Dan Barr is eighty-one and an one-half years old. He caught fish in Bristol Bay for just about the entirety of his life.
“It’s been such an amazing aspect of my life,”” said the actor. “Every year when I went home and it was like I was] able to experience something that was new within me.”
Barr has spent the majority of his life trying to figure out ways to connect individuals with one another. For more than two decades he served as head of the Bristol Bay Driftnetters Association -an organization that was formed in the late 1980s, which aimed to bring together the fleet. In the association, he was instrumental in putting out periodic newsletters on issues affecting the fishery, including methods used in Bristol Bay. Pacific Ocean that affected Bristol Bay.
In the 1970s, 1980s and 90s, boats in international waters threw nets up to 40 kilometers in length, capturing millions of salmon otherwise heading into the area to breed. This is known as high seas intercept. It also leads to the production of large quantities of bycatch. Nets are able to trap anything from sharks and whales to seabirds.
Barr collaborated with the interest groups and worked to push for legislation at the federal level to deal with the issue.
Then, in 1992 forged an alliance that was instrumental in passing the High Seas Driftnet Act, which was intended to ban the large-scale driftnet fishing that occurs on international waters.
He claimed to have was involved with numerous conservation and user groups such as Greenpeace and also sports and commercial fishermen.
“And I was thinking of the idea of ‘let’s form a group of environmental, sports commercial, and environmental’ and we were able to get 29 organizations that signed on. We then wrote letters to each U.S. senator,” Barr said. Barr claimed that despite initial opposition, they gained the backing needed for the bill to be passed.
The law limits the size of nets at the sea, in addition to making it unlawful for imports of the fish caught using huge drift nets. It has given more attention to the bycatch as well as interception problems with fish that affect the health, both economic and ecologicalof the fishery.
Barr said that their success was due in part to their collaboration. He claimed he worked with people who travelled around the world and across the country to record the scope of the overfishing and bycatch issue, and then, implement the legislation. Barr said that the team members performed everything from chatting in meetings with Russian border guards to identifying pirate vessels in Kodiak.
“We are living in a society which has seen some improvements in the positive things the world is doing.” He said about the actions. “And it’s just one of the outcomes from Bristol Bay.”
Barr also was a part of Bristol Bay. He also started an open channel radio for Ugashik district, where fishermen could chat with one another about pressing issues during the periods of low activity.
“We joined some nearby VHF frequencies and told them to “spread the word,”” said the man. “Every evening we would go through and discuss what we had learned concerning Bristol Bay, what we were aware of what was happening on the north Peninsula, and what we knew about high seas, and what we knew about the safety of our vessels. …”
He claimed that some conversations on the radio lasted for three hours.
Barr also was instrumental in securing an exemption from Coast Guard regulations in Bristol Bay in order that individuals could use personal emergency beacons with normal ones. Barr said that the modification made the use of beacons more accessible due to the lower cost. Beacons are personal and belong to a specific person.
“It means that people could choose to buy a device that they wouldn’t, purely for security,” he said.
Barr states that nearby communities have since begun using beacons on snow machines.
All in all, Barr said his favorite aspect of fishing on Bristol Bay was spending time with his family, and connecting with his friends.
“The most enjoyable thing was going fishing together with family. Ten of us fished on Bristol Bay,” he stated.
He is now reflecting on the people he had met here.
“I refer to the incredible people that live there, and also those who retired are now long-time friends who are truly quality people. It’s all about the people first,” he said.
Presently, Barr has been fighting cancer for the past year in Seattle. His son is a fisherman on his previous vessel The Slam Dunk.
