Seattle Press on Line - Fishers and Port Face Off

Port Woes, part 2

Fishers and Port Face Off

By Jo Bailey and Carl Nyberg

Draft plan for new floats and piers to accomodate pleasure boats at Fishermen's Terminal.

May 17, 2001 -- Over 100 fishers, friends, and neighbors gave a resounding "no" to the Port of Seattle's proposal admitting yachts to the historic Fishermen's Terminal at a public forum May 9 at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard.

At issue were recommendations from the Port's Harbor Development Strategy 21 [HDS 21], a 35-member advisory committee that has been meeting for the past year. The committee's recent report calls for allowing some recreational vessels to moor at the terminal. Articulate third, fourth and fifth-generation fishermen verbally--and sometimes emotionally--challenged Port spokesmen who say that temporary yacht moorage will help offset financial losses from the decline in fish boats at the facility.

According to Steve Sewell of the Port Oversight Committee, the Port Commissioners will vote June 12 and 26 on the HDS21 recommendations, even though fishers asked them to wait until fall. Many fishers are about to head north to Alaska for the fishing season.

The May 9 forum featured a panel that included Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck and Gail Dubrow, Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, as well as representatives from Allied Arts, the League of Women Voters, the Ballard District Council, Historic Seattle, and Friends of the Market.

Jack McCullough, HDS21 president.

"There has to be a better solution"

HDS21 president Jack McCullough offered only two options for raising additional revenues at Fishermen's Terminal: increase rates for current customers or access the recreational moorage market. "The Port loses money annually at the terminal. Our goal is to maintain the fishing industry, rebuild the terminal, and to optimize benefits," he said, citing HDS21 figures showing that "moorage for recreational vessels could provide $200,000 in annual revenues."

"There has to be a better solution," said Councilman Steinbrueck. "The development team [HDS21] may have missed the boat on financial problems by suggesting yachts moor in the terminal. We need to protect, defend, and support the fishing industry."

Fishermen's Terminal has been the Seattle fishing fleet's homeport since 1911. The terminal's rules were changed in 1997 to allow moorage of commercial and work boats, in order to offset losses. Even so, the Port claims the facility is still underutilized. Port figures show a 31 percent vacancy rate in the terminal's 371 slips, due mostly to the long-term decline in Puget Sound salmon fisheries.

Steve Sewell of the Port Oversight Committee.

Sewell said the Port is "in a financial crunch. The Port is not in business to make money, but the triple bottom line is that we must make reinvestments. We are not recommending changing Fishermen's Terminal to a recreational facility. We're only recommending a temporary solution to allow limited recreational vessel moorage. Any recreational vessels will be bumped out when the fishing vessels return," he said.

"We came to this decision reluctantly, but the fishing industry may get worse before it gets better," he added. "We want to be trusted--we're not hiding things. We have an ongoing dialogue with the fishermen."

Knutson's hard-hitting slide show

Pete Knutson, a long-time gillnetter who adamantly opposes mooring recreational vessels at the terminal, presented slides showing different aspects of Port facilities, including the new $50 million Bell Street Marina and Port offices.

Fishermen's Terminal manager Jim Serrill.

"This serves cruise lines, developers, and wealthy yachts, replacing fish processing and working folks on the downtown waterfront," he said. Two canneries were displaced from the downtown waterfront when the facility was built. The downtown recreational marina is for short-term moorage during the summer months, and month-to-month moorage off-season. His slide showed mainly empty slips, not unusual in the off-season.

He pointed out that over 5,300 people make their living from the commercial Fishermen's Terminal facility. Other slides show the state of disrepair at the terminal. Applause was long and loud after Knutson finished his presentation.

"Pete's absolutely right," said terminal manager Jim Serrill. "These old facilities, some going back as far as 1914, need to be replaced."

When Councilmember Steinbrueck asked why maintenance had been deferred at the terminal, Steve Sewell answered that the Port Commission is "playing catch-up. We kept the rates down, and avoided spending money for the past 5 to 10 years, and now we must replace docks and pilings at the terminal."

Fisher Anne Mosness.

"The last best place"

For over two-and-a-half hours fishers and friends spoke to the crowd.

"Fishermen's Terminal is the last best place in Seattle," noted panelist Gail Dubrow. "How does the Port value places that bring back returns that are not necessarily financial? After four years on the Seattle Design Committee I've seen a huge building boom that seems more convenient for the rich, and now Fishermen's Terminal looks like this. It's offensive to many to have any recreational boats moor there," she added, to applause from audience. "There's something wrong with this picture when the primary people involved don't want this change."

John Bruce, a representative of the Deep Sea Fishermen's Union of the Pacific, said it would be a shame to compromise the heritage of the terminal. "The terminal has special significance as the site of the [fishermen's] memorial. There is special meaning to those who have no grave site to visit after the death of a loved one," he said.

Fisher John Foss.

Anne Mosness of Bellingham, who runs a fish boat that's been in her family for 40 years, noted poor maintenance at the terminal, and was concerned about the treatment of some of the fishers. "The Port looks on us as a petting zoo," she said.

Mosness questioned what fees cruise ships pay when they dock at Bell Street Pier. According to Mike Merritt, an assistant to Port Commissioner Bob Edwards, the huge ships pay about $25,000 for each call, exclusive of charges for stevedoring, fueling, etc. They also spend about $500,000 on bunkering and reprovisioning, while passengers spend an additional $500,000.

John Foss, a fourth-generation fisherman who is now a seafood buyer on Capitol Hill, reminded the forum that these tourists expect to find fresh-caught seafood in Seattle--and that's just another reason to get behind our local fishing industry.

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