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Boating
Opening DayCan Yachts and Fishing Boats Dock in the Same Port?
Fisherman Pete Knutson and Sadie are worried about Port of Seatle plans to convert the Terminal to a pleasure boat marina. |
Jim Serrill, general manager of the facility, said the Fishermen's Terminal provides moorage for approximately 370 gillnetters and trollers--vessels usually less than 50 feet long--and the vacancy rate is currently at 27 percent. He suggested that the high vacancy rate may make it necessary to offer yacht moorage. Moorage for larger fishing vessels is currently full.
Putting recreational vessels in empty slips could help solve the vacancy problem and increase Port revenues at the same time, since pleasure craft are charged as much as three times the moorage rate of a working fish boat. However, Serrill emphasized that "fishing boats won't be displaced from Fishermen's Terminal. There's no question that Port Commission is committed to the fishing industry."
Both the Port and the fishers recognize that the number of active fishing vessels has declined in recent years, and that at least part of the problem is a decline in the number of fish available in greater Puget Sound. They link dwindling local catches to factors beyond their control, such as fishery management practices and land and water usage.
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"NOT FOR YACHTS" signs appear on many fishing boats. Fishers who moor their boats at the terminal contend that the Port is trying to get rid of them in favor of yachts.
Pete Knutson, an active fisherman for 30 years as well as an anthropology professor at Seattle Community College, is against adding yachts in the moorage. "We're a traditional industry, middle-class, working-class, with a lot of ethnic diversity," Knutson said. His sons, Jonah, 20, and Dylan, 17, have fished with him, and his wife, Hing, handles marketing for their family business.
"This is a major symbolic civic issue, similar to the Pike Place Market. It's unique to have an active historic fishing fleet in the middle of a large city, and we should exploit this. You cannot regrow this once it's torn down. Land for the terminal was donated to the North Pacific fleet in the early 1900s by the railroad. Don't change the terminal, don't build gated docks and add yachts--let this remain an integral part of the city," Knutson said.
He and other fishers have an alternative vision to the Port's vision of the Fishermen's Terminal. "We'd like to see a west wall facility, as shown in a Port redevelopment plan in the late 1970s, where there would be a place for fish boats to back in. Fishermen could sell directly to the public from their boats on weekends," he said. Knutson adds that the Allied Arts Council is offering support for the plan, and he wants to reach out to community groups with a petition campaign.
| Public Meeting Scheduled |
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A public meeting on developments at Fishermen's Terminal will be held Wednesday, May 9, 7 p.m. at the Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 NW 67th Street in Ballard. |
Port of Seattle owns and manages approximately 1,200 acres of property in King County, and created the Harbor Development Strategy 21 (HDS 21) committee to help create a vision for the entire Seattle Seaport. HDS 21 held 36 meetings between April 2000 and March 2001 to examine the Port's business, including Pier 91, Shilshole Marina, Fishermen's Terminal and other Port real estate holdings. According to terminal manager Jim Serrill, the Port Commissioners recently accepted the HDS 21 report and are now deciding the next step.
A summary statement of the January HDS 21 committee meeting suggested, "The Port should support the fishing industry while maximizing revenue. Additionally, the Port should differentiate between assets that generate revenue and those that do not. Recreational boats are a mobile feast for revenue that should be tapped into."
"[The Port Commissioners] are acutely aware that we have to pay the bills," says Serrill. "The primary purpose here is fishing boats, then work boats, lastly pleasure boats. If the [fishing] fleet comes back, fishermen have priority."
Serrill notes the long "wait lists" for pleasure boats at many Puget Sound marinas. "There are demands for 4,500 to 6,000 new slips for recreational boats in the Sound, and we may have to get there reluctantly," he said. "If we had 100 more fish boats or if we could project that the fish industry will be stable, mooring recreational boats here would be a non-issue.
"Our historic fishing fleet faces very severe challenges," Serrill observes. "We have to develop a plan with the fishing community. The advisory committee says to protect the industrial nature of the facility--keep the recreational boats in one area, separate from the fish boats."
