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Tuna!
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Troutdale.....formerly Yakima
Posts: 1,114
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Interesting Article on This Years Run
To Yakamas, salmon are sacred — and also scarce
By PHILIP FEROLITO
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
With both religious and commercial fishing hurt by a small and disturbingly late salmon run being feasted on by sea lions, frustrated tribal officials will seek federal help.
Options include relocating or, as a last resort, seeking permission to kill some of the estimated 40 sea lions below the Bonneville Dam. Not everyone blames the sea lions, but all agree this year's spring salmon run is off.
Not only is the return more than a month late, the few salmon returning fall far below forecast numbers.
"This is nothing like we've ever seen," said Mike Matylewich, fisheries manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. "We've looked a data from 1970 to 2004 and we haven't seen anything like this — it's kind of off the chart."
The fish plays a paramount role in tribal religious ceremonies.
Usually by this time of year, freezers at the some 10 Yakama longhouses and three Shaker churches are filled with roughly 200 salmon each to carry them through the year.
But this year some freezers are still empty, leaving religious leaders wondering how they're going to get through the year and fisherman wondering if there's even going to be a commercial season.
Only after enough salmon have been harvested for the ceremonies can the tribal commercial fishing begin.
"Now the question is 'Are we going to have commercial fish?'" asked Yakama Tribal Councilman Louis Cloud. "It doesn't look good."
Tribal officials have been getting calls from frustrated fisherman wanting to shoot the some 40 sea lions feeding on salmon below the Bonneville dam.
"I hope those guys don't do something on their own, because they're going to be on their own because the tribe isn't going to be able to help them," said Cloud, also chairman of the tribe's Law and Order, Fish and Wildlife committee.
Originally, the forecast run for spring salmon in the Columbia River this year was more than 250,000. But that number was off, and now only less than 100,000 are projected, Matylewich said.
It's not clear what's causing such a late return and why the forecast was off, but there's more to it than just the sea lions, he said.
Runs have picked up the past few days, with more than 4,000 coming through, Matylewich said.
But normally about half the run would have returned by now, he said.
"We're going to be scratching our heads for a while trying to figure out what happened," he said.
Tribal fishermen, on the other hand, say the sea lions are a problem, said Yakama fisherman Simon Sampson.
"Right now it's the sea lions that are blocking the run," he said. "There are 3,000 seals below Bonneville to Astoria. That's a sea lion eating two fish a day. We start doing the numbers and how many fish is that a day?"
Shooting a sea lion without a permit is a criminal offense carrying a penalty of up to a $20,000 fine and a year in jail.
Sea lions are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, but as a last resort fisherman can obtain a permit to kill them if they are interfering with fishing gear, said Dick Stone, Olympia-based spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Tribal leaders plan on heading to Washington, D.C., next week to talk with officials with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association Fisheries about the sea lion problem.
Northwest American Indians consider salmon sacred and honor it at every religious gathering, including Sunday services, funerals, memorials and other traditional ceremonies.
An average ceremony can go through at least 12 salmon per meal, said Toppenish Longhouse leader Lonnie Selam.
The Toppenish Longhouse alone holds nearly 50 Sunday services a year, and estimates another 20 services annually for feasts and name-giving ceremonies, Selam said.
Normally, longhouses and churches are granted about 200 spring salmon, but they are only allowed 100 each this year because of the slow run.
Currently, the Toppenish Longhouse, considered one of the busiest on the reservation, only has 50 salmon.
"It's not as much as we would like to have at this time to get us through the year," Selam said.
Others have none. In fact, members of the Shaker Church 1910 in White Swan have only caught 12 so far, and those were all consumed at a feast last week, said assistant minister Regina Jerry.
She says she's not sure what the church is going to do for its midnight lunch, where traditional foods including the salmon are eaten.
Before a bite is taken out of each food, its name is called out. Prayers and songs honor the foods, and the service keeps the food returning each year.
"If you don't have all the foods, then that's like showing disrespect," she said.
After getting just two salmon thus far, the Independent Shaker Church in White Swan was given salmon from a hatchery in order to hold its annual root feast, said minister Raymond Smartlowit.
"We've been kind of waiting for that fresh fish, but we haven't seen any," he said.
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