincerely yours,
Bill Ritter
Rev. Don Bullock
Heads For Meet
The Missionary District of
Alaska of the Protestant Episcopal
Church of the United States, wiil
hold its second district wide con
vention, beginning April 24, in
Fairbanks.
Attending as delegates to the
convention from St. James the
Fisherman Church here will be the
Rev. Don Bullock, Priest in
Charge, and Mrs. Doris Simon.
The convention will continue
through Sunday, April 28.
AL’S ON VACATION
Our town banker, A1 Hochberger
left Thursday for a month-long va
cation which he plans to spend in
the midwest, namely Iowa, his
home state. Taking his place dur
ing his absence will be Tom Smith
of the 5th Avenue Branch of the
National Bank of Alaska.
I". ' 1
Repair work on all motors.
Evinrude — Johnson — Gale
Owners try us for parts.
We have several good used
motors that were traded in on
our ’63 Evinrude models.
WE HAVE MOTORS FOR
IMMEDIATE DELIVERY
PHONE 6-2663 or 6-2856
YOUR EVINRUDE DEALER
BUMS
MOTOR SERVICE
South Shelikoff
Cannon Suggests—
(Continued From Page 1)
non advised that one processor had
made an offer of nine cents per
pound but he stressed the fact that
the offer was made on a strictly un
official informal basis.
Cannon pointed out that Kodiak
pink salmon or “humpies” usually
average about 4 pounds each in
weight and this would amount ‘.o
a humpy price of 36 cents as com
pared to last year’s price of 45%
cents.
“It would amount to about a 25
per cent slash in price to the fish
ermen in effect,” Cannon said, add
ing, “I have recommended that the
fishermen ask a minimum of 15
cents per pound.”
"The price of everything the fish
erman uses has increased in price,”
he noted.
Fifteen persons were nominated
for the board from which eight will
be elected to serve for the coming
year. Ballots have been mailed out
to all paid-up members and will be
counted on May 13.
Mirror Classifieds bring results.
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SAILING FROM SEATTLE
MAY 1, 1963
MS TANAKA
Womens Bay, Kodiak
Seldovia, Homer.
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