Fuglvog Pleads Guilty to Falsifying Fish Records – Heads for Canada
For background on this story, read The Mudflats’ previous post HERE.
What better way to spend a sunny summer morning in Anchorage, than to attend a nice arraignment in the Federal Courthouse. Today’s defendant is the man who is quickly becoming known as Alaska’s most infamous fish crook – Senator Lisa Murkowski’s top fisheries adviser, Arne Fuglvog. There were about a dozen observers in the courtroom, mostly media, and Fishermen’s News Magazine was hooked up via telephone.
No electronics are permitted in the court room, so you’ll have to rely on the drama and accuracy of my courtroom sketch. I think it really makes you feel like you were there.
The defendant, looking like anything but a commercial fisherman, was wearing a dark suit and purple tie, jaw clenched. By his side was his attorney, Jeff Feldman.
Alaska District Court Judge H. Russel Holland (who looks a bit like the love child of C. Everett Koop and the Pepperidge Farm guy) presided. Federal prosecutors stated that they were not seeking detention, so no bail was required of Mr. Fuglvog who, prosecutors said, had been “responsive” to all that was asked of him so far.
When Judge Holland asked if Fuglvog had a passport, and that it was time to relinquish it, Mr. Feldman asked that Fuglvog be allowed to keep it so he could go on a “long-planned’ 10 day trip to Canada this month. Not only was there no objection from the prosecution, there was no inquiry about the nature of the trip, whether it might include halibut or Pacific salmon treaty business, or what Fuglvog would be doing there.
Canada, guard your fish.
Prosecutors also indicated that the restitution portion of the sentencing would be fulfilled by community service.
Judge Holland finished explaining the details of what the government would have to prove if this were to go to a jury trial – that Fuglvog had knowingly submitted false commercial fishing records, and that the fish was slated for interstate commerce. When asked if he was sure he wanted to continue with the arranged plea deal, he said yes. “I plead guilty,” he told the court.
According to the judge, the violation for which he pleaded guilty can come with up to a year in prison and fines of $100,000, with a year’s supervised release, but indications were that Fuglvog would be providing the government with information, which could result in a reduction of his sentence. Exactly what the information might be, or who might be involved remains a mystery, as the plea deal which was submitted on August 1 is under seal.
In Fuglvog’s plea deal which he signed on April 8 of this year, he agreed to 10 months in prison and $150,000 in fines and penalties. Judge Holland gets to decide what if any reduction in sentence Fuglvog will receive.
Fuglvog had been Murkowski’s fisheries adviser from 2006 until July 31, when he resigned the day before he was formally charged and his plea agreement went public.
Murkowski has said that Fuglvog, despite having signed the plea agreement on April 8, did not tell her about it until June 29.
Fuglvog’s plea deal says he falsified records of his commercial catches several times between 2001 and 2006, a period during which Fuglvog helped regulate fishing off Alaska as a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
He admitted that in one 2005 incident he “covered up his illegal fishing” by claiming more than 30,000 pounds of sablefish, also known as black cod, were caught in the Central Gulf of Alaska region, rather than an area known as Western Yakutat.
The value of those illegally caught fish was about $100,000, according to his plea agreement.
Feldman left the courthouse with no comment while Fuglvog was going through processing. Later, the defendant exited alone, striding out of the courthouse flanked by reporters and photographers. He had no comment.
His sentencing has been set for November 18, at 9:30am. After that, he will be considered a convicted felon, which means he will need a special Ministers Permit for his Canadian vacations. Feldman had asked for an earlier sentencing date, and while the Judge requested that it be expedited, it didn’t seem likely due to the busy schedule ahead for the court in the coming months.
AKM, your courtroom illustration is perfection.
🙂 The attorney kinda reminds of Mister Peabody’s boy, Sherman, well, except, Sherman didn’t have pupils, but other than that…
P.S. Trevor McCabe’s brother-in-law is Jason Moore of MSI Communications who was paid $1 million+ from the Native Corporation slush “Alaskans Standing Together” to get people to write-in “Lisa MurCowSh!t”.
ah jeez…
will be poking around looking at places/projects you suggest…
the stench ain’t coming off spawned out fish anymore, is it?
crimenently.
