What I want to do today is not just look back at the history of our industry, which many other capable people here have already done, but also to encapsulate some of the lessons from that history that can give us guidance to our future.
History is a trajectory.
Often it may be just a matter of projecting from current major trends to see where that trajectory will likely lead us. From that effort, perhaps we can get some insight to help us deal with the problems we are facing right now. IFR is active especially on west coast salmon restoration issues, but also on a number of other important fisheries protection issues coastwide. We have a lot of problems in our fisheries but also a number of bright points, including a tremendous number of resources that we can use to help resolve those problems. Our organizations have been doing everything they can to both chart out what these problems are, as well as to identify opportunities and look at what resources we can bring to bear on these problems from among fishing families and fishing dependent communities.