Post by Okwes on Jun 10, 2008 9:51:19 GMT -5
Decision to close Columbia has tribe fishing for answers
Yakama Nation fishermen not sure which direction to go after Columbia
River season halted
www.yakima-herald.com/stories/4786
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KRIS HOLLAND/Yakima Herald-Republic
Michael Allen fishes using a dip net on the Klickitat River Wednesday,
May 28, 2008. The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and the
Yakama Nation have closed tribal fishing on the Columbia River but is
allowing fishing on tributaries. [052808_kh_jackson_mug_web]
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KRIS HOLLAND/Yakima Herald-Republic
Johnny Jackson Yakama Nation Wednesday, May 28, 2008.
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47500189104356712226027074579487118028> UNDERWOOD -- Tribal fishermen
now plan to seek compensation from the Yakama Nation for the loss of
fisheries after their scaffolds were shut down on the Columbia River
last month.
The closure came after the spring salmon run turned out to be much
smaller than predicted. As a result, salmon fishing on the Columbia
River has ended, and that includes tribal scaffold fishing.
It's the first time scaffold fishing had been closed on the Columbia
River because of a slim run in roughly a decade.
Meanwhile, sports anglers below Bonneville Dam are being allowed to fish
for shad, a non-native member of the herring family originally from the
East Coast that were introduced into the Columbia River in 1885 and have
since thrived.
Now, tribal fishermen and river chiefs plan to meet with the Yakama
Nation Tribal Council to dispute the closure of their traditional
fisheries, said Johnny Jackson, a Yakama fisherman and chief of the
Cascade band.
"We're not going to allow these things to happen," he vowed.
"We are going to make noise about them shutting down our scaffold
fishing. The scaffold fishing never does affect the upper runs of the
salmon. We mostly catch steelhead."
Traditionally, Native Amer-icans along the river dipped hand-held nets
from wooden scaffolds or platforms anchored to the jagged basalt walls
of the Columbia River Gorge.
Today, tribal members mostly use large gill nets to fish, a practice
that is regulated each season. But the traditional scaffold fishing
usually is open year-round.
Jackson, who lives along the Columbia River at his family's traditional
fishing site, said he understands the regulation of tribal gill net
fishing, which is mostly done for commercial purposes. But he doesn't
get the restrictions on scaffold fishing, which is primarily for family
subsistence.
"The only time they shut down scaffold fishing was for a funeral," he
said. "The chiefs would shut it down for a while, and then open it up
again."
But now Yakama fishermen will have to wait until the opening of the
summer season, which begins June 16, before returning to their
scaffolds. Jackson said they've lost more than a month's worth of
fishing.
"I look at a lot of my fishermen here on the river, and they're
struggling -- they've got to put food on the table for their families,"
Jackson said. "We're just getting taken for a ride."
Not so, said Steve Parker, with the tribe's fisheries department. Since
the downgrade of the spring run, tribal fishermen have actually
overfished their season allotment by about 4,000 fish, while sportsmen
surpassed their total amount by about 8,000 fish, he said.
Fish biologists expected more than 260,000 salmon to return this year,
but later the run was downgraded to about 180,000 returning fish.
Originally, tribal members were allowed to harvest about 27,000 while
sports anglers were allotted about 26,000, Parker said.
But after the downgrade, the total catch dropped to about 16,000 fish
each for tribal and nontribal fisheries, he said.
Also, tribal commercial fisheries took about 4,500 more fish than
expected during the one week commercial fishing for spring salmon was
open,
he said.
"The thing that killed us was the run just wasn't materializing," he
said. "This is not an example of bad management, it's an example of bad
forecasting."
But that doesn't seem to be helping tribal fishermen waiting to go back
work, said Jackson, who accuses tribal leaders of lacking understanding
of traditional fishing.
"I remember when councilmen used to come around and talk to us on the
river," he said. "They don't do that anymore."
