From the Dec 13 – Dec 19, 2001 issue

News

Slipping Away

Fishers Accuse Port Commission of Fishy Gentrification Plot

by Rachel Joy Larris

On Tuesday, December 11, citing 30 percent vacancy rates, the Port of Seattle Commission looked at a resolution allowing pleasure boats to moor at the Fishermen's Terminal in Magnolia. (The vote hadn't happened by press time.) For 88 years, the terminal has served as a safe haven for the North Pacific fishing fleet, only allowing access to commercial and fishing boats. Peter Knutson, a member of the Puget Sound Gillnetters Association who vehemently opposes recreational moorage (and disputes the Port's 30 percent vacancy claim), says the proposal is part of a Port strategy to push out the fishing industry for more profitable recreational moorage, which could ultimately draw condos and commercial development. Port commissioners say they are just trying to keep the terminal fiscally viable.

"The Port Commission just wants us to take it on faith that it's for our own best interests," Knutson says.

A lot of fishers claim the Port Commission has allowed the terminal to get rundown so the Port could "save" it with retail development and recreational moorage.

"That's nonsense", says Port spokesperson Mick Shultz. The Port has just completed $9 million in electrical upgrades, with $25 million more in improvements planned, he says.

"Everyone agrees the Port would rather not do this. But the fishing industry has changed. A lot of the commercial fishing fleet has gone," Shultz explains. "It just makes sense to open ourselves up to other sources of revenue, which we then can plow back into capital improvements."

Other public ports, including those in Everett and Anacortes, currently allow recreational boats to moor in unoccupied commercial slips, and dual moorage has not been a problem. Commercial fishers still get priority spacing.

However, the situation at the Fishermen's Terminal is not exactly analogous. Commissioners will not just be sliding recreational boats into unused slips, but may create a dedicated dock for pleasure craft.

"They want to tear down Dock 10 and rebuild it for yachts," Knutson says. Dock 10, one of 13 docks at the terminal, is the choicest position because it's the only automobile-accessible dock.

Port Commissioner Pat Davis admits the plan would create a dedicated dock, perhaps Dock 10, for pleasure craft, in order to segregate the fishers from the recreational boaters. Yet Davis says this would not displace the North Pacific fishing fleet. If any commercial fisher needs a slip, Davis says, a recreational boater will have to move. (There are 371 slips at the terminal.)

Most fishers who work the terminal believe the Port Commission will get their recreational moorage someday. Much of the fishers' animosity toward pleasure craft is based on the belief that "yacht owners" look down on fishers.

"It's just like if someone moved in next to a pig farm," says fisher Dave Franklin. "After a couple of years they'll start complaining about the smell and want the farm to move."