Posted by pribilof on 06/30/2007 2:12 pm

Well, I have arrived! That is about all I can say about that. I have arrived at a place in my life where "support" is everywhere. Where people from all walks of life, all over the world, everywhere have come together on this beautiful ship, the Esperanza (Hope) to support. To support the work many of us have worked so hard to develop, hopes we have to see peace and growth toward a healthier way of living. Incredabily, I am at a loss of words to describe my feelings, feelings I immediately shared with my friend, my Tai yox, the very next day upon my arrival in Homer.

About two hours after I got myself settled on this ship, I called my wife, Leonella, who is in Anchorage to let her know I am safe and happy. We spoke about things couples do when separated. Then she said something to me which I will never forget. After describing the ship, the people, beautiful Homer, (in our other life we lived right accross the bay from Homer in a small village called Seldovia where I served as the pastor for six years, so this is like home) she said: "Now work hard!" And that blew me! I immediately marveled about the depth of love my wife holds, not only for me, but also for our people and our environment.

We began our work, getting to know one another, getting to know the ship and in some ways getting to know our roles in this network of support. And as always happens to me, I marveled at what we are doing. Greenpeace is indeed the "people's organization" I thought. For surly we are going to meet, hear, learn and speak with people, ancient peoples. We are going to a small village, Port Graham, again one of my parishes back in the day. I thought about the many baptisms I had participated in, weddings, feasts, fasts, and funerals. I remember one Sunday moring in particular, when I had arrived early on a small skiff to celebrate with the people. I arrived and the entire community, dressed in their Sunday's best, men, women, children, all smiles and joy, carrying a cross, banners, flowers, to meet me and escort me to the Church. They were singing and guiding me. A welcome usually reserved for our Bishop. But they were doing it for me. Support. And I am returning. Thank you Tai yox.

Well, we had three wonderful days here in Homer. We did interviews, talks, and open ships with the community. We heard; "thank you for the work you are doing." We listened to questions, heard answers, gave answers. The local paper came. The local radio station came. The mothers, fathers and their children hand in hand, walked our gang plank. Smiles, buttons and stickers in hand. And we smiled, at ourselves and one another. Support.

Amongst all of this, I kept wondering and thinking. And I think I began to understand. As there is no doubt about post tramatic stress syndrome, a real disorder which impacts many of our people, and peoples all over the world, I wondered. Is there such a thing as post environmental stress trauma (PEST)? Do we, especially people who are totally dependent upon the health of the environment, nature, suffer from a daily watch as she suffers? Is this, can this be real? When we view nature, visit our parks, reserves, participate in ecotourism activities, and then return home, do we remove our intimacy with nature? And in that separation, do we feel misplaced? Lost? Nature now becoming our zoo? And what about the years of stress our people feel who live a subsistence lifestyle, who are intimate with nature? Is PEST true? I think so. Exxon Valdez comes to mind.

We heard a lot from the people in Homer about our marine cultural heritage zones. This concept, this idea, this goal, said them all, has got to work! It is good. It is time. It is needed. And my wife said, now work hard.

Tai yox is right. He simply said yes. For that I am thankful, and for much, much more. The Esperanza is here to support. The fullness of nature is waiting. The whales are resting. The birds are in a glide and hover, and best of all, the people are excited. To the community and people, wonderful people of Homer, a big hug and thank you to you. Your warmth and prayers, good wishes makes me want more than anything else to follow the demand of my wonderful wife. At least for the day, for now, PEST is not a problem for us, and prayerfully, for all of us on the planet we call Earth.

 

Until next time.

 

George 

Posted by pribilof on 06/20/2007 7:35 pm

One of the documents you are able to read as you log on to our Bering Sea 2007 site is a paper about Marine Cultural Heritage Zones. (MCHZ) I would like to make a few comments about this concept, one which I am sure is not new to many of you.