Watching her get herself elected like that was nauseating. Failing to witness even one sitting Alaskan lawmaker call her out for it (you know what) has been almost too much to bear. The fact that Democrats let Joe Miller take the lead on that, says more about them than it does the quality of Alaska’s fringe candidates. There are good guys in there, but there must be a big elephant in Juneau to keep them from calling Lisa out. This silent approval starts somewhere.
Anyone who voted for Lisa should ask themselves if other people’s livelihoods are worth sacrificing as the price of admission to the “in crowd” country club. Because that’s the reality. People – Alaskans – lose their businesses only to watch them gifted to successors of the Corrupt Bastards Club. And not just in fishing.
The only difference between her an Miller is that his country club (church) is open to the public. More so than the Murkowski’s favorite hangout.
As for Scott, in Alaska, nice guys finish last.
MARAD is under considerable scrutiny for its (mis)handling of the Anchorage Port expansion project. There is an outstanding FOIA from CREW. Specifically their award of follow on (no bid) contracts to ICRC whose key executive is a former aide to Don Young.
And this isn’t the only project/expenditure MARAD has bungled.
If I were the betting type, I’d wager investigators have their sights set on Trevor McCabe who earns an exorbitant salary for “managing” a supposedly non-profit CDQ – which has made quite a show of relocating parts of its fleet to Seward.
Oversight of the CDQ program ended in 2005 per Frank The Bank. There is no publicly available resource to find out how many local folks they are training or employing in the industry. The best I can tell as of 2005, the CDQ program average annual pay for a district local was about $8000. I wonder how many local jobs could be funded instead of Trevor’s $500,000 a year?
Oh, that CDQ thing is even messier than being supposedly non-profit. It’s main corp is a 501 (c) (4) – social welfare league type non profit corporation. when it decided to fish it’s own quota it made a for-profit corporation to act as a feeder to the parent corp of monies gained from fishing.
(yup, on ol Fthe B being part of but Yon Dung the actual legislator of the curtain pulling across the stage routine that CDQs can operate under now.)
the for-profit feeders had Lisa carry, and Begich signed on later, a proposal to grant no tax liability to them… disappeared along the last budget time but really skunky…
Seward will hopefully be very, very careful about the set of proposals to house the fleet there (Parnell signed for feasibility studies for harbor upgrade?) -so it doesn’t get caught spending oodles of money and become the lackey of the corps’ bigwigs? hope hope.
Look deeper into these state funded dock improvements and feasibility studies (the survival rate of dock improvement funding is miraculous compared to the local energy projects Sean took an axe to). You’ll find a particular engineering group that has worked over numerous coastal city councils into awarding to them before the state funding was even secured. It’s as if they co.conceptualized the project, went to city hall to get someone there to approve it, then offered to lobby the state to pay for it. Look even deeper (pun intended) and you’ll notice a pattern of project failure and a superhuman ability to evade consequences – like someone has a really dirty and under-the-radar attorney. You know, one that might know Sean from his Conoco days.
According to the General Consulate of Canada in Seattle a person convicted of a crime in the U S that is also considered a crime in Canada is cosidered to be legally inadmissable to Canada. However, a person may apply for an Approval of Rehabilitation permit if five years have passed since the end of the felon’s sentence(this includes after serving parole if required) or if they can demonstrate compelling or urgent reasons they should be allowed to visit they can apply for a Temporary Resident Permit. I don’t think vacation is urgent enough reason for admissability. Canadians seem to be serious about DUI-either alcohol or drug impairment can keep you out of Canada.
Why is it that pajama-clad basement-hunkering bloggers can find this stuff out and those who are ‘in authority’, can’t? Seems to me Fuglvog’s lawyer would’ve advised him of such– or the judge would’ve brought it up… Might there be a distinction made for entry into Canada between pleading guilty to a felony and being convicted of a felony? beth.
I put this above at 5.2-
this is common practice or whatever the legal term is:
August 13, 2011 at 5:49 AM“Assistant U.S. Attorney Steward said in an interview that Fuglvog is not considered convicted until the sentencing is complete and the judge has accepted the plea agreement.”
http://www.adn.com/2011/08/11/2010441/ex-murkowski-aide-pleads-guilty.html#ixzz1UutsY8qL
Until the entire process is completed , including sentencing, he is not truly convicted.
