I have been a Cordovan my whole life. My mother Alicia Long (Jensen) is from here, her father Herb Jensen, as well as his mother Dolly Scott (Nellie Clock), this continues on. I think it is important that I tell you my family line because I want you all to know that my family has been here through every tragedy and every good fortune, each generation with their own. COVID-19 is the first tragedy that I will be facing in my community, however I know and have grown up hearing the stories of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, 1964 Earthquake, the die off of our resources, war, epidemics and other smaller tragedies. One thing all of these have in common is the resiliency Cordovans have, we get pushed down and we help each other get back up. We support each other and realize that the only way we can come out of tragedies like the one we are facing today is standing strong together.
As we all navigate through these unprecedented times due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, our focus needs to be on the health and safety of our community, our local residents and our fishery. We have to understand that we must make considerable adjustments to our daily lives and operations. Cordovans need to put faith in the leaders of our community, our medical directors, tribal and city council representatives, along with all the other participants leading task force groups, and helping on the sidelines, we are all doing what we can to make sure our community will stay safe during these uncertain times.
First and foremost, we need our two governing entities to work together. The Native Village of Eyak and city of Cordova need to come together as one and use powers each one holds to benefit each other and the community. The two entities need to take a serious look at the small community emergency travel order and make our own exceptions and be in control of our own community. We should allow residents of Cordova to return, and also allow residents to leave and return for medical care due to the limited resources we have available. I believe that the only way we can limit the spread of COVID-19 to our community is to isolate, however I do not want you to confuse this with shutting the fishery down. I see these two ideas as separate. We must put the health and safety of our residents as our first priority and can isolate our community while still having a fishing season. I’m not sure how this will look but I know that our task force groups and committees can come up with ideas that will fit what we need.
Our community needs to understand that we are all intertwined with our fishery. We eat, sleep, and breathe the harvesting of salmon, and I think that we can all agree how sacred our natural resources are and the benefit they have to this community. Together, we need to step up and focus on how we can locally support this fishery. People who have lost their jobs can take positions in the cannery and on boats. We need to come up with a management plan with Fish and Game where we have shorter hours and more days so that we do not overload the canneries with fish. Subsistence must be another priority; we should allow more subsistence days and make sure that everyone in town has their home pack.
I believe we are too focused on “taking the right, legal” steps. We are in a state of emergency, this is a global pandemic and we need to act appropriately. We need to focus on the safety and continuation of our community and our fishery. The community of Cordova needs to quit taking sides and thinking us vs. them, we need to fight together and support one another.
I ask all of you, would you like human lives on our hands or money in our pockets?
Raven Cunningham is a member of the Native Village of Eyak Tribal Council and a board member for the Chugach Regional Resource Commission.
