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Editorial
Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 2
October 2005
Hurricane relief: Fishermen help fishermen
Repeated video footage of destroyed buildings and crowds of displaced people can be numbing after a few weeks. Surely by now, we may think, the survivors must be getting the help they need. But there’s nothing like cell phone conversations with a couple of fishermen from little coastal towns in Louisiana to bring home the true magnitude of the cataclysm that has struck the Gulf Coast.
Nearly a month after Hurricane Katrina blasted ashore, these guys weren’t thinking about getting their businesses back up and running. They weren’t even starting to clean up. They were still in emergency survival mode.
On Grand Isle, Louisiana Shrimp Association board member Terry Pizani was unloading trucks packed with food, water, and clothing donated by his association and local churches.
No calvary came in to save the people of his fishing community. The first anyone heard from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Red Cross was on Sept. 18, a full three weeks after the hurricane hit.
“Since day one of this storm, we’ve been taking care of each other,” Pizani said.
That’s what people do in hard times. And that’s what fishermen’s associations here in the Northeast are doing – gearing up to help take care of their brothers in the Gulf.
Within days of the storm, the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) and the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA) jointly announced the formation of the “Hurricane Katrina Fishermen’s Relief Fund.”
The fund is patterned on the hugely successful relief effort NAMA undertook earlier this year with Clean Catch that raised and distributed $140,000 for fishing communities devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
By reaching out to people they know, NAMA and CCCHFA have activated a network of fishing industry members who want their donations to go specifically to Gulf Coast fishermen.
As of mid-September, a total of 17 organizations had pledged their support, including: IFISH – Independent Fishermen Investing in Sustainable Harvesting; New Hampshire Commercial Fishermen’s Association; Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership; Northeast Seafood Coalition; Cape Cod Gillnet Association; Maine Fishermen’s Cooperative Association; Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association; Maine Lobstermen’s Association; Stonington Fisheries Alliance; Pacific Coast Federation of Fishing Associations; and groups from Alaska, Oregon, and Canada.
All donations are tax deductible and all the money collected will go to Gulf fishermen.
As it did with tsunami relief, St. Joseph’s Credit Union in Saco has volunteered to absorb all transaction costs.
NAMA and CCCHFA plan to identify a fishermen’s organization in the Gulf that can direct the money to where it will do the most good and, once things stabilize in the South, they will travel there to deliver the aid in person.
There are other relief efforts in the works. The Alexandria, VA-based nonprofit Fish For the Future Foundation was in the preliminary stages of organizing a fund-raising and distribution program.
In the meantime, the NAMA/CCCHFA initiative is a safe bet for making a meaningful contribution to people in real need.
Donations can be mailed to:
Hurricane Katrina Fishermen’s Relief Fund, c/o NAMA,
200 Main St. Suite A, Saco, ME 04072;
or Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association,
210-E Orleans Road, North Chatham, MA 02650. /cfn/
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