By Sheila Dassatt
We just had the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, over the past weekend, which was a welcomed event after two years off. I am on the Forum Board of Directors, so whether we had the event or not, the Board worked on the Forum in order to do the best that we could under the current circumstances. Of course, the circumstances have been the Covid Virus that kept us all apart. So, it was great to see everyone! The weather played a big part of a slow turnout on Saturday, but it gave the exhibitors an opportunity to visit one another and catch up with each other’s booths.
This was Chilloa Young’s 25th year as Forum Coordinator and also her retirement year, along with her family, Mike and Loalee Young. For the past few years, they worked as the Young Family Team and did a fantastic job!
There is a you tube video that was presented at the Saturday Night Banquet, showing Chilloa and participants from over the years. This video is called Tribute to Chilloa Young Fisherman’s Forum3/23. It is a well deserved tribute and also very touching to all that have known and worked with her over the years. The Board of Directors awarded her with a plaque from the State of Maine, honoring her for her years of work and dedication. In case you didn’t know, the Forum was founded in 1975, represents and offers to fishermen, clammers, lobstermen, aquaculturists and other related seafood industry participants an opportunity to meet on neutral ground with fisheries managers, state representatives, members of Congress and Senators. This is quite an accomplishment when you consider some of the strong issues that we have faced over the years.
At this particular Forum, our guests were Governor Janet Mills, Senator Angus King, Senator Susan Collins and Chellie Pingree, all there to tell us how they were able to gift our lobster fishery with an additional six years to work on the whale rules. It was very enlightening, which gave us all a chance to say “Thank You” in person. We had a lot of standing ovations at this gathering. This shows that regardless of our political parties or differences these days, we were able to come together and work for the well being of our fishing industry in Maine along with the Atlantic States.
When I was at our Downeast Lobstermen’s Association booth, we resurrected our “Who’s Endangered Now” shirts, which was reconstructed by our granddaughter, Hanna Perce. We needed to do a new and updated picture of our fisherman for the Maine Camp Outfitters, who also did a great job getting them finished and ready to take to the Forum. By the way, we are offering the shirts on our website, downeastlobstermen.org and our Facebook site also. We can send you one to help us raise awareness and support for our fishery.
So, while at the booth, people would ask me, “What is the biggest issue that you are dealing with right now?” Of course, the whales are always a concern of ours, but I had to say, right at the moment, the windmills are our biggest challenge. Andrew Joyce aired an interview with me concerning the windmills in 2021, so we have been fighting this issue for a while. I have had a lot of feedback from that video and I thank you all very much for your compliments. That’s probably the most I’ve talked in public at one time, I usually am taking notes or writing such as this. I believe that I was able to do it because I truly believe in what I’m saying, which is the fact that these windmills do not belong in the ocean, especially with what is happening to our ocean life and also the birds. If a person really thinks about it, they are also a hazard to navigation, whether it is a fishing vessel or a tanker. The latest news brief that I have seen, is the floating blade that broke away from the mother unit. A ship could run into the blade and cause great damage and perhaps loss of life from sinking if they should hit one in the night.
We have all been seeing the whales and dolphins washing up on the shores of New Jersey and now other Atlantic states. I also saw a video that an eagle was flying around a windmill and was struck and fell dead to the ground. The biggest question is: “why is it as quiet as it is about this?” If a fisherman was to entangle a whale, even if it lived, it would be used against us and the “groups” would be all over us! Now, the fishermen are concerned about the welfare of the whales due to the possibility of the pings from the research ships disturbing their sonar and disorienting them. Yes, the fishermen do care about these beautiful creatures and don’t want to see them die in vast numbers due to the testing sites for windmills. This has to stop, just for the sake of it being a moral issue.
We understand that promises have been made about having wind farms by a certain date on the calendar, but the whole issue has not been tried and true. If the research proves it faulty, then the projects should be stopped until further notice in order to look at better options. This is not Green Energy, far from it!
There is a new video that just came out, it is called Ocean Protection Fund/Wind Turbine Video. This is also very well presented. Please take the time to look it up and watch it. The more the numbers of people involved and our voices, we can make a difference. The site that is established to help with this cause is called OceanLegalDefense.org. We need to start somewhere as a voice for the people. We can make a difference and yes, this is the most asked question that we have in front of us right now. We are all working on this and hope that we can save our oceans.
