Antonio Silva has been sitting on Wrangell’s Port Commission since this spring when Gary Morrison resigned. The seat expires this October and Silva’s running again for an uncontested one-year term seat.
At age 39, he’s a younger member of the commission. He hopes his role will help support the younger to middle career fishermen in Wrangell.
He chatted with KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki about why he wants to continue serving the community through this seat.
The municipal election is Oct. 7 at the Nolan Center, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This interview has been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
My name is Antonio Silva. I’m a Wrangell resident here for the past 13 or 14 years. And local commercial fisherman with a lovely wife, Kendra McDougall and my two kids.
Why are you running for Port Commission this time around?
My current seat, I’ve only held from the spring. And in the summertime, there’s a lot of us that are pretty busy, so I’ve only been able to attend a few meetings since then. So I’m just starting to dip my toes into that world there, and I find it interesting. It’s great to start to understand the processes there with the Port Commission, and I would love to continue to be a part of it for the next year.
What issues are important to you that you would like to work on in the commission?
Obviously being a commercial fisherman myself, a lot of my interests lie in helping the community continue to support fishermen and making sure that we’re not lost by the wayside. Every different aspect in the community is important. I mean tourism is important, commercial fishing is important. And the general sports fishers and subsistence fishermen are important. It’s all just trying to find that balance amongst all of us with the ports and harbors and all of the changes that are constantly happening, which, right now, there’s quite a bit of changes going on.
What makes you a good candidate?
I think my age. I’m 39 and I’m hoping to continue to be involved in this for a while. I think I help support kind of the younger to kind of middle career fishermen there that are still heavily invested in trying to keep this community encouraging for fishermen. And I think that with my eagerness and my age, that I should be able to hopefully help the community there for the next while.
What is the most important purpose of the Port Commission, in your opinion?
I think kind of what I said earlier. They’re finding that balance between all of the different groups of people. Because whatever your goals are, whether it’s work related or sport or subsistence, that’s the wonderful thing about Wrangell, is that we should be able to provide for everyone to enjoy what Wrangell has to offer, which is what we all know and love.
How do you see the Port’s role in supporting Wrangell’s community over the next five to 10 years?
We’ve got some big topics. Obviously with the barge ramp topic. The City Council is making a lot of those decisions, but the Port and Harbor is involved heavily with it. The Inner Harbor is going to be having an overhaul. There’s a lot on the plate to address here over the course of these next years, and now I’m just excited to be a part of it. Like I said, I’m kind of just dipping my toes into it, and so it’s all a new experience, but I’m looking forward to learning about it all and being involved in it.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I think that if you see me on the street and you want to talk about anything, I’m happy to talk about it. I am confident that I’m not one that’s so firm on my ways that I couldn’t be swayed either or. I love listening to people’s complaints or issues or things that they like or don’t like. And I’m a big advocate of, you know, let’s talk about it, and you bring it up to Port Commission meetings and talk about it. And who knows? I mean, we’re in a constant evolution of changes, and it’s just great to be part of it.
