December 2006 Meeting Re Lau Lau Bay Launching Project

This was the December 2006 meeting I arranged with CRM officials to meet with Herman Tudela, the leader of the Traditional Fishermen's Group advocating that the government allow small fishing boats to launch from this Lau Lau Bay site.
View of the southern end of the Bay.
Kathy Yuknavage (CRM), Angelo Villagomez (RC&D), Herman Tudela (leader of Traditional Fisherman Group), Tim Lange (CRM), and Gen Cabrera (HPO).
Clockwise: Gen Cabrera, Kathy Yuknavage, Rep. Cinta Kaipat, Angelo Villagomez, Herman Tudela, Tim Lange
I invited CRM to this meeting for an informal informational assessment meeting to see if a compromise could be reached to enable the launching while complying lawfully with our regulatory agency regulations.

One of the things Angelo and I suggested to Herman Tudela in November when we first met was to gather all the stakeholders together (other potential users of the area, divers, landowners, etc.) for a public discussion on this. We said that there should be a "give and take" on this -- that, in exchange for allowing the launching, that the fishermen help discourage driving on the beach and littering, among other things.
Herman Tudela was enthusiastic about this approach and said he could get the local fishermen to go along with this proposal.
Everyone agreed that having a cooperative agreement between the public and government in which everyone agreed to abide by the rules was preferrable to legislation at this time. In fact, legislation would be a "last resort."
Back row: Herman Tudela, Tim Lange, Angelo Villagomez. Front fow: Rep. Cinta Kapat, Gen Cabrera, and Kathy Yuknavage. Thanks, team!
Note: Not pictured was John Starmer (CRM), who was present earlier. Thanks, John.

November 2006 Meeting Re Lau Lau Bay Launching Project

I have been working with Herman Tudela, leader of the traditional fishermen's group, since last year. Herman first came to me to seek my assistance in getting a permanent boat launch site designated for the local fishermen to launch their small fishing boats from the Lau Lau Bay lagoon. The Saipan Tribune ran a story on this today. You can read the article here.

After our initial meeting, I arranged for our first on-site visit in order to gain a better understanding of the issue. I invited Angelo Villagomez, Public Involvement Coordinator for Marianas Resource Conservation Development, to assist me in helping the fishermen. Gen Cabrera, historian for the Historic Preservation Office at the time, was also present. Here are some photographs taken that day.










I am a firm believer in maintaining our traditional cultural practices while respecting the need to maintain our laws and regulations necessary to preserve and conserve our natural resources. The right balance of both must be achieved. This is something I often find myself constantly seeking and promoting.

To optimize the chance of brokering a good compromise between what the fishermen want and what our laws mandate our various regulatory agencies to enforce, I felt it best to go the quiet diplomacy route. This led to two onsite meetings -- the one in November memorialized in the above pictures and one held a month later in December 2006. I will post pictures of the second on-site visit later.