Just to let everyone know that it is mainly Joey Lawrence and the new owner of Big Salmon pushing this. The new main owner is a guy from Forks. Both are owners. The Makaws are backing them. I made the phone call last night to Neah Bay to give Grandpa this info at our PSA meeting. A member came forward and told me this. I immediately went outside and started calling as I spend a lot of time at Neah Bay every year. I called a guide to find this out as Wendy is no longer there at Big Salmon. She was the business manager for the last couple of years. I could not get a hold of Joey yesterday or today. I called a friend of mine that runs a motel there and is on the PFMC for getting the Salmon allocation for area 4. He filled me in that everything stated sounds correct. A big Westport charter boat showed up unannounced and is there with their other boat, the Advantage. (this is part of the incident that started it) They do their own booking as some of the other bigger ones do. Big Salmon nor Neah Bay get a chunk of it. The regular Neah Bay Charters use local places to book them (this is already costing them). The 10% of their gross that Big Salmon wants will kill the smaller charters. It is to be paid up front monthly, as being required by Big Salmon. These charters have been using Makaw Fuel instead of Big Salmon's fuel. The fuel is cheaper there. Big Salmon makes a lot of money on fuel as they mark it up quite a bit. I think they were $.65 per gallon higher than Westport last year, and about the same higher than on the street gas stations. Big Salmon, besides the 10% gross they want from the charters, they are increasing the charter moorage from $2.95 per foot to $5.95 a foot. Also all charter passengers will have to check in at Big Salmon before going on the boats. They threw down the papers to the charters and told them sign it or leave. Big Salmon is trying to get the stronghold of Neah Bay again. Some have left and what I understand today maybe they are softening and will possibly go back and have a discussion tomorrow. This is not going to, supposedly, effect the private sport boats. But if it plays out bad, ultimately, it could start reallocating fish quotas in area 4. When they started with the permit to be on Makaw land a few years ago, friends of mine refused to but food or anything from Neah Bay that they did not absolutely have to. They used to buy everything from them. Does anybody remember back when LaPush burned down the buildings and ran the white man out. They became sorry very quickly when the money left with it. Is Neah Bay on the same track?
This saddens me very deeply as I spend about 3 weeks a year (for the past 10 years) out there and I know a lot of the charters and local businesses in Neah Bay that have nothing to do with this.