Congress honors longtime skipper
Boat captain Roger Thomas of San Francisco was honored this week with a congressional proclamation by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, at an event at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf.
Thomas, 82, has spent more than 10,000 days on the ocean chasing salmon, albacore and whales on his boat, the Salty Lady, and has also supported salmon and water interests for 40 years. He was inducted last year into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame.
Thomas estimated he has taken 175,000 people out on his boat — both fishing and wildlife watching — since he became a licensed operator in 1968. He has also served as president of the Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association since 1973. In that time, Thomas has been appointed to the boards of many entities, including the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and National Sea Grant Review Panel.
In these capacities, Thomas has been an advocate for legislation and rules pertaining to conservation, fishing techniques and seasons, and the protection of natural resources in the Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California. One of his biggest victories came in 1983 when he worked with the California Legislature to develop gillnet regulations that ordered closures in the shallow waters along the Bay Area coast, and in the process saved the lives of countless marine birds and nontarget fish species.