Someone in an earlier post said the defendant has not been sentenced yet so he could skate on that ruling. I hope Sgt Preston of the RCMP and his faithful dog King? are on the alert for this ne’er do well..
well , at the very least, I hope the Salmon Guy is watching.and his faithful chum 🙂
Canada has it’s own set of very messy fish stuff going on too
http://www.salmonguy.org/?p=4302
I’d forgotten all about Salmon Guy! Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks, all. If I don’t know the answer to someting, all I have to do is ask: The Mudflats-Borg is incredible and pulls through with the information I need every single time! beth.
Resistance is futile.
😉 beth.
AKM…LOVED your illustration (especially the flag!)!
I have the unique experience of being the only art education major in college who couldn’t draw to save my life. People don’t understand how that is possible, but my skills were in other media such as painting, pottery, printmaking, etc. I was the ONLY one in my painting class who was permitted to work from photographs instead of my own sketches (my painting professor had taught one of my drawing classes so he knew!). I was quite good at drawing when it came to more graphic style…put a T-square and triangle in my hands and and ask me to design and draft a house (my project for sophomore graphic design class) and I’m a happy camper, but freehand drawing? Oy!
However…life drawing class was a painful and embarrassing experience for me AND the model. One of the models who posed for most of our classes would come around and look at our work during her breaks. I always apologized and assured her that she didn’t really look like that!
Actually, your courtroom sketch does remind me a lot of my work in life drawing classes…except for the fact that YOUR people all had clothes on!
And, by the way, someone who betrays the industry his family has worked in for generations and whose community depends on that industry for their livelihood…the WORST!
Ms. Devon,
I have read AK Mudflats from very near day one and you are part of my am blog reading (you are right after Steve Benen). Today was my first entry into comments. I had my reasons.
But…..THE DRAWING WAS PRECIOUS!!!!!!
I think he precided over my divorce in 01….an uncanny likeness if I may say so.
Thank you! And so glad you joined the comments. A “hushpuppy” no more! 🙂
I’m glad you spoke up too.
And those of us who rely on the Alaska Marine Highway System for our “roads” thank you for your years of service there.
I just think it’s hard to overstate the damage Mr Fuglvog has done on a variety of fronts, personal and professional. It’s up to him to sort out the personal but we will take awhile sorting out the professional. he has stood for powerful intersts in the catch -share experiment in federal fisheries here, interests which have had undue influence on the divvying up of the catch share pie. For him to also be a scofflaw as regards the catch share rules is just about as low as it gets.
“Well, lots of folk just have a hard time calling the kettle black. And for other reasons that the media doesn’t seem to think is important, the coastal communities in Alaska are drying up. Just this week I saw an article talking about the flight of permits from Bristol Bay, yanking the economic rug out from under those communities as well. Welcome to the world of privatization and consolidation of the fisheries resources. ”
http://alaskacafe.blogspot.com/2011/08/time-for-ufa-to-fess-up.html
Catch shares are tooted up as the best way to manage multiple issues in our state and federal fisheries here and the Alaskan experiment , at the federal level, is moving into other federal fisheries management areas nationwide right now. The method is embraced by many, too many to name here, as a win-win for everyone but I would say it has big holes in it.
Not the least of which are the scores of everyday people who are shut out.
http://vimeo.com/8645375
Mr Fuglgov helped shut people out and then he gamed the system which shuts them out.
Thank You Alska Pi for the explanations of the fishing issues. I now have a greater appreciation of the magnitude of Arne’s actions.
I have very much enjoyed the back and forth here and if I may say, I have become very homesick for Alaska and sailing the waters up there. I always loved how Alaskans take no sh*t and are so genuine. I miss steering through Raspberry Straights on a kickass tide or watching the northern lights on the mid-watch….sigh
Thank you everyone here for a virtual visit to what I still consider home.
Thank You Alaska Pi for your explanation of the fisheries issues. You have helped me have an understanding of the magnitude of Arne’s actions. I have appreciated this discussion (english majors too!) and feel I have had a virtual visit back to where I still condider home, Alaska.
