PCFFA

Mark Twain once characterized California as the place where “Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over.” Unfortunately, that has never been truer than with the recent re-ignition of California’s festering water wars by Big Agribusiness. We are not talking about small, independent, salt-of-the-earth farmers. California Central Valley agribusiness has not been based on small-scale, independent, mom-and-pop farming operations for many decades. The whole agricultural production system of the California Central Valley was consolidated and corporatized long ago. The largest Central Valley Project (CVP) “farmer,” for instance, is Richland Oil. Most real farmers still there are just modern-day indentured servants. The politically powerful Westlands Water District, for instance, ha...

By Mike Conroy When I last put finger to keyboard (March 20th) I had not yet “officially” taken the reigns at PCFFA; but the landscape of our industry was changing. In my last article, I opined that California’s commercial fishing industry was in peril. Four weeks later, while I am still fearful for our industry, there are some things we can embrace and see faint glimmers of hope in. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is everything bad we thought it would be – and more. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, the curve has flattened, and we are able to breathe a little easier. After the initial shock associated with multiple shelter-at-home orders began to subside, I noticed resolve. Bob Vanasse, from Stove Boat Communications and Saving Seafood, spearheaded industry coordination resulting...

By Mike Conroy In April, Noah Oppenheim departed PCFFA to return to the East Coast. As he noted in his departing column in April’s issue of Fishermen’s News, during his three-year tenure as PCFFA Executive Director, he accomplished a great deal of good for our West Coast fleet, expertly steering us through several near disasters. I am excited to be taking the helm as the incoming Executive Director of PCFFA. When I first sat down to write this, I had intended for it to be about me; but given the very real challenges we are facing, I am going to present an abridged version. I started working on fishing boats during High School and continued during summers while I attended college. I have operated both charter vessels off the Southern California Coast and commercial fishing vessels ...

By Noah Oppenheim Three years ago I wrote my first Fishermen’s News column for PCFFA. This one is my last. It has been quite a trip running this organization. Doing this job has put me deep in the trenches on an extraordinarily broad set of issues. Every day has been different, and I’ve met hundreds of people who I deeply respect and admire for their dedication to the cause. I’m going to miss it. For the past three years I have had the privilege of serving as a leading voice in defense of your profession in the halls of power, engaging in fights that are always worth fighting, and securing victories that make the fishing industry, and the world, a better place. It will be tough to leave this opportunity behind. These are difficult times for commercial fisheries on the West Coas...