{"id":7184,"date":"2015-01-31T00:16:52","date_gmt":"2015-01-31T00:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/?p=7184"},"modified":"2015-01-31T00:16:52","modified_gmt":"2015-01-31T00:16:52","slug":"kitty-simonds-wants-feds-to-consult-with-her-on-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=7184","title":{"rendered":"Kitty Simonds Wants Feds to Consult with Her on Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted<\/strong>\u00a008\/29\/2012\u00a0<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, says she is \u201cgirding [her] loincloth\u201d and \u201csharpening [her] spears\u201d in an effort to get the federal government to consult with a new group she\u2019s helped to form. The news came in a press release distributed by Wespac\u2019s public relations officer, Sylvia Spalding, announcing formation of the group, called First Stewards, following a symposium held in July at the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Museum of the American Indian.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s way. The Newshour clip is at Simonds on Newshour<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now Simonds is demanding that the federal government consult with her on ways to \u201cstrengthen America\u2019s resiliency and ability to adapt to climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn our small islands in the Pacific, we indigenous Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, and Refaluwasch have survived for millennia by adhering to our ancestors\u2019 wisdom of fashioning tools, thatching roofs and conserving resources in preparation of anticipated weather, both good and bad,\u201d Simonds is quoted as saying. (Refaluwasch are the people of the eastern Caroline islands.)<\/p>\n

Simonds is vice chair of the First Stewards board of directors. Its chair is Micah McCarty, chair of the Makah tribe of Washington state.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued \u201cRules of Behavior\u201d to all agency employees stating that the use of NOAA computers is to be \u201conly for lawful and authorized purposes.\u201d Employees may use them for certain non-government purposes, but \u201conly during non-duty hours.\u201d NOAA is the parent agency of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which provides the budget for Wespac and seven other regional councils.<\/p>\n

One of the activities that is specifically disallowed is lobbying \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Environment Hawai`i<\/i> asked Spalding why Wespac would have issued a press release on behalf of First Stewards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have always supported indigenous fishing rights, traditional knowledge,\u201d Spalding said.<\/p>\n

When asked whether there was any official connection between First Stewards and Wespac, Spalding said, \u201cI\u2019m not sure how to take your question.\u201d<\/p>\n

We reframed the question: Was the press release issued in Simonds\u2019 capacity as Wespac executive director?<\/p>\n

\u201cUm, let me ask her that question,\u201d was Spalding\u2019s reply.<\/p>\n

Spalding said she would get back to us, but has yet to do so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,351,8],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-7184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change","category-eh-xtra","category-fisheries","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}