Yakama Nation fishermen not sure which direction to go after Columbia
River season halted
www.yakima-herald.com/stories/4786
<http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/4786>
‹‹ prev 1 of 2 next ›› [052808_kh_fishingban_web]
<http://www.yakima-herald.com/galleries/699>
KRIS HOLLAND/Yakima Herald-Republic
Michael Allen fishes using a dip net on the Klickitat River Wednesday,
May 28, 2008. The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and the
Yakama Nation have closed tribal fishing on the Columbia River but is
allowing fishing on tributaries. [052808_kh_jackson_mug_web]
<http://www.yakima-herald.com/galleries/699>
KRIS HOLLAND/Yakima Herald-Republic
Johnny Jackson Yakama Nation Wednesday, May 28, 2008.
[Click Here]
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<http://old.yakimaherald.com/banners/www/delivery/ck.php?n=af7986f2&cb=1\
47500189104356712226027074579487118028> UNDERWOOD -- Tribal fishermen
now plan to seek compensation from the Yakama Nation for the loss of
fisheries after their scaffolds were shut down on the Columbia River
last month.
The closure came after the spring salmon run turned out to be much
smaller than predicted. As a result, salmon fishing on the Columbia
River has ended, and that includes tribal scaffold fishing.
It's the first time scaffold fishing had been closed on the Columbia
River because of a slim run in roughly a decade.
Meanwhile, sports anglers below Bonneville Dam are being allowed to fish
for shad, a non-native member of the herring family originally from the
East Coast that were introduced into the Columbia River in 1885 and have
since thrived.
Now, tribal fishermen and river chiefs plan to meet with the Yakama
Nation Tribal Council to dispute the closure of their traditional
fisheries, said Johnny Jackson, a Yakama fisherman and chief of the
Cascade band.
"We're not going to allow these things to happen," he vowed.
"We are going to make noise about them shutting down our scaffold
fishing. The scaffold fishing never does affect the upper runs of the
salmon. We mostly catch steelhead."
Traditionally, Native Amer-icans along the river dipped hand-held nets
from wooden scaffolds or platforms anchored to the jagged basalt walls
of the Columbia River Gorge.
Today, tribal members mostly use large gill nets to fish, a practice
that is regulated each season. But the traditional scaffold fishing
usually is open year-round.
Jackson, who lives along the Columbia River at his family's traditional
fishing site, said he understands the regulation of tribal gill net
fishing, which is mostly done for commercial purposes. But he doesn't
get the restrictions on scaffold fishing, which is primarily for family
subsistence.
"The only time they shut down scaffold fishing was for a funeral," he
said. "The chiefs would shut it down for a while, and then open it up
again."
But now Yakama fishermen will have to wait until the opening of the
summer season, which begins June 16, before returning to their
scaffolds. Jackson said they've lost more than a month's worth of
fishing.
"I look at a lot of my fishermen here on the river, and they're
struggling -- they've got to put food on the table for their families,"
Jackson said. "We're just getting taken for a ride."
Not so, said Steve Parker, with the tribe's fisheries department. Since
the downgrade of the spring run, tribal fishermen have actually
overfished their season allotment by about 4,000 fish, while sportsmen
surpassed their total amount by about 8,000 fish, he said.
Fish biologists expected more than 260,000 salmon to return this year,
but later the run was downgraded to about 180,000 returning fish.
Originally, tribal members were allowed to harvest about 27,000 while
sports anglers were allotted about 26,000, Parker said.
But after the downgrade, the total catch dropped to about 16,000 fish
each for tribal and nontribal fisheries, he said.
Also, tribal commercial fisheries took about 4,500 more fish than
expected during the one week commercial fishing for spring salmon was
open,
he said.
"The thing that killed us was the run just wasn't materializing," he
said. "This is not an example of bad management, it's an example of bad
forecasting."
But that doesn't seem to be helping tribal fishermen waiting to go back
work, said Jackson, who accuses tribal leaders of lacking understanding
of traditional fishing.
"I remember when councilmen used to come around and talk to us on the
river," he said. "They don't do that anymore."