Henry Kroll
3/28/2015
Sam
cotton, Commissioner
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
P.O. Box 115526
1255 W. 8th Street Juneau,
AK 99811-5526
Dear Sir:
In
future centuries historians may declare us insane!
About ten percent of the Amazon Basin contains soils called black
earth or Terra Preta soils that are known to be self-regenerating. They
typically found in plots of 20 hectors, but sometimes will cover areas as large
as 350 hectors. At every level they contain pottery shards and broken pieces of
ceramic. For this reason they are thought to be manmade approximately 11,000
years ago. The total area containing Terra Preta is estimated to cover an area
the size of France.
Unlike other soils that have to
remain fallow for long periods to regenerate Terra Preta soils grow cops larger
and faster in a shorter period of time without need of fertilizer and the land
can be better utilized. Tera Preta’s fame has grown to where it is mined and
sold as potting soil. If you are a farmer living off the land this kind of soil
can make the difference between prosperity and famine.
No one knows how or what is in these
soils that allow them to regenerate except that a single gram contains charred
carbon residue and as much as 10,000 individual species. According to William
Woods, soils scientist and geology professor at the University of Illinois,
Terra Preta contains billions of organisms.
My point is, we are seeing the devolution of a species. America has devolved to the point where we will be unable
to feed ourselves in a decade. Water shortages in California and other states
along with tornadoes and severe storms have made many farming areas impossible
to farm. Most all the soils are depleted and completely devoid of minerals. We
are all sick from lack of minerals in our diet and other causes such as
insecticide, GM foods which are insecticides, plastics and chemical
fertilizers. Our government has created an entire industry around treating the
sick.
Alaska has its own unique problems
in that it is difficult if not impossible to grow enough food here to feed its
population. Two missed shipments of food into Anchorage and you will see long
lines of people fighting over empty supermarket shelves.
The 22-million pounds Cook Inlet and
Kodiak king crab fishery is gone. The millions of pounds of king crab, tanner
crab, shrimp and halibut have been exterminated by oil tanker ballast water,
eight oil well blowouts and other pollution such as the 20-million gallon a day
sewage discharges from the Cities of Anchorage, Palmer, Wasilla and Talketna.
(See enclosed article.)
Now we have hundreds of outboard
motors (some boats running two 250-hp motors) running up and down the Kenai
River during the peak of the salmon runs. All of these motors discharge carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide into the river water. Water readily absorbs these
poison gases and they displace the oxygen in the water making it impossible for
the fish to breathe. The high horsepower motors stir up the sediments on the
river bottom further displacing the oxygen in the water and coating the gills
of the fish with decaying mud making it even more difficult for them to take in
oxygen. The high horsepower motors erode the banks further putting more mud
into the water coating the gills of the fish with mud.
Salmon now have to travel at least
six miles upstream at one mile per hour breathing polluted water. We don’t know
what that effect will have on future generations as the salmon may be weakened
from lack of oxygen to where they will be unable to make it all the way
upstream to spawn and the eggs may be polluted with carbon monoxide and other
chemicals.
I am not against the dip-net
fishery. People need fish and can dip-net fish from the banks of the river or
using row dories equipped with electric trolling motors like the sport drift
fishermen in the Kasilof River and other rivers will not harm the fish as much.
Then there is the safety factor. High power boats create huge waves making it
uncomfortable for everyone on the water. I witnessed two skiffs overturn in the
Kenai River last summer. One woman wearing a life vest floated down the river a
quarter of a mile before someone could lift her out of the cold water. It’s
amazing that no one has lost their life due to wake turbulence in the river.
The invention of the Lithium battery
makes electric outboards more practical. I am seriously considering buying one
for my set net operation on the west side of Cook Inlet. Using electric motors
does not stir up as much sediment and there is zero discharge of toxic gas into
the water. It is much benign. FYI there are electric motors on the market in
Australia and Mercury, Suzuki, Yahama, and Evenrude are all developing electric
outboard motors.
Please
pass this on to the Board of Fish. I hope that they will eliminate all gasoline
powered outboards discharging exhaust gasses in the rivers except for the four
cannery skiffs and one emergency boat.
I
am seriously considering going to electric outboard motors for my set-net
operation on the west side of Cook Inlet if this administration will let me
continue to fish.
Sincerely,
Henry Kroll
