Posted 08/29/2012
Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, says she is “girding [her] loincloth” and “sharpening [her] spears” in an effort to get the federal government to consult with a new group she’s helped to form. The news came in a press release distributed by Wespac’s public relations officer, Sylvia Spalding, announcing formation of the group, called First Stewards, following a symposium held in July at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.
While attending the event, Simonds was interviewed on the PBS Newshour, where she famously attributed the depletion of nearshore fisheries to tourists having overfed reef fish and suggested that if corals are being damaged as a result of more acidic oceans, they can simply be transplanted to places where they will be out of harm’s way. The Newshour clip is at Simonds on Newshour.
Now Simonds is demanding that the federal government consult with her on ways to “strengthen America’s resiliency and ability to adapt to climate change.”
“On our small islands in the Pacific, we indigenous Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, and Refaluwasch have survived for millennia by adhering to our ancestors’ wisdom of fashioning tools, thatching roofs and conserving resources in preparation of anticipated weather, both good and bad,” Simonds is quoted as saying. (Refaluwasch are the people of the eastern Caroline islands.)
Simonds is vice chair of the First Stewards board of directors. Its chair is Micah McCarty, chair of the Makah tribe of Washington state.
Spalding issued the press release at 11:10 a.m. on August 29 and provided a Wespac phone number as the contact. She also was using an email distribution list belonging to Wespac, an agency of the federal government.
In 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued “Rules of Behavior” to all agency employees stating that the use of NOAA computers is to be “only for lawful and authorized purposes.” Employees may use them for certain non-government purposes, but “only during non-duty hours.” NOAA is the parent agency of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which provides the budget for Wespac and seven other regional councils.
One of the activities that is specifically disallowed is lobbying – and the resolution of the First Stewards, which Spalding incorporated in her email, would seem to involve just that, since it calls on Congress to recognize the First Stewards as having expertise and to consult with the group on matters relating to climate change.
Environment Hawai`i asked Spalding why Wespac would have issued a press release on behalf of First Stewards.
“We have always supported indigenous fishing rights, traditional knowledge,” Spalding said.
When asked whether there was any official connection between First Stewards and Wespac, Spalding said, “I’m not sure how to take your question.”
We reframed the question: Was the press release issued in Simonds’ capacity as Wespac executive director?
“Um, let me ask her that question,” was Spalding’s reply.
Spalding said she would get back to us, but has yet to do so.
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