I love no bullsh*t, outspoken, smart Alaskans and miss you all very much.
http://alaskaimagery.zenfolio.com/p682599391
C’mon on home for a few minutes berit 🙂
Drink your eyes full…
Oh WOW!!! Thank you…..now I am almost in tears.
Berit thank you for teaching me a new word. i love learning new things and the comments you generated are fantastic. you are now officially a Mudpuppy and very welcome.♥
Thank you Bubbles!
I have a comment to make that is off topic so I’m gonna switch to yesterday’s open thread. It is about race and its getting ugly fast.
Will the judge take away his ability to get a fishing permit/license in the future??? Would seem to be appropriate………
Being of unsound mind and body,I can see the defendant returning from Canada and claiming he has been punished enough by having just returned from a Socialist country and throw himself on the mercy of the court. That’s what I’d do.
LOL. yep.
Also, In my little fishing town here in Alaska it is a typical day in court when fish violators are allowed to go on “vacation.” Some fishermen just go fishing for a very long time. In foreign countries.
Loved your illustration!!! Made me laugh! Have to say though that I was surprised he was allowed to travel to Canada w/no questions asked.
Surprised he was allowed to visit Canada w/no questions asked. Amazing!
Slight goof on the above….sorry!
I cracked up looking at your sketch!!! You are genius!
I would think that Canada would have to send this man back to the US for skipping the country .Would he not be facing fines and or Jail time?
Wait a minute. He’s inadmissible, isn’t he? Federal law, illegal profit in excess of $100,000. Huh.
AKM, you have an unrealized career as a courtroom illustrator.
But speaking of crooks, WC remains outraged at the Fed decision on unindicted bribe recipient Ben Stevens. Outraged enough to write an open letter to Att’y General John Burns, asking why the state doesn’t take Ben Stevens down. The link is
http://wickershamsconscience.wordpress.com/
WC apologizes for flying another blog’s flag on your’s but the State’s failure to act is even more offensive than the Fed’s massive screwup.
What could the prosecutors do? Ben handed them a “get out of jail free” card from an old Monopoly game!
Oh so true. I recently heard some things about Ben Stevens from family in Alaska which I had not heard before. Icky poo doesn’t even begin to describe some of the slime hanging from that man – his attitude of scorn and entitlement makes me want to wash his mouth out with soap, just for starters.
Martha,
Ben was my Seantor when I lived in Anchorage…….he is …….a Carlie, Uncle, November, Tango and a mere shadow of Uncle Ted whom I feared but admired.
Humorous considering Burns bought his Fairbanks practice from Ted’s brother in law. Ben’s uncle.
AKM–if you drew a whole bunch of these pictures on the bottom of each page of your pad and then riffled them, couldn’t you make a cool movie? I’d watch it!
Great art work, although I did assume it was the lawyer who had the beard. I assume the long-planned visit to Canada is a fishing trip, of course.
The lawyer was the only clean-shaven one.
one guy looks like the Phantom from “Phantom of the Opera” =)
Why wouldn’t he be allowed to go (come) to Canada? It’s great here. We’ll straighten him out.
Canada has standards, and convicted felons are frequently excluded.
AKM, your drawing is hilarious, you need to be an newspaper court artist. =)
I must agree, a hidden talent!
I need to check on the pronunciation of this guy’s name. It blurs into Fug Vlog when I see it, then I have to wonder if the fug girls (www.gofugyourself.com) have launched a video version.
Great drawing, though, AKM!
It’s FOO-gul-vog. 🙂
Thanks, AKM! I’ll add a [Pepperidge Farm] cookie to the list of things I need to bring you should ever we meet.
Is it common that any convicted felon be allowed to keep a passport awaiting sentencing? I’ve never heard of that happening before, but I suppose it might have. Still, stinks of special treatment for the politically connected.
When did you live in Seward? I was on the Tusty from 1984-2001. Perhaps I helped push your car. How long have you been inDutch?
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Steward said in an interview that Fuglvog is not considered convicted until the sentencing is complete and the judge has accepted the plea agreement.”
http://www.adn.com/2011/08/11/2010441/ex-murkowski-aide-pleads-guilty.html#ixzz1UutsY8qL
Until the entire process is completed , including sentencing, he is not truly convicted.
