Documentary Archives - Page 4 of 25 - Books by Eric Douglas

Honduras lobster fishery may finally close

March 2, 2015 By Eric Douglas

In May 2009, Honduras agreed to close its spiny lobster fishery to commercial fishermen using scuba to collect their harvest. The government kept delaying. In 2015, it finally appears to be happening, thanks to a pledge from five American companies.

In early 2010, I made my first trip to Honduras to get a better understanding of the problem. At the time, I was the Director of Education for Divers Alert Network (DAN) and I was traveling with my friend Dr. Mathias Nochetto, the Latin American Medical Director for DAN. We met with Dr. Elmer Mejia, a Honduran doctor who operated a clinic to care for the injured divers. He had tremendous success treating them. However, he often didn’t see his patients for four or five days after they became paralyzed. That experience led to three more trips to Honduras along with trips to Mexico and Brazil to get a better understanding of the problem.

Moskito Indians from the Moskito Coast of Honduras were literally killing themselves to catch lobster for American markets. They were paid by the pound, so there was no incentive for them to dive safely. They were diving 8-12 times a day for 12 straight days, often to 100 feet or more. They only stopped diving when they returned to the boat and could no longer walk. They self-medicated with illegal drugs. When I visited Puerta Lempira, Honduras, I learned that more than 2000 Moskito Indians were severely and permanently disabled. That is out of about 10,000 Moskitos in Honduras working in the scuba/lobster industry. And that does not reflect the untold numbers who died from their injuries.

As a diver, it bothered me that my chosen sport, something that I worked more than a dozen years to make safer for everyone, was killing people who had little or no choice in the matter. While it is true they weren’t physical slaves, being forced into the water at gun point, it was the only way they had to earn a living for their families. The industry did everything it could to keep them diving, discouraging diving more safely.

Since almost all of those lobster tails made their way into US markets, five companies have pledged to not accept lobsters caught on scuba and are putting steps into place to track where lobster comes from. There are still trap-caught lobster from Honduras. You can find out more at the website set up by the five companies at http://www.lobsterpledge.com/

I am proud to say that two news stories I played a part in are linked to from The Pledge website. I traveled to Honduras with an NBC news crew for the story Lobster Trap. The NBC crew used a magazine article I wrote and a multimedia documentary I put together as background. (Lobster Trap won the 2013 RFK Book & Journalism Award for International Television) I was also quoted in a story on NationalGeographic.com. You can find links and photos on my website.

There is a new president in Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, (January 2014) and it seems like the government is finally taking this problem seriously. A story in today’s Herald from Honduras, says the Ministry of Agriculture is meeting with President Hernández today to discuss alternatives for the men who will lose their jobs.

It has been a long time coming, but it finally seems like it is coming to fruition. My prayers are for the men who have been permanently disabled by the lobster industry.

Bob Payne: A Marine answers his final call

January 24, 2015 By Eric Douglas

I had the privilege of meeting Robert Milford Payne (Uncle Bob) while doing interviews for the West Virginia Voices of War documentary project. Bob is my wife’s uncle; my mother-in-law’s brother. He died last night, at 86, surrounded by family.

Bob served in the Korean War from May of 1951 to April of 1952 earning the numerous ribbons including the Presidential Unit Citation, United Nation Service Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, Korean Service Medal (3 stars) and the National Defense Service Medal. He was a Sergeant with the 60 Mortars with the 1^st and 11^th Marines.

Bob also earned a ribbon not uncommon to people who served in combat, a Purple Heart. The unusual part of Bob’s Purple Heart story is that many people, including his sisters, didn’t know the full story until we sat down to talk. Bob was injured by friendly fire, what he called a Short Round Charlie. American forces were shelling over his position when an artillery shell fell short, landing on his position and landing him in the hospital. After his injury, Bob was reassigned to training South Korean Marines.

Payne0021 — To the left of this image at a Sunday morning church service, Bob is identified with an X.

“You’re responsible for yourself and for the other person. If you can’t depend on the other person feeling the same way, you’re in deep trouble. Sometimes you need someone to watch your back and that was what you had in the Marine Corps. It’s a hard lesson to learn sometimes, but it’s a good lesson. I know I’m a lot more compassionate than I was. It taught me to feel for people more,” he said. “I think about those guys over there now. I feel for them. Especially when we have these other countries tell us what to do with our men when something happens. I don’t think that’s right. I don’t know what the solution is. When they come back here, I don’t think they treat them the way they should.”

Bob was a US Marine through and through. When I interviewed him, he was wearing a Marine Corps t-shirt and flying a corps flag beneath the United States flag in his front yard. He posed with another Marine Corps flag.

There is no doubt in my mind that is how he would want to be remembered; a Marine who gave his all.

Rest in Peace Bob..

The power of exploration: Alexandra Cousteau

November 14, 2014 By Eric Douglas

I can’t think of anyone who has the “exploration” gene more than the family of the late Jacques Cousteau. His grandchildren are doing their best to live up to that legacy.

Fabien (son of Jacque’s oldest son Jean-Michelle) recently spent 31 days living in an underwater habitat in the Florida Keys.
Alexandra (daughter of Jacque’s son Phillipe) is a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and travels the globe speaking about water issues.

Alexandra Cousteau was in town last night, hosted by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission to kick off the Chancellor’s Speaker Series on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) topics. Frankly, I wish I had the foresight to take my daughters along to hear her speak.

An explorer in her own right, Alexandra spoke of the inspiration provided by her grandfather. She told a story of constantly asking questions and finally, in frustration, he answered “Go and see for yourself.” She said she has been doing that ever since.

