In addition to the feedback below, we have received several letters expressing comments and opinions. If you would like to submit a letter please send it to tloop@chesapeakebay.net.
October 27. 2009 09:47
In reading the draft report, your work is commendable. However, as seen on page 24 (as an example), the people of Tangier Island, VA, the southernmost island in the Bay and the largest population (522 this week) are not even mentioned. We desperately need the US Government as well as the Commonwealth of VA to recognize that people actually live out here and that we are a species worthy of saving, just like the crabs and oysters. Our watermen have provided for our small community for 100's of years, but regulations to "save the bay" are making our way of life extinct. We have always been willing to work with environmentalists and remain "green" friendly. But, our way of life is important and culturally significant, including our unique dialect. We have a number of media available to help explain the problem and can make these available to you including the new photo project Watermen: An Endangered Species, a new movie (Crab Feast or Famine,) Tangier Island (documentary done by Virginia Pilot), and the upcoming PBS Special Last Boat Out. Or, you could come and visit and talk to the people who live in the middle of it all, work the water, know the water by being on it every day, and who will gladly share this hands on knowledge. Watermen are experts just as much as any "scientist." Please let us know how the people of Tangier can have more input into the plan that you are writing, as it is clear that to date, we are forgotten and absent in the documents being drafted....Neil S. Kaye, MDPresident Tangier History Museum and Interpretive Cultural CenterTangier Island, VA 23440
Neil Kaye