We Alaska Natives still take much pride in our heritage, our ancestory and our cultures. This surely is not new or unique to our people. What might be in many ways, is that we still practise cultural activities handed down to us by our ancestors. Although both the US and State governments have spent millions of dollars and initiated programs to "americanize" our people, we fight to maintain our identity and heritage. What is becoming more and more difficult however, is working to pass these centuries learned practises to our children. Western influences of entertainment and values are fast encroaching on our villages and into our lives on a daily basis. With the information age, such as it is, one may think that surly in the US all Americans are "modernized" and/or considered "civilized" in the worst defination of that term. In many of our smaller and isolated villages, and the larger ones in many cases, our people relish our traditional ways of living as given to us by our ancestors. Certainly there has been technology transfer opportunities and adoptions by many of our people. To do certain activities easier simply makes sense considering life and safety issues. But fundamentally, the activity remains the same. We are a traditional foods people. We live off the bounty which nature provides. The foods we eat have been eaten by our people for generations and are still our favorite foods. For sure, the foods we eat are more healthier than what western culture constantly pounds into our minds and palets daily as we watch television and visit our grocery stores. Sadly many of our people are contracting such illnesses as diabetes and cancer at a rate comparable to many thired world countries.

As the competition for healthy protien foods, such as the fish and other marine fauna provides, reach levels such that we are catching them in quantities measured by metric tons continues, these large industrialized factory trawlers, themselves mobile, begin to encroach upon our traditional harvesting grounds near and close to our homes, we begin to suffer. Our villages, established at sites where we are able to have easy access to them and, of all reasons, settled in recent years because our people "had to" by law get our children into schools, our villages are no longer mobile. The factory ships are. And they are taking advantage of that. Moving into areas where they claim the fish they are targeting are, without much consideration for our needs. Added to this dilemma is the fact that much of what they are targeting, the fish, are food for our traditional foods. So what is a man to do when his family is dependent upon foods we eat and have for generations? If in time of need, and he cannot feed his family, what is he to do? Not only do we need protections, our foods do as well. Thus the heritage zones.

 We are, for the most part, hunters and gatherers. We harvest our heritage daily. By that I mean, we harvest what foods we are dependent upon almost daily throughout the year. You have heard, for every thing there is a season. We live all seasons.

So a major part of our tour this summer is to promote the establishment of these heritage zones. Some of the zones may be close to home, others may be off into the distance. And as we visit the villages we are going to, and as we learn what is happening to the people and their foods, we hope many will see the wisdom in the need to protect our foods, obviously, and further to protect the foods upon which our foods depend. They too, our foods, have areas in the ocean from which they get their foods. That needs protection. As the sourthern Bering Sea, say from about St. Matthew Island south continues to get hammered by commercialized, big business fishers and companies, our grocery stores shrink and our villages begin to disappear. Add to this dilemma climate change and all that is bringing to our homes, heritage zones are at least an answere to a growing problem. Not only here in Alaska, but I am sure, all over in our oceans on this planet we call Earth!

 

Until next time,

 

George 

 

 

Posted by pribilof on 06/18/2007 5:17 pm

It has been a long cold winter for us people here in Alaska. For a long time, during the months of April and May, it did not seem like it was ever going to warm up. The cold north winds kept whipping down the entire State and hit us squarely here in Anchorage. Finally, however, it has warmed up to now about 65 degrees F. Warm by our standards. But the weather is not the topic of discussion or interest now, it is our Gulf of Alaska/Bering Sea voyage aboard the R/V Esperanza. Finally!

I say finally, because it seems like eons ago that we began prepairations for this trip. For those of you who may not know me, let me reintroduce myself. My name is George Pletnikoff. I am Unangan (ooo nung gan) or Aleut, the name the Russians gave to our people on the Aleutian Chain a little more than 200 years ago. Unangan is the name we called ourselves prior to European contact. We Unangan lived on the Aleutian Islands for a bit more than 10,000 years. I was born on the Pribilof Islands, a group of small islands right in the middle of the Bering Sea. For me, this voyage is a "going home" voyage. I will be heading home to learn more about my people, our environment and our current state of affairs. I will, however, be learning more about myself than perhaps anything else. What has happened to our people in the last 200 years and how has our environment changed are just a couple of questions I will be seeking answers to. And I hope to be sharing some of these answers with you during the next two to three months, and beyond as we look closely at what we find, what we see and what we hear. There promises to be so much to ingest in such a short time. 