I am a union mariner and work on maritime (merchant marine) personnel and training issues. I have met Arne in the Senators office in DC and he was very knowledgable and helpful in regards to our issues. Although I do not condon his behavior I will say that I am very sad he will not be there to help us in future. I suppose I am saying that the schadenfruede I am seeing evolve here could be toned down a bit. Let those without fault cast the first stone.
Maybe so, but he was stealing from you too. And falsifying the documentation, to boot.
I can’t speak for everybody, but I don’t steal. Hell, I can remember telling the kids in the grocery store that eating a grape is theft, that it adds up and it hurts everyone (rising prices to cover loss, monitoring shoppers, etc.). I am pretty certain I made it clear that we don’t DO that.
The saddest part of all this is the multitude of losses to the fishing and mariner communities.
I do think it is hardest when someone who should know better than anyone else what is right fails to do what is right
not just the once he accepted responsibility for ,which we might just shake our heads over and want to kick him in the shins for.
but the multiple times he is not be called to account for by plea bargain.
I can’t celebrate this conviction for multiple reasons but would like to see us look at how to make things work better in the future .
Bottom line though is that we do not want and cannot have scofflaws in positions of making decisions about fish they will not abide by themselves.
How does the saying go… “If you steal/lie, you may get ahead; but you can never go back.”
Indeed.
Did you ever steal candy or some other minor thing? Is it intent or the scale of your theft that damns you?
Just askin……….
Berit,
It isn’t about damnation, it is about the consequences of your actions in how they affect others who are innocent of your machinations. Tell us all please, is stealing elections tantamount to stealing candy?
I think whether a minor –or major– piece of candy was stolen or not, is not the point, here.
The point is that *while* in charge of the candy store and *while* advising on said candy store, a bunch of candy was stolen by the one in charge and doing the advising — a special trust placed in/on that person was violated. And to compound the violation of trust, specific, purposeful, multiple acts were deliberately taken by that person to cover up the fact that the candy was being stolen. The theft was no accident; it was completely and methodically intentional. Caesar’s wife, and all that… beth.
Actually Beth- the severity of the crime IS at issue here along with the fox-guarding-the-henhouse thingy.
The management program Mr Fuglgov personally benefitted from, legally and illegally, has had enormous effects here. One piece of it, crab rationalization , had immediate and dramatic effects on multiple communities.
“The management plan was touted as a way to end the frantic race for crab on the high seas by assigning quota shares to harvesters and processors. In communities like Kodiak and King Cove, officials said the economic impact continues to be brutal, with the loss of jobs and business in their communities.
“When they went from 250 to 88 vessels in one year, that’s not a reduction. That’s a collapse. That’s a wipe-out,” said Kodiak Borough Mayor Jerome Selby.”
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/011506/hom_20060115012.shtml
“Steve Branson, also of Kodiak and the Crewman’s Association, also was critical of the current program. Branson said that crab rationalization has resulted in massive job loss, capital flight, coercion against testifying crewmen, wonton waste of salable crab, capture markets, rapidly diminishing allowable harvest and loss of revenue to fishing communities that house the crab fleet and its pre-crab program participants.”
http://alaskanewspapers.com/article.php?article=1049industry_asked_to_help_resolve_crab_issues
I do not think it possible to overstate how severe his cheating on a program he helped promote and which has cost so many everyday people their livilhoods is. That he went on to work in DC is a further slap to all who are still struggling to figure out how to adjust to being the “collateral damage” of these schemes .
Yes, Alaska Pi – because he was advising on and designing regulations and legislation for others to follow that he had no intention of following himself, his despicably brazen actions do carry –and should be judged as having– much more weight. You are absolutely right on that — my comment/response was way too narrow in focus [on the (generic) theft, itself, not on the magnitude of its impact.] Sorry. beth.
Questions for Berit, since you know Arne: What Merchant Mariner Credentials does Arne have that would qualify him to work on merchant maritime issues? And, qualified or not, what specific issue or regulation did he “help” with?
I am very glad that this thief will no longer have any input on maritime or fishing issues.
