A Fishing Trust Fund for our Community

By Janice Peterson, SPCCF President

Fishing is vital to our community.  The jobs provided through fishing begin with landing the catch, and include jobs at local ports and processing plants. Currently, outside conglomerates are buying up available permits and moving them to locations of their choice—locations that are often out of this area.

Financing for a young fisherman can also be a problem.  While a fisherman may  acquire a loan to purchase a boat or gear, loans are not available for licenses. Commercial fishermen must purchase a license for each type of fish they plan to catch. License costs have escalated dramatically in the past decade. A full slate of fish licenses now costs thousands of dollars per fisherman.

In late 2016, the South Pacific County Community Foundation (SPCCF) met with representatives of the Port of Ilwaco and the Columbia River Crab Fisherman’s Association to draft and ratify an agreement designed to accomplish the following goals:

To secure funds whereby fishing licenses with their attached quotas could be purchased from older fishermen, who wished to retire, and to sell or lease those permits to younger fishermen:

To ensure that licenses/permits remain in this community,

To support and encourage young fishermen, and

To keep employment/jobs in our community.

SPCCF can accept tax-deductible gifts as donations from individuals or businesses, toward the purchase of commercial fishing licenses, to the South Pacific County Fisheries Trust Fund (AKA the Fish Trust Fund). This fund was established to help local young fishermen purchase fishing licenses.  The track record of our management team is excellent. This philanthropy will benefit the entire community.

The Foundation encourages anyone who wishes to support commercial fishing, and its related employment opportunities in our community, to think about a donation to the Fish Trust Fund. Your donation to this fund keeps the Port of Ilwaco busy, supports young fishermen, and helps the Pacific Northwest continue to enjoy the seafood bounty that our fishing fleet provides. 

Join us in sustaining this vital part of our community with a donation to the South Pacific County Fisheries Trust Fund. Checks can be mailed to SPCCF, PO Box 75, Nahcotta WA 98637;  indicate that this donation goes to the ‘fish trust fund’ on the memo line. Make credit card donations to this fund online at https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=1017 . For information on making donations of stocks or bonds, please contact SPCCF at info@spccf.org, or call 360-665-5292.