Since our 2006 Bering Sea tour, I have since relocated with my family to Anchorage. Its kinda nice to be in the big city, largest in Alaska, but often I feel like a fish out of water because its not home for us. We miss our families, our cultural activities, our traditional foods and especially the closeness of village life with our people. But, due to my work with Greenpeace, I am now a city boy. Its fine for now, but it does get lonely at times. My wife is also from the Pribilof Islands and often feels the same as I do. And she is such a good cook when preparing our traditional foods. Really reminds me of my mother and our family as I was growing up and playing on the tundra of the Pribilofs. Listening to the millions of fur seals, millions of sea birds amongst all the wild flowers and their odor, what a place to be born and raised.

Now we are getting ready for our research. Along with the research planned for the Pribilof and Zumchug Canyons, which I am sure you will learn more about later, we will be visiting the people of the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. We will be traveling to villages with long historic and traditional living communities with names like Kodiak, Port Graham, King Cove, Chignik, Akutan and Tooksook Bay, to name a few. Some of them are Aleutiq people, others are Yup'ik Eskimo and others are Unangan. Such diverse and proud heritages with strong cultural ties to our land and waters surrounding our homes. Many of us, thankfully, still speak our native languages and practise our cultural activities. I am so excited, and increadibly thankful that I am blessed with this opportunity!

As we begin our journey into the Waters of Alaska, I hope to be posting more stories and findings on this site and hope you will spark more interest in me to look for some answers to questions you will have. Truely, the winter has been long, but the summer promises to be one which we hope will help us to learn and share, listen, read and ask. I look forward to meeting you on line and exchanging messages which I know our people will be happy to hear coming from you. Let us bridge a distance between our people and cultures such that we will become life long friends all in pursuit of a single goal to better protect our home on this wonderful planet we call Earth!

Until next time,

George 

Posted by jessmil on 06/13/2007 3:17 pm

Day 3 - June 13, 2007

Today we began learning to perform specific tasks at depth. We launched two subs at a time and our bottom depths ranged from 140 to 230 feet for the six dives.

Once on the bottom we were asked to follow compass headings by the navigator on the ship who was monitoring our progress. Visibility at depth was no more than a few feet, so following a bearing to complete a transect between point A and point B involved some pretty close contact with the bottom.

We were also given a submerged beacon target to look for on our sonars which proved much harder than it sounds. A couple of folk managed it and considering this was our first untethered dive that was considered a great success.

We also had the opportunity to rendezvous with the second sub in the water. That was amazing. I "parked" my sub on the bottom and watched as another pilot brought her sub into position to park just infront of me. We switched off our lights (which were blinding each other) and used our torches (flashlights) inside the cabins to point at ourselves so that we could see each other grinning away. We then proceded to move around each other slowly and cautiously before leaving the bottom. It wasn't until later in the day that we found out how unusual it is to encounter another submarine underwater. we are very lucky to have two subs working together on this project, it makes a huge difference to how much ground you can cover, and to the safety of the operation.

It was a good day again, and all is well.

- timo

Posted by jessmil on 06/12/2007 3:14 pm

Day 2 - June 12, 2007

Today began with a class session on the emergency procedures that are  performed in a sub should they be needed. These range from a smoldering wire in the cabin, to loss of electrical power. Chances of these situations happening are very remote, but of course its essential that we know what to do should they happen.

In the afternoon we launched (again one at a time) and were towed to a shallower stretch of water to do our first descent. Towing is also an emergency procedure and so that was a good opportunity to experience that feeling. You actually sit on the surface, but as you are towed you become partially submerged and so all you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.

Once on site, we had a thin line with a buoy on the end of it attached to the sub. This would tell the instructors on the surface where the sub was under the water at all times. Then we began the descent.