“We often feel we have exhausted exploration. We haven’t,” she said. “We have to keep that spirit of exploration alive. The role of the explorer has changed. We are not the first something any more but exploring is about bringing back a new perspective.”

Most divers in their 40s and 50s will tell you there were inspired to learn to dive watching the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau on Sunday nights. (Many older divers cite Mike Nelson from Sea Hunt.) I’m in the Cousteau category. Alexandra Cousteau glossed over the development of the original aqualung device, but the work done by Jacques and engineer Emile Gagnan changed the world forever and led to many careers, exploration and discovery. And it is still going on.

While today we can dive and explore the oceans, there is still much left unseen and even more than we don’t understand. Cousteau pointed out recent discoveries of animal species and the discovery of a bacteria that produces much of the oxygen we breathe. Things we didn’t even know about until just a few years ago.

To the delight of the crowd, made up by mostly students and educators from West Virginia colleges and universities, she said “The most meaningful moments of my life were when I was with a scientist.”

“We are not finished exploring this planet. Exploration has nothing to do with the exploration of our grandfathers,” she explained and then issued a challenge to the audience. “Find a new way of seeing things.”

She also said you can make a documentary today with a GoPro, a smart phone and a Facebook page. Technology has given us all the ability to be explorers.

The following are excerpts from her presentation.

The beginning.

Three things about exploration.

New Appalachian Radio promotes Appalachian “voices”

November 12, 2014 By Eric Douglas

We all know the Appalachian stereotypes: men in coveralls, missing teeth in poverty with banjo music playing in the background. The film Deliverance did little to contradict those mental images. And I’ll be the first person to admit that some of those stereotypes have a basis in reality. Examples exist all over the region. But, they don’t represent the entire region.

Appalachia has a long history of independence and love of nature and the mountains that surround us. West Virginia is the only state completely contained in the Appalachian Mountains and our state motto is Montani Semper Liberi—Mountaineers are Always Free. There is also a deep culture in our region that is expressed through our music, art and literature.

For many people Appalachian music is about fiddles and banjos with the occasional washboard thrown in there. And that is absolutely part of it. Again, it doesn’t represent the entire region. Appalachian sensibilities and themes show up in just about every genre of entertainment and music, not just the traditional ones. New Appalachian Radio on VoicesofAppalachia.com is based on exactly that premise.

New Appalachian Radio is a streaming radio station broadcasting online 24/7/365. Starting this week the station is having a “relaunch” featuring new music, talk and discussion, completely focused on Appalachia. When there aren’t programmed shows, the station returns to music. All of it is by Appalachian performers, but it covers everything from Rock to Pop to Country and Traditional Music, even reggae. Yes, reggae. Just about everything is original music and recordings on small or independent labels. This is a great opportunity for musicians to get their music in front of a larger audience.

I know all of this, because I’m hosting an interview show called Writer’s Block where I interview Appalachian authors about their craft. It debuted earlier this week. You can see the full schedule of shows and music on the website at http://voicesofappalachia.com/. New Appalachian Radio is based in Charleston.

I’ve often said that I don’t think we as West Virginians don’t do a very good job of telling our own story. Too often, we let others do it for us. In this case, I am definitely wrong. New Appalachian Radio gives a voices to the people of Appalachia and shows that while some of those sterotypes may be true, they aren’t the whole picture.

There is an incredible amount of talent in these hills: writers, comedians, musicians. Take a listen and find out what you’ve been missing..

Oral histories, capturing memories

November 5, 2014 By Eric Douglas

Tomorrow, I’m giving a workshop at the WV Culture Center Archives and History Library on collecting oral histories. I was asked to put on the presentation following the completion of the West Virginia Voices of War documentary project and donation of the original recordings to the archives.

When I began the documentary project, my goal wasn’t to create a documentary. I knew I would do something with the material, but my purpose was to capture veteran’s memories in war. Just a few months before I began the project, my daughter’s great-grandfather passed away, taking his memories of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent war in the Pacific with him. It was too late to record him, but I wanted to do what I could to record other’s memories.

As part of the workshop, I’ll be showing selected portions of the West Virginia Voices of War documentary, but I will also be talking the tools you need to record oral histories and discussing some interview techniques.

For years, you needed quality tape recorders and microphones to capture oral histories and needed experience editing sound recordings and controlling audio levels. Today, most of those concerns are gone. You can make high quality recordings with a $200 digital audio recorder or even a free app on your smart phone. There are online sites that can help you edit your recording or upload it for others to hear and to keep it safe. The only thing standing in the way of collecting oral histories today is time.

When conducting interviews, remember to relax. As a newspaper reporter turned freelance writer, I’ve conducted 100s of interviews and I still make mistakes. One time, the battery in the lapel microphone died just after I began the interview and I got nothing. I had to call the gentleman back, head hung low, and ask if I could come back. I got a good interview the second time, but it probably wasn’t as good as the first one. Other times I interrupted trains of thought or laughed, messing up the recording of a great story.

I’m not currently conducting veteran interviews, I’ve moved on to other projects, but I would love to see an army of people with recorders out collecting oral histories of veterans and from families and neighborhood and community leaders. The worst thing that can happen is if we put it off and never get around to capturing anything. When those people are gone, so are the memories of what happened.

Nov. 6:

Eric Douglas will present “West Virginia Voices of War: Oral Histories from West Virginia War Veterans” in the Archives and History Library in the Culture Center in Charleston. The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

http://www.wvculture.org/history/workshops/douglas110614promo.html

Nov. 11: Veterans Day

You can listen to the broadcast premiere of the West Virginia Voices of War documentary on New Appalachian Radio at 2 and 8 pm.

You can watch the documentary at the South Charleston Public Library at 7 pm..