A November 10, 2000 HDS 21 report recommended selling off parts of Fisherman's Terminal, including some fishing support facilities, stating, "Fishermen's Terminal is home to the commercial fishing fleet. The Port should consider the sale of this (retail) portion of the asset, given the current health of the real estate market and the potential sales proceeds that could be utilized for other Port purposes.... Consider utilizing net shed areas for other real estate uses."
Jerry Townsend |
Those net sheds that the Port wants to use, however, are important support facilities for the fishermen. Knutson notes that the Port has been "radically raising rates" on net lockers, and says that high rates have driven several businesses out of the terminal.
"The Port raised the rates so high on Captain's Nautical Supply, they left. Now we don't have a close place to buy charts and navigation instruments," Knutson says. "They also drove Seattle Ship Supply out."
Meanwhile, he notes that on the upland side of the terminal the Port did a good job of rebuilding Chinook's Restaurant (owned by Anthony's) and the fishermen's memorial.
According to publicly posted information, commercial fishing is the major business at Fishermen's Terminal, with approximately 5,300 jobs and $256 million in wages created at terminal operations. In contrast, Port of Seattle marina operations at Shilshole Marina and Bell Street Pier generate 87 jobs and $3.5 million in wages.
When asked about the 27 percent moorage vacancy rate, Knutson says, "Some of the vacancies are normal--after all, this is a working fishing fleet, and 10 to 15 percent of the boats are usually out fishing"--and typically some fish boats are for sale and some are in need of repair. This brings up another area of concern. "The Port has made it difficult to work on boats," he says. "They say that according to DOE (Department of Ecology) regulations we can only paint 25 percent of a boat each year."
Meanwhile, Knutson notes that the terminal is in disrepair. "Eight percent of the pilings to which the smaller fish boats tie have broken off and the slips can't be used; some of the docks are in bad repair and are nonfunctional," he observes. Fishers at the terminal are asking where the Port is spending tenants' moorage fees, money that should be used for maintenance. Knutson adds, "Some piles under existing pier seem to be okay, but the bolts are rusted out and some piers are unsafe. The Port has neglected to repair them." Moorage tenants at the Port's Shilshole Marina share these concerns, noting the escalating fees at that facility.
A bird's-eye view of Fishermen's Terminal. |
The HDS 21 offered several suggestions for the future of Fishermen's Terminal, which comprises 75 acres, 50 on the water and 25 on land. Changes in upland use could include residential or condominium development, as well as changes to include yacht moorage. Other redevelopment plans for the terminal include repair for the south wall (a structure built in 1914, before the water level in the Ship Canal was raised) and the west wall, repair Dock 5 and reconfiguration of Docks 6-10 for larger vessels, new pilings for Docks 3 and 4, and improvements to the electrical and fire protection systems. Dredging of the bay is also possible (all information from the HDS 21 Business Analysis draft).
In 1997 Fishermen's Terminal changed its policy from allowing only fish boats to moor at the terminal, adding commercial vessels such as tugs, salvage, research, environmental, small charter and inland cruise vessels. This is a major concern for some fishermen. The non-fishing boat market is now 30 percent of the terminal's revenue base, and is expected to increase to 50 percent in the next several years, according to an HDS 21 commercial and fishing boat analysis draft.
An HDS 21 business analysis draft suggested that the Port move toward a mix of commercial and recreational boating and adjust the Fishermen's Terminal redevelopment plan to provide for a mixed recreational and commercial facility. This plan would provide for the needs of each type of tenant and probably separate the uses to avoid conflicts. Many marinas rent out moorage slips temporarily to transient boaters when the slips are vacant. This could help the Port maintain its support of the fishing fleet while the vessels are at sea, and at the same time benefit the Port.
The advisory committee also suggested that smaller commercial vessels moor at Maritime Industrial Center, a five-acre facility closer to the Ballard locks on the south side of the Ship Canal. This would help transition Fishermen's Terminal to a majority recreational boating facility with the corresponding commercial and possibly residential development of the upland area.