Today's dives ranged from 40 to 100 feet in depth depending on where the descents started. The visibility was only 3 to 5 feet and was pretty murky. Once down at depth, we went through a couple of drills as directed over the communications system by the dive supervisor. This culminated in an emergency ascent after a fire drill.

We all managed to carry out these procedures without any problems, although I personally found it a much more intense experience than I had anticipated, and had to calm myself down at one point when I was asked to switch off my oxygen supply. My brain didn't quite accept that that was ok until I was able to rationalise the procedure as part of the emergency drill. After that though, it was all plain sailing, and I even had time to observe the large jellyfish that dared approach the
sub.

I was submerged for approximately 45 mins although it felt like two.

We all agreed that today certainly marks the beginning of an interesting direction for Greenpeace that could prove to be a very effective way of achieving positive environmental protection and change. we all feel very humbled to be able to participate so directly in that potential.

- timo

Posted by jessmil on 06/11/2007 3:04 pm

Day 1 - June 11, 2007

Today we learned about the deep worker operating systems and life support systems. At the end of the day, we were all launched and performed surface tests and operations. The subs are surprisingly nimble and stable, and the navigation of them (at least on the surface) is amazingly intuitive. Although very small inside, they are surprisingly comfortable (cosy) and when not running the thrusters for navigation, they are very quiet.

- timo

Posted by jhocevar on 06/08/2007 2:32 pm

[Thanks to Jennifer Jacquet at the Shifting Baselines blog for being the first to post this piece.]

I am looking forward to a World Oceans Day where I can kick back with a beer and relax, knowing that the oceans are in great shape. I sincerely hope this won't involve time travel or an inter-galactic voyage.

Anyone paying attention knows that the oceans are in serious trouble, and that overfishing - and use of destructive and indiscriminate fishing methods - is at the heart of the problem. Climate change is starting to make a run for the ocean enemy # 1 prize, but for now unsustainable fishing is safely in the lead. The good news, I suppose, is that in theory we should be able to do something about that.

In the recent debate over Boris Worm's finding that most commercial fisheries could be in a state of collapse by 2048 based upon current trends, some representatives of the Alaska fishing industry were quick to point out that all need not be lost, if only the rest of the world followed the Alaska model.

Meanwhile, back in reality, Alaska fisheries managers recently responded to a proposal to protect some of the world's largest submarine canyons by saying 'yes, these are unique and diverse habitats, but we don't know enough to justify protecting them.' Ah, the precautionary approach we've all come to know and love! Greenpeace's response is to pull together an expedition to explore these remarkable canyons, using submersibles and an ROV to gather data which will hopefully lead to more informed - and precautionary - management actions.

This week, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is meeting to decide whether to allow bottom trawling in the northern half of the Bering Sea. The Advisory Panel chose the strangest option on the table, Alternative 3, which would set "a performance standard of at least 2.5 inches of elevation of the sweep from the bottom." Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have made that "back in reality" crack, because this is pure fantasy. Even the bottom trawlers have no idea how to pull that off.

The final decision, though, will be made not by the Advisory Panel (which has exactly one "conservation" seat) but by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (which has none). And this brings us to the common thread that threatens to unravel any attempt to reform fisheries management in the US and much of the rest of the world: as long as the fishing industry is allowed to regulate itself, short-term profits will continue to win out over long term sustainability. Fisheries will continue to be managed on a single-species basis with little or no regard for the ecosystem, marine reserves will remain the topic of scientists' recommendations and environmentalists' appeals, and 2048 will be as bleak as predicted.

Fortunately, we have a few cards of our own to play: the public is beginning to recognize the need for change, consumers are starting to recognize their power, and direct action can often be quite persuasive. And most hopefully yet, more and more fishermen, processors, distributors and retailers are beginning to recognize on their own that sustainability may better serve their interests than business as usual.

We still have a ways to go, but we just may be able to celebrate World Oceans Day together in the not so distant future, right here on the Water Planet.

John H