[env-trinity] Photo Essay: Zeke Grader, Legendary Fish Advocate, Honored at Sausalito Gathering

Tue Apr 14 09:54:58 PDT 2015

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/04/13/18771060.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/12/1377266/--Fishery-Legend-Zeke-Grader-PCFFA-Executive-Director-Honored-At-Sausalito-Gathering
Photo: Representative Jared Huffman and Zeke Grader display the  
Congressional Proclamation honoring Zeke for four decades of  
advocating for fishery conservation. Photo by Dan Bacher.

800_zeke_and_jared.jpg
original image ( 5184x3456)

Zeke Grader, Legendary Fish Advocate, Honored at Sausalito Gathering

by Dan Bacher

Hundreds of people attended an event honoring Zeke Grader, Executive  
Director of The Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations  
(PCFFA) and The Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR) on Friday,  
April 10, at the Bay Model in Sausalito.

A number of special guests spoke at the celebration, including  
Representative Jared Huffman. Congressman Mike Thompson and former  
Congressman and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave moving video  
tributes in recognition of Zeke’s many accomplishments, while members  
of his family told stories about Zeke’s adventures growing up in Fort  
Bragg, California.

Probably the most entertaining moment of the evening was when Linda  
Sheehan of the Earthlaw Center and her daughter, Maddie Sheehan, who  
is the Bingham Fellow at the Institute for Fisheries Resources,  
performed a humorous song about “Zeke, Our Hero,” to the accompaniment  
of a ukulele.

Zeke is so respected that people who were sometimes at odds with him,  
such as representatives of environmental NGOs who pushed through the  
privately funded Marine Life Protection (MLPA) Initiative, were there  
to honor him, as well as agency and water board officials that he has  
often clashed with. Charter boat skippers, recreational anglers and a  
who’s who of the fishing and environmental communities of California  
attended the event.

I have known Zeke for 30 years and admire him for his understanding of  
the big picture of fisheries and conservation in California and across  
the world. We both spoke together at an environmental forum in Oakland  
several years ago on the threats to fish, rivers and the ocean.

We worked closely together for the passage of the Central Valley  
Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) of 1992, for the removal of Klamath  
dams, against the peripheral tunnels, against the approval of  
genetically engineered salmon, against the privatization of the  
oceans, and most recently, in the campaign opposing Governor Jerry  
Brown’s Proposition 1 water grab.

Zeke's organization also participated in the protests against the WTO  
meeting in Seattle in 1999, as well as the protests and forums at the  
WTO Agricultural Ministerial in Sacramento in June 2003.

Whenever I wanted to get a good quote for a story, I would call Zeke.  
One of his best quotes was in 2006 when the Bush administration was  
trying to close down the salmon season in a cynical move to allegedly  
“protect” Klamath River.

Zeke famously pointed out that without efforts to address the root  
causes of the salmon fishery's decline, “Putting fish back into a  
river that's killing them makes as much sense as tossing virgins into  
a volcano."

I also called Zeke last year about his take on a bill sponsored by  
Senator Hannah Beth Jackson to protect a marine protected area, the  
Vandenberg State Marine Reserve, from oil drilling, due to loopholes  
in both the California Coastal Sanctuary Act and the Marine Life  
Protection Act Initiative. Grader, who supported the bill, pointed out  
how the very need for the bill "highlights what a failure the MLPA  
Initiative was.”

“If these are true marine protected areas, they why are we allowing  
drilling and other insults to the ocean in them?” asked Grader. “The  
whole MLPA Initiative was a phony process that provided an opportunity  
for Big Green and government bureaucrats to write press releases  
claiming these were ‘protected areas’ when in reality the fishermen  
and Tribes got screwed. We should have bans on oil drilling in all of  
the marine protected areas."

Grader started as a youngster in the family seafood distribution and  
marketing business, the Grader Seafood Company in Fort Bragg, where in  
order to protect their resources, they began to think about  
sustainability in California - back in the 1950s. The salmon  
restoration effort toward sustainability started in California around  
1956.

“If it wasn't for this early initiative, we might not have salmon in  
this state, because development pressures would have just destroyed  
the fish had there not been a consortium of commercial and sport  
fishermen,” commented Mary Jane Schramm, a spokesman for NOAA Gulf of  
the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. “There weren’t many  
conservationists or fishery biologists around back then.”

Zeke Grader spoke at the event with usual great sense of humor. “My  
parents allowed me to be a free range child and they allowed me to  
pursue a free range career. My job was very easy and fun," he stated.

Zeke said he will be now breaking in his replacement as Executive  
Director, Tim Sloane.

“This has been an incredible run,” said Zeke.“This battle is not over  
year and we need to stay strong fighting.”

Congressman Mike Thompson commented in his video address, “As head of  
the PCFFA, he went to work defending fishing families. He was  
instrumental in the creation of the salmon stamp that has helped put  
back millions of salmon into the rivers and ocean.”