Clint Ragan |
Pete Knutson is not the only unhappy fisherman--many other fishers are not enthusiastic about the idea of opening up traditional fish boat moorage to recreational boats. Jerry Townsend, a fisherman for 40 years, said, "Fishermen's Terminal has character, and most of us don't want that to change."
Townsend was working on his troller in preparation for the coming season, opening May 1. He predicted a long season for silvers this year. "It should be the best in the state in 30 years." Townsend grew up fishing with his dad, who lived on a boat all his life. "I inherited his boat and his license," he said. His wife, Kathy, fishes with him now. "She's a REAL fisher. It gets in your blood, it's your life--but you need two jobs, one to support the fishing," he said.
"You won't get much support for recreational boats around here. Everybody wants this to stay a fishing moorage. It's pretty hard to picture yachts moored in here," he said, looking around the working terminal at the smaller fish boats, gillnetters, trollers, purse seiners and long-liners. Townsend said that in 1974 there were 3,400 trollers in Washington. "Today there's 186 and only 10 of them fished last year," he said.
Troller Clint Ragan said he suspects it is illegal to switch the terminal over to recreational boats, as it was originally federally funded as a fish boat harbor. He bought his boat from his dad in 1983, and his dad bought it in 1975. He said the fish should be back in record numbers this year, and tremendous fish runs are expected offshore in both California and Oregon.
Fishermen's Terminal Memorial. |
"The railroad gave the land for the fishing terminal, and I think it's horrible to have yachts moor here. They won't integrate with fishermen--they'll take away our services," she said. "I don't mind work boats, because we're all hard-working and industrious."
Out on the Northwest pier, the big boats were getting ready to head north, with welders, carpenter, shipwrights, diesel engineers and all manner of workers finishing up before the vessels leave. It's expected to be a banner fishing year for the big boats. Many fishermen and others believe the Department of Fisheries has mismanaged the industry. Jim McQuiston, a welder on many fish boats, said, "[The] state has decimated the fishing industry due to bad management, a sad state of affairs."
Not all fishers felt that yachts in the harbor was entirely bad. Bob Brown, 84, a former fisherman in Alaska, Washington and California, cruises to Alaska each year with his wife, Joyce, in their powerboat, the Joyce B. "Up in Alaska ports they accept everybody and anybody," Brown notes. "You may find yourself tying alongside a fish boat, or a fish boat tying alongside you. Ports recognize they need extra revenue to help maintain the facilities.
"If the fishermen are really concerned about keeping the terminal for fishing vessels, they should get the Port of Seattle to establish Fishermen's Terminal as a National Monument, and it will remain as it is forever," Brown said. "They're ripe for it."
Seattle Press correspondents Jo Bailey and Carl Nyberg are the authors of the book Gunkholing in South Puget Sound. Contact them at (206) 323-1315 or gunkholing@earthlink.net.
Reader Comments
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| marco valle | Nov 04, 2002 | pasadena,texas | student |
| I want information about becoming a fisherman, because IĄd heard about some boats that leaves land for about 6 months, and I really want information about it. I appreciate your help. | |||
| Mabadeje Adetayo Yusuf | Feb 17, 2003 | Lagos State Nigeria | Businessman |
| Hi, The director or to the manager of a company. Sir, Letter of business. We like to do a business with your company and i just want to no may be you we like to do business with our company "mabadeje trading company" in nigeria because i we like the both company to go in a fishing business. But all what we need is a dipper fishing trollar and in your reply to this letter i we like to no may be you have or not. Ifyou we not may to invite us to your company,but if you can invite us,and you like to come to nigeria we will invite you so that we can have one on one conversation Thanks, Mabadeje. | |||
| Nuala Gaughran | Oct 23, 2004 | Seattle | Caregiver |
| We have recently bought a Formosa 46' and would like moorage at Fishermans Treminal, Live aboard ! We are a very quiet over 55 old couple. We both work! and will retire and go out of port for extended overseas visits and exploring! Do you have any information? RSVP Thank You, Nuala and Sam | |||