As far as I know he has no USCG credential but he was helpful with support for the Maritime Workforce Development Act (Section 602 of HR3619) which would have provided direct Gov loans through MARAD for hawsepipers as well as grants for developing regional maritime training programs. I am assuming you know what hawsepiper means. The language was in the US Coast Guard Authorization as it passed the House last year but but did not survive the conference due to Senator DeMint and other factors. Senator Murkowski has always been supportive of the US Merchant Marine and was supportive of this legislation.
That being said….I am in no way defending Arne’s criminal behavior, but the vitriol here is no better than the right wing stuff I here elsewhere.
i disagree, berit.
the folks who comment here are very well spoken and educated in their comments.
i see no “vitriol” in their words.
Fawnskin,
Thank you for you gentle input…..you were correct at the time, but see how it devolved later…..
Replying to the comment after this by Berit in which it is claimed that we should see how it devolved later. Aside from the fact that he/she apparently is unaware of the meaning of the word devolve, it is quite clear from the subsequent commenatry that the predicted vitriol is absent. Pathetic really.
” vitriol here is no better than the right wing stuff I here elsewhere.”
Vitriol? Please cite.
vit·ri·ol (vtr-l, -l)
n.
1.
a. See sulfuric acid.
b. Any of various sulfates of metals, such as ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, or copper sulfate.
2. Bitterly abusive feeling or expression.
tr.v. vit·ri·oled or vit·ri·olled, vit·ri·ol·ing or vit·ri·ol·ling, vit·ri·ols
To expose or subject to vitriol.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin vitriolum, from Late Latin vitreolum, neuter of vitreolus, of glass, from Latin vitreus; see vitreous.]
I’m not seeing anything posted here that descends to the level of vitriol. But if you are willing to post specific examples from this site, I’ll certainly read them.
Perhaps I am guilty of a bit of hyperbole, but I think us progressives should be more inclined to examining the issue before we pile on. English majors among us please be gentle.
Berit- hyperbole, name calling, rooster hopping,vitriol and the whole routine are on display over at the Deckboss blog on his posts about Mr Fuglvog. People are furious that he let a whole notion of fisheries management down with his selfish behavior.
It’s not a stretch to say that his is likely the face on the dart board round many watering holes right now.
I’m glad he did a portion of his job for Senator Murkowski well but it doesn’t change what damage a thief on the NPFMC has done to an already shaky acceptance of federal fisheries management policy.
It’s pretty darn tame here.
Well, excepting for AKM’s foray into courtroom portraiture.
I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants.
Vitriol? I appreciate your input as someone who knows the man and has seen good work of his, but I have no idea how you have labeled the very mellow comments here as vitriol. Weird, just weird. And then to go on to bringing up right wing stuff – that’s even weirder. This is not about left and right, progressives and conservatives. I don’t care what his party affiliation is and that has absolutely nothing to do with him stealing Alaskan resources, esp. while in a position of power and influence.
I am an independent voter, resident and thinker who will never be affiliated with a party as long as I live – and I’m awfully tired of people trying to turn real issues into political issues by lining up on one side of the fence or the other as if there are only two choices. You did that immediately yourself as soon as you used “vitriol” and “right wing” in a perfectly reasonable set of comments. Why? What is the purpose? Why would you negate your own favorable observations of previous work done by this man by doing so?
As an Alaskan I am very upset with this situation, and I also think it’s absolutely ridiculous that he’s being allowed his vacation. Actually, I’m more upset with him asking for it than it being granted. If he had true shame and regret, he would be acting as such and he is not. For me that is really hard to stomach, and definitely turns my sights and ears away from hearing positive things he has done. He needs to take a lesson from Robert Downey Jr. and not his political cronies. I’ve had enough of this crap from people who consider Alaska a place to steal what they can get away with.
Berit, I know very well what the term “hawsepiper” means since I am a “hawsepipe” Unlimited Third, Oceans. But thanks for verifying that Fuglvog has no USCG credentials.
