Representatives of the Commercial Fishermen’s Memorial Board met with Borough officials several times in recent years about the construction of massive cruise ship docks along the waterfront precluding fishing vessels from participating in the annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony, which has been conducted directly in front of the Memorial for the last 20 years.
By the time the Board learned that the two docks had been approved, it was too late to have any input on the proposal. We had been repeatedly assured that the Borough would not do anything that might affect the Memorial or annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony.
There is one small remaining waterfront site that has not been allocated: the Marine Park vicinity. It would meet the requirement for fishery vessels to approach the Memorial for the annual Blessing ceremony and spectator access.
The City Engineering Department determined that moving the Memorial to that location would be technically feasible and could be included in the waterfront development plan.
Accordingly, the Memorial Board asked the Borough Assembly to formally approve this action. At an Aug. 29, 2011 meeting of an Assembly committee, where information on the impacts and need for the Assembly’s approval of the move, the Board was dismayed by Mayor Bruce Botelho’s motion to leave the Memorial where it is and his statement that the Borough had more important things on which to spend its money. The mayor prefaced his motion by saying that he was tired of hearing about the Memorial.
Assembly Members Ruth Danner, Merrill Sanford, and Peter Freer voted against the mayor’s motion and urged that the issue remain open for further consideration. They were outvoted by the other Assembly members, and the mayor’s motion passed.
The issue of moving the Memorial is not dead. The community should support moving the Memorial to the Marine Park vicinity. The cost of moving the Memorial would clearly be eligible for funds from the City’s $30 million head tax account, which the Borough receives every year for cruise ship related expenses.
The Marine Park location would be a positive reminder of the importance of commercial fishing in Juneau’s history and its multi-million dollar contribution to Juneau’s economy. The names of more that 185 local fishermen who have died (35 of them lost at sea) are seen by thousands of our visitors. Their memories of Juneau are likely to include the Memorial long after the South Franklin souvenir shops have faded.
If you haven’t visited the Memorial, please do. You would be impressed by Juneau’s commercial fishing heritage which has contributed so much to Juneau’s history and economy. The Memorial is located on the waterfront on South Franklin at the Twisted Fish restaurant.
Let the Assembly know that Juneau’s residents deserve approval of moving the Memorial to the Marine Park area.
• Merrell, a 60-year resident of Juneau, is a retired fishery biologist from NOAA, Auke Bay and a former hand-troll permit holder. His grandson and son are local commercial fishermen.
Comments (9)
Add commentI support this
This is a good use of the head tax money. If the waterfront is changing, let's move the memorial so it can be sustainable. It's an important treasure in our community.
I do feel the memorial is an
I do feel the memorial is an important part of Juneau, and the blessing of the fleet is a tradition that needs to remain. There are a couple of things that bother me about the memorial though. One is the fact that our local politico's want to make it irrelevant. And two, is the Memorial committees inclusion of anyone who ever caught a fish or knew a fisherman. I had always thought it was to memorialize those who died at sea. To be the memorial for those who had no body to put in the ground and adorn with a tombstone. I don't mean to trivialize anyones name on there, but the inclusion of Shea Walling is a good example. It was a tragic loss when he died, no questioning that. But he died from a rock climbing fall in Hawaii, where he was living. I know he has family in the Juneau area and that they are involved in fishing, but is it really appropriate to put him on a wall commemorating fishermen lost at sea? Because my Uncle was a Vietnam vet and is on the Memorial, does that mean when I die I should get added to the Vietnam Memorial? I am family of a Vietnam Vet. I've even been to Vietnam. Again, I am not meaning to cause any hurt with Shea's family. He was a great kid and was taken WAY too early. But he was just the one that pops to mind as to making me question what constitutes someone who gets put on the memorial vs someone who does not. Same could be said about a guy who dies in bed from cancer having been away from fishing for 50 yrs. It more I am confused about its purpose more than anything.
Fishermen Memorial Is Perfect As Is
I walk by and through the Memorial every day and stop to reflect on friends who have gone before. There are always many flowers there, obviously brought by family members. This is a Memorial to fishermen that is used and visited 365 days a year, not just for the one-hour in May blessing of the fleet.
The CBJ should not uproot the Memorial to accomodate an overtly religious ceremony. There are many ways to bless and distribute holy water to 15 boats on that one day / one hour a year in May without spending huge amounts of revenue.
So what is wrong...
...with direct access between the memorial and the adjacent dock and an automatically scheduled one+ hour on one day of the whole year for the blessing ritual? The scheduled cruise ship for that berth could liter their passengers unil the ceremony is over and move to the dock for the remainder of it's port call. What captain would not be respectful of such a delay? Must we give preference to any industry that may shove aside a memorial to our lost souls and a blessing for living mariners such as himself? Why not dedicate a portion of the head tax to a tonnage discount for that one ship each year? Or not!
Thanks KP
for voicing what has crossed my mind several times when this issue comes up.
Response
To KP: the Memorial is for fishermen, no matter where or how they died. You cannot get on the wall for being a grandfather or granddaughter to a fisherman, you have to have actually been a fisherman with your boots on the deck of a boat. Shea not only came from a fishing family, he also fished and from what I understand was in the process of buying his own boat.
To Skirkz: there are additional problems with the farmost proposed cruise ship dock (the one being installed in front of the Memorial). One is it will not allow local boats to safely manuever around Taku Smokeries to offload their fish. It could create some problems for Alaska Marine Line in getting their barge to their dock. It will certainly affect how vessels get access to the transit float, most especially if there are any winds blowing in the channel.
And known to very little unless they truly take more than a superficial look, recent Seawalk construction activity has already damaged the Fisherman's Memorial. And the Seawalk work has just barely gotten started.
Honestly I think we should
Honestly I think we should move it to auke bay. Or even another harbirS. It's a memorial for our fallen fishermen, but hundreds of thousands of tourists get pictures with it as just something they saw. I find it slightly disrespectful. Not in a huge way but I think if it were located near an area where actual fishermen work, that would make more sense.
AML dock...
...is on the other side of the rock dump. The blessing of the fleet has not presented a problem to anyone but cruise ships scheduled to use the proposed new dock improvements. If the seawalk has damaged the memorial, then the head tax fund should be used to restore it. As for the intermediate dock, there is nothing sacred about it. Taku smokeries should be compensated for their interruption of business. The whole mess is a farce given the area of Gastineau Channel that ships can anchor in and liter passengers from.