He also described Zeke’s incredible work ethic. “I could call him from  
Washington and Zeke would already be in his office at 5 am. If a  
fishing family in Eureka needed help, Zeke would get on the road at  
2:00 am and come back to work in the office the same day,” said  
Thompson.

Zeke and members of fishing groups and Indian Tribes also accompanied  
Thompson to dump hundreds of dead, rotting salmon in front of the  
Secretary of Interior’s Office in Washington DC in September 2002 when  
the Bush regime killed over 80,000 salmon on the Klamath, according to  
Thompson.

“Zeke is an effective advocate for fishery families because he knows  
everything,” quipped Thompson. “Zeke, you put two lifetimes of work  
into one! Enjoy your well-earned retirement.”

Congressman Jared Huffman gave a history of Zeke’s accomplishments  
including stopping the expansion of offshore oil drilling the North  
Coast, the passage of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, and  
the lawsuit/settlement compelling the restoration of the San Joaquin  
River below Friant Dam. Zeke, a lawyer, was one of the original  
plaintiffs in the lawsuit when Huffman was a lawyer for NRDC.

Huffman focused on Zeke’s famous appearance on the Sean Hannity Show  
in 2009, when he crushed the shameless supporter of subsidized mega- 
farmers in a debate. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOf-11wmlY_

Hannity wanted to interview an “environmental wacko,” but instead they  
got Zeke Grader, a defender of thousands of fishing industry jobs and  
the fish that they depend on, said Huffman. “Sean Hannity barely got a  
word in,” quipped Huffman, before he read part of the transcript of  
the show.

Zeke said, "Sean, I think what you have to realize is we're not just  
talking about the Delta smelt - we're also talking about salmon. These  
salmon are food - they provide jobs for people. You need to come up  
and provide some balance here. I want you come up to the North Coast,  
the place where I'm from, Fort Bragg, not one of your studios, Sean.  
You come up to Eureka and visit with the unemployed fishermen there  
and give this some balance. Because let me tell you - the Delta smelt  
did not cause the problem with those farmers."

Huffman also pointed out how when Zeke was asked to sign on to a  
letter by environmental NGOs, he would ask them “if the letter is  
tough enough.”

“If wasn’t tough enough, he wouldn’t sign it,” said Huffman.

Mary Jane Schramm pointed out that few people know that in addition to  
advocating for healthy fishing practices and sustainable uses of  
fisheries habitat, Zeke championed legislation to protect Great White  
Sharks, as a means of keeping this important predator as a natural  
system of "checks and balances" for seal and sea lion populations,  
which compete with fishermen for salmon and other fish.

Zeke has also worked with the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine  
Sanctuary to ensure that the local fishing community is valued as a  
Maritime Heritage resource, according to Schramm.

As somebody who has worked with Zeke for over 30 years on numerous  
issues, I salute him as a true modern day environmental hero with a no- 
nonsense attitude.

Zeke, a former Marine, has served as a relentless defender of fishing  
families not only in California but across the world, and developed a  
close working relationship with Indian Tribes and recreational  
anglers, as well as with environmentalists and human rights activists.  
I wish the best to Zeke and his family in his retirement!

The PCFFA, a federation of 25 different port and fishermen's marketing  
associations from San Diego to Alaska, is the largest trade  
association of commercial fishermen on the West Coast. Grader has been  
its executive director for over three decades and has been involved in  
the fishing industry his entire life.
§Zeke and family
by Dan Bacher Monday Apr 13th, 2015 6:55 PM

800_zeke_and_family.jpg
original image ( 5184x3456)

Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the PCFFA, is surrounded by his  
family at the event honoring him in Sausalito on April 10. Photo by  
Dan Bacher.
§Zeke speaks
by Dan Bacher Monday Apr 13th, 2015 6:55 PM

800_zeke_horizontal.jpg
original image ( 5184x3456)

Zeke speaks briefly after the program of speakers honoring him. Photo  
by Dan Bacher.
§Linda Sheehan
by Dan Bacher Monday Apr 13th, 2015 6:55 PM

800_linda_sheehan.jpg
original image ( 3456x5184)

Linda Sheehan and her daughter, Maddie Sheehan, sing a song about Zeke  
Grader, "Our Hero." Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Felix Smith
by Dan Bacher Monday Apr 13th, 2015 6:55 PM

800_felix_smith.jpg
original image ( 5184x3456)

Felix Smith, Save the American River Association Board Member and the  
US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who was the whistleblower in  
the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge scandal, was one of hundreds of people  
who attended the program honoring Zeke Grader. Photo by Dan Bacher.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20150414/ca0e1c50/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 800_zeke_and_jared.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 243562 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20150414/ca0e1c50/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 800_zeke_and_family.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 308939 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20150414/ca0e1c50/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 800_zeke_horizontal.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 228493 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20150414/ca0e1c50/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 800_linda_sheehan.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 251624 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20150414/ca0e1c50/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 800_felix_smith.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 289572 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20150414/ca0e1c50/attachment-0004.jpg>