In Preemptive Defense of Shannyn Moore

I was told that Arnie Fuglvold was under possible investigation on the evening of Friday December 5th, 2008.  I was in the F Street Station, meeting three other people, two of whom are among the most knowledgeable there are about North Pacific fishery issues.

I was asked not to write or talk about what I was told.  I agreed.

I was told other things at that meeting about Arnie and about some of the other fishermen who were then considered to be both at the top echelon of Alaska highlining fishers, and future political prospects.

The last time I remember talking about Arnie's case was in June 2009.  After that, the issue sort of left my screen, as I figured his case had been passed over, or someone had intervened to end any investigation.

I have no doubt that what Shannyn Moore has revealed this week on her radio show and through her interview on this case, and her efforts to get the facts out on this is true.  She should be credited for her discretion and persistence. 

She should probably also be credited with the way the Anchorage media is - at least so far - pursuing Sen. Murkowski for an honest answer on, as the Alaska Dispatch wrote Wednesday, "Who knew what and when." 

Moore also raises questions about how the State of Alaska handled their pursuit of Fuglvold's criminal activity that should be pursued by Alaska's flagship media outlets.  She claimed on her radio show Wednesday that the case files on this went inactive when the investigator initially assigned to look into this and other violations by the Petersburg fisher was reassigned to another job.  When was that?  Who were the troopers?  Why did the reassignment happen when it did?

I can't imagine any scenario in which Sen. Lisa Murkowski cannot have known this was coming down the pike for months, if not longer.  I've been told that Sen. Mark Begich's fisheries staff have known this was coming for "most of the year."

The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council has always been a corrupt body.  It always will be, the way it is set up to operate, promoting people like Arnie and worse.  It is designed to carefully - yet carelessly - loot our seas of our kids' future employment out there as fishers, so that foreign companies can take their money out of our state, out of our country.  Politicians like Lisa and Mark are rewarded amply for fucking us over, through the policies of this terribly iniquitous managing body.