State Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, will chair the House Special Committee on Fisheries when the Alaska Legislature convenes on Jan. 15.
Seaton takes over for Rep. Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks, who chaired the committee the past two years.
It's a post Seaton has held previously in his legislative career.
It will be interesting to observe Mr. Seaton in this position. He has been in the legislature for 10 years and has a grand total of two items to hang his hat on: Geoducks and Vitamin D. He represents a district that has huge fishery management problems. Cook Inlet setnetters were closed down this year entirely. Mr. Seaton has ignored the plight of fishermen during his tenure, and has been unwilling to step up and lend a hand. As a fisherman in his district, I see "all hat" and "no fish".
ReplyDeleteCouldn't be said any better; however, I believe he ran un-opposed in the last election so we can't really complain.
ReplyDeleteMaybe those that say Seaton has done nothing don't realize he was the one that pushed a lawsuit forward to gain rights for crewmen when halibut and sablefish were privatized (though it failed due to not being able to trace all the crewmen down even though there is federal law that requires all vessels over 20 tons to maintain a contract with their crew). He understands the repercussions of giving rights to many that don't fish while the investor class takes over the fishery and leases the rights to fish back to those boots on deck fisherman that do all the work. So Paul already stuck his neck out far enough for the majority of us in the coastal communities that actually work on boats for subhuman compensation now while some guy sits in Seattle, Las Vegas, or in Norway and collects the majority of the profits. So like my mother told me, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." ~ Abraham Lincoln I'm not talking about the previous commentors. Paul would change privatization so that all of the quotas are controlled by only those that go fishing (with owner on board provisions like limited entry) as Clem Tillion designed it until guys like Kevin O'leary and those that wanted to Nick & Rob you of 65% of the profits as a faction controlled the council seats.
ReplyDeleteHey anon above, the point that the person above was trying to make was that Seaton fiddled while Rome burned. He has consistently refused to become involved in cook inlet fish issues, meanwhile a huge group of his constituents (setnetters) were put out of business this past summer, and it could happen again next summer!! if Seaton had even showed up at a board of fish meeting in the past 20 years and defended his constituents who are constantly being attacked by other legislators, it would be easier to give him a break. By his glaring absence he has contributed to the demise of cook inlet setnetters, and failed to support a huge segment of the economy. the person above nailed it: all hat, no fish!
ReplyDeleteOh, and Seaton is pro pebble mine too!!! He will not oppose it , so he must be for it.
Paul had opposition both in the primary and in the general election. He was primaried by a "tea party" guy and then an obscure dem.
ReplyDeleteSeaton's refusal to take a stand on the Pebble Mine issue is vexing to many of his constituents.
ReplyDeleteI live in Homer and have yet to see Seaton do anything . He schmoozes both left and right but avoids taking any positions. Totally ineffective.
ReplyDeleteseaton was the guy who raised the "takings" issue with pebble, scaring people into thinking that our PFD's would be lost if state didn;t give pebble permits. totally untrue and a very unfortunate scare tactic
ReplyDeletethe only reason seaton gets elected is that people either really dont know how ineffective he is in Juneau - or they really don't care - which in homer just about sums it up.
ReplyDeletePeople in homer really don't understand the depth of seatons ineffectiveness. He's got em fooled with the hat and the beard. If they bothered to look at his nonexistent record they might get it.
ReplyDeleteAll Hat and No Fish... Priceless!!!
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