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Zeke Grader: Fair play for California’s salmon and fishermen

Posted by: Maven on March 12, 2010 at 5:45 am

From Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, at the City Brights blog:

“I grew up in Ft. Bragg, a small fishing town on California’s North Coast. More accurately, Ft. Bragg was a salmon fishing town — the fishermen would bring in Dungeness crab, albacore and rock cod as the seasons and opportunities permitted, but the real business of Ft. Bragg was salmon. And business was good.

Because the salmon were caught close to shore during the summer, we were renowned for the freshness of our fish. The boats would go out, catch salmon and offload daily. “Mild cured” Ft. Bragg salmon was in great demand by fish purveyors in New York, who used it for lox. We sold fresh salmon in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Sacramento. When the fish were off the coast, up to a thousand commercial boats worked out of Ft. Bragg. Tourists would come in by the hundreds, thronging the recreational charter boats. The docks supported fish processors, chandlers, boat repair shops. The motels were packed, the restaurants were full.

My father ran a fish processing plant, and I worked there – along with a lot of other local kids – preparing salmon for the market. We worked the “slime line,” trimming the fish to go into barrels for shipment. We unloaded the boats, hauled ice – whatever needed to be done. It was hard work, but it was good work, and it put many of us through college. And those of us who didn’t go on to school usually went on the boats, became a permanent part of the town’s fishing community. Salmon were a sustainable resource, and in Ft. Bragg, they supported a sustainable economy. They provided the state and the nation with delicious, high-quality protein.

But this was back in the 1960s and 1970s. … “

Continue reading this post from Zeke Grader at the City Brights blog by clicking here.

March 12, 2010 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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