Come Back Town USA

There have been a number of letters to the editor and acknowledgments about how effective the disaster plan was when it was implemented in Crescent City before, during, and after the tsunami that was generated by the earthquake in Japan.

That being said, the tsunami had a very small effect in comparison to the devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami followed by the damage to the nuclear reactors.

I think it could be said that because of the all too common occurrence of tsunamis in Crescent City the city should never have grown here, much like building of New Orleans below the level of the Mississippi River, but because of its location it was almost necessary. I noticed while looking at the videos that have been posted, it appeared that many of the towns most devastated in Japan were behind sea walls that were built to protect the towns from just what occurred, and those cities too were built below the level of the ocean. Japan, being the most tsunami ready country on earth, thought they had prepared well but when the big one hit even their preparation wasn’t sufficient. It’s true, the earth always wins in the end.

As with many seaside towns along the coast, Crescent City has been and is very dependent on the commercial fishing industry. It is an economy in decline much like the logging industry, where the demands are increasing while the resources are dwindling. Unfortunately, like our lumber needs where we get more and more from areas out of the country where the environmental concerns are not followed, so it is with the fish that we buy where the stocks, resources, and future of the fisheries are not considered. I think certain areas of the world are somewhat like a modern day gold rush where the future of resource is not given due consideration.

In the recent past the U.S. government has bought out boats from fishermen and retired their licenses so as to not allow over-fishing and take those boats out of the fishery. This way the existing boats could have a better possibility to make a living while still harvesting a resource.

The local harbor is a real draw from a historical point of view as well as a real working harbor. The Crescent City harbor has had a history of  the highest poundage of crab being landed of any harbor on the West Coast. But this is the first year that I haven’t had a least one of my students whose parents weren’t fishermen though.

As far as community involvement, this afternoon there is going to be a community cleanup of the harbor and beaches that Andrew and I are going to be taking part in. After the 1964 Tsunami there was a radio personality in town by the name of Bill Stamps that coined the phrase, “Come Back Town USA.” I think we’ll be hearing more of that phrase in the weeks and months to come.