Cool, who are you sailing with? I am an almni of AMHS and Matson. AB/Bosun…female
DEFINITION OF HAWSPIPER
A Chief Mate (C/M) or Chief Officer, usually also synonymous with the First Mate or First Officer (except on passenger liners, which often carry both), is a licensed member and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship’s cargo and deck crew.[1] The chief mate is responsible to the captain for the safety and security of the ship. Responsibilities include the crew’s welfare and training in areas such as safety, firefighting, search and rescue. The Chief Mate is second in command on merchant ships that do not carry a Staff Captain.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/first-mate#ixzz1Uw5sSkvO
heh heh. now i know what a Hawsepiper is. learn something new on the Flats everyday.
Actually, it is a mariner that has acheived thier mates license without going to a Maritime Academy. Kind of an OJT approach. For example if I as an Able Seaman wish to get a 3rd Mates Ocean license I would under the new international regulations have to take some 16 odd certification courses to the tune of circe $17K in tuition alone. I you are not lucky enough to live where the Coast Guard approved courses are given (such as AVTEC in Seward or PMI in Seattle) you would need to factor in travel, room and board. Through a demonstration grant we found that a working mariner would be taking these courses (usually1-2 weeks in length) incrementally and the average time to complete all required certs was 2-21/2 years.
Now the term hawsepipe comes from when the sailors lived in the focsle and if they got a license they were said to have climbed up the hawsepipe (to the wheelhouse).
I think hawsepipers usually make better Mates and Captains as they have a greater knowledge of all the aspects of our work. I may get some shit for this from the Academy grads but so be it.
He will not be in Lisa’s office anymore because of his own behavior. As a former fisherman, I can say that this type of crime is absolutely the worst. He damaged the resource by overfishing. He damaged all fishermen by casting doubt on our ability to follow the rules and to self-police. As I have read in Shannyn’s posts in the past, fishing is not a job, it is a lifestyle. This man is not a fisherman; this man is a thief and a liar, and does not belong in a position of authority anywhere.
This man did fish and he is (I think) a 3rd generation Petersburg fisherman. A squarehead like me. You cannot change this by your comment. That said, he DID COMMIT A CRIME and has just fallen from on high.
Catching fish does not make you a fisherman. An old fisherman in Petersburg told me that years ago. Also, my dad, a lifetime sailor, taught me that sailors and fishermen are all people that live by a differant set of rules. Breaking the rules on board is not allowable. Especially if you are the ‘old man’
You in the merchant marine may have your own rules, but my father and my uncles were old school and that is where I got my training. If he is 3rd generation Petersburg fishing family, he should be especially embarassed at what he has done.
Sorry, my built in weird detector finds this comment strange as well. You could have stopped after the sentence that ends with “to help us in the future”. The addition of the last two sentences just created a divisive, defensive tone.
schadenfruede – pleasure derived from the misfortune of others ( I did have to look this up – good word!)
Not only is the post itself humorous with a light tone, I absolutely don’t see anyone deriving pleasure here. If you look at the Alaskan’s comments (which mostly appeared after this weird statement by you) you will find anger, sadness, disappointment, worry. This is one of our most precious resources, and should be easily described as “renewable” as well, but even that is coming into question with gold mining, coal mining, overfishing, stealing…and weird scientific stuff we don’t quite understand yet.
Arne’s punishment is a “misfortune”? Excuse me – WTF?
Let’s not cast stones unless we haven’t done it ourselves? Sure, here’s a whole bunch of stones I’m throwing in Arne’s direction which he richly deserves to be buried up to his neck in for awhile (not to hurt him but to embarrass him). Hmmmm, can I really say that because I haven’t stolen fish and lied about it? I follow rules to the “T”, in fact to a fault most of the time. Stealing resources in Alaska would be something I could only do if I were dead. Being dead would make that very difficult to do as well.
Dear Martha, Thank You for the thoughtful comments. To disclose a bit more I am a woman merchant marine that worked as a Bosun/deckhand on the AK State ferry Tustumena for 17 years and then moved into labor/union training. I have sailed her up and down the chain in all seasons and love places like Chignik and Akutan. I have lived in both Seward and Anchorage until my work made it difficult to stay in state. I had a wonderful 23 years and would come back if I could do what I do in AK. Most of my friends work on the water.
That said, I was trying to impart that a person is not one thing but has also the capablity to do good things as well. This crime was of course a VERY BAD thing but I wanted to present another side of Arne that I had experienced.
