About George Pletnikoff

George Pletnikoff is Greenpeace USA's Alaska Office Oceans Campaigner and a native of the Unungan communities on the Pribilof Islands.

Time is Running Out on the Grand Canyons of the Bering Sea

Posted on February 4, 2013 by George Pletnikoff

Fur Seals on St. George Island in the Bering Sea

On February 5 in Portland, Oregon the fishery honchos holding the fate of the Bering Sea canyons in their hands will get their first look at the scientific evidence Greenpeace has gathered from its submarine expeditions into the amazing Grand Canyons of the Sea.

These remarkable, life-rich canyons are under serious threat from industrial fishing fleets whose massive trawling operations rip this delicate ecosystem apart from the seafloor up. Greenpeace has been working night and day to protect these canyons, and now, after years of work, two submarine research expeditions, multiple scientific publications, and support from an unprecedented alliance of indigenous stakeholders, environmental groups, scientists, and even seafood businesses, it’s all coming to a head in June. Continue reading →

PHOTOS: Grey whales near Shell’s Kulluk rig

Posted on January 11, 2013 by George Pletnikoff

The Kulluk, Shell’s oil drilling rig, could not get far enough away from us. Greenpeace’s visuals director and myself traveled 120 miles round trip to witness Shell’s attempt to fix the latest in its long list of mishaps during its Arctic-drilling campaign. The rig originally ran aground New Year’s Eve off the coast of Alaska while the oil company was towing it south during hurricane-like conditions. Continue reading →

Stop Shell from Drilling in the Arctic Before It’s Too Late

Posted on January 9, 2013 by George Pletnikoff

Looking at news tapes and pictures of Shell’s beached rig, the Kulluk, is an amazing sight. The Kulluk is now off the beach and in the middle of prime tanner crab grounds in Kiliuda Bay on Kodiak Island. Floating in the middle of this calm bay surrounded by snow covered mountains, it looks innocent enough. But, we have since known better.

Royal Dutch Shell is telling the world that they have the technology and ability to drill for oil in the frozen and treacherous Arctic Ocean, and do it well. Unfortunately the grounding of the Kulluk and the grounding of the Noble Discoverer earlier last year are a stark reminder that drilling in the Arctic is wrought with extreme dangers. Continue reading →

As other indigenous peoples around the world joined efforts, so must we, the people of the Bering Sea

Posted on October 16, 2012 by George Pletnikoff

George Pletnikoff speaks at a community meeting on St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska. Photo: Greenpeace/Jiri Rezac

For thousands of years, the Aleut People have survived on the bounty of the Bering Sea. By some standards, archaeologists have agreed that the Aleuts are perhaps a unique group of people in that we have lived the longest in one location than any other indigenous group in the world without leaving or migrating, such was the abundance of food. Continue reading →

You did it! Finally, some good news for Steller sea lions

Posted on October 12, 2010 by George Pletnikoff

George The Steller Sea Lion (SSL) of the North Pacific have been in danger of extinction, depletion or as a threatened species for a long time. As Unangan people who live on the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands and depend heavily upon the health of our environment for our continued survival, we have witnessed this almost daily as we go about our lives.

Finally, after years, and in some cases, decades, of trying to bring focus to the plight of the SSL, some relief has finally arrived. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has submitted a final report to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) in a meeting in Anchorage Alaska, that the overall health of the SSL is critical to a healthy ecosystem. Finally, NMFS has taken a stand against the wishes of the pro commercial fisheries Council and announced that they will follow through on the protection measures recommended in the Biological Opinion (BiOp) they released in August. This decision helps to protect the SSL of the western Aleutian Islands by closing all waters to Pacific cod and Atka mackerel fishing to ensure the SSL have enough food to rebuild their population to healthy levels. This decision, however helpful to sea lions in the Western Aleutians, fails to address sea lion populations in the Central and Eastern Aleutian Island regions or Gulf of Alaska, which remain in jeopardy. But we have a good beginning.

In their report to the Council, NMFS said that they had received upwards of 10,000 comments on their BiOp, the majority requesting the critical need to protect this population of SSL. Personally, I am honored to have been working with Greenpeace as a person of Unangan descent for the past six years on these issues of the Bering Sea. My people have survived here for almost 10,000 years and I feel some vindication in our efforts to finally come so close to victory.

Steller sea lions Unfortunately, there is a but to this statement. But we have so much more to do. The food upon which the SSL depend the most is still in jeopardy of becoming depleted. The walleye pollock of the Bering Sea is the number one prey food for the SSL and many other mammals and birds of this critical and sensitive habitat, and yet very little is being done to lower the amount being caught by the fishing industry. Currently 850,000 metric tons of pollock are still being taken out every year from the Bering Sea, and this is proving to be more than the ecosystem can withstand. Our work is not even close to finished.

I just noticed the two coincidental numbers cited above, of 10,000 letters and 10,000 years of survival for my people. One letter for each year of our continual presence in this place we call home. Without your vigilance; without your concern; without your determination, both the Unangan and the sea lion may have just gone away quietly forever, never again given a second thought. Thank you all from our ancestors and our cousins of the ocean for your support and help. We have another day to keep fighting to both protect ourselves and our home, the Bering Sea.

- George