Thank you also, for responding. I completely understood what you were saying about Arne’s good works, his capability for assisting with important policy – and all folks should all be so lucky that people who know them should speak on their behalf during a difficult or dark time. Sometimes we can be both surprised and sad that someone we know has been caught in a transgression, I have been there more than once.
My personal shame test is whether someone acknowledges the harm to all involved parties with sincere regret, hopefully causing a personal epiphany which can make them a better person in the long run. Arne isn’t passing that test of mine, so he’s pissing me off. ‘Nuff said.
I love the Tusty! It’s been many years, but visiting and moving to Kodiak for a short time were times full of stories for me – lots of stuff happening in my life, and lots of stuff happening on the trip itself! You should have seen the size of my eyes when they pushed on my car (it died in the parking lot), took it down on the lift, and then chained it to the deck with those yellow round thingies – it was December. “Why are you chaining my car to the deck? They never do that in Southeast!” (although they have those yellow thingies). The guys looked at me, first with a smile – then a laugh and a wave as they hurried on to finish chaining other cars down. I guess they figured it was obvious! They could have called me a clueless Southeast tourist but if they did, it was behind my back. Those same guys pushed me back off the ferry with a smile (bless their hearts) and they knew I wouldn’t be asking that question again. I lived in Seward, too – it’s possible that we’ve met.
OOPPPSS!!
says:
August 12, 2011 at 6:29 PM
When did you live in Seward? I was on the Tusty from 1984-2001. Perhaps I helped push your car. How long have you been inDutch?
I was going to and from Kodiak a couple years before you were working on the ferry. Seward, around the oil spill. But hey, I’m only 25 so I’m not sure how I fit all that in!
Berit Be real. This guy falsified records on hundreds of thousands of dollars of catch that was taken from the wrong areas, from what it sounds like. It’s like saying you got a great deal buying a car from some guy, but it turns out the guy is serial raper and killer. Would still want the guy on the streets with your daughter? Arne was fishing illegal while making decisions on a federal fisheries council. Were his votes bought and sold? What has he done that we don’t know about? This guy was leading fishery policy for a US Senator and he’s a criminal so everything he’s done should be in doubt. If you were a commercial fisherman like me, you’d be pissed off that he didn’t tell Murkowski earlier. Or did he tell her , but they kept is concealed? He has no business crossing a border to another country while he awaits trial. Treat him like any other purported criminal, remember he has already plead guilty. Arne has an agreement to give information about someone or something, but how do we know he’s not just blowing smoke up someone tailpipe? Better get his Passport Judge, or otherwise he’s a flight risk. He deserves no special treatment!
Berit, for you to use scripture to justify stealing is an old republican trick. You should be ashamed.
For this guy to do this while Alaska Native Women have been cited, arrested, fined and jailed for subsistence fishing is disgusting. For Lisa to keep this guy on staff speaks volumns about her character..or lack of. No wonder she was quiet while the people in Marshall were in crisis.
Telling people to tone is down is nothing but code talk for shut up and take it.
As for those without fault casting the first stone……(toss…thunk…plink…)
There is so much shadiness to this story. And then, MKM, it happens on the same day that Ben Stevens appears to have gotten off without a scratch. Are we, as citizens of Alaska, to always be discounted and ridiculed because of the apparent infinite ‘corrupt bastards’ loose in our presence.
I’m interrupting this article and thread to share this observation from Randi Rhodes about our quitter (not quilter):
” But then to be fair, Sarah Palin isn’t wanted anywhere. She’s is starting to seem like those insane protesters from Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church. She just shows up outside of other people’s events and gets as much attention as she can and everybody gets disgusted. “
Love, LOve, LOVE that quote about $narah!
Wouldn’t it be something if this was the beginning of government expose. Perhaps there is a mole
inside Alaska state gov. which makes me wonder what Fuglvog’s cooperation will turn on.
Why do you suppose the judge let this guy go to Canada?
I laughed so hard when I saw the little Canadian flag I woke up Morrigan. Brilliant artistic rendition!
Excuse me–is this Morrigan who was so very active on the tremendous Canadian web site “Heartless…” (I don’t want to activate the censor button)? If yes, I loved her writing.
Morrigan is Linda’s baby. she is a sweet young lady.