FISHING





Celilo Falls was once a social, religious, and political gathering place for Columbia River Tribes, not to mention one of the best salmon fishing places in the entire world. It now lies underneath what used to be the Columbia River, now more a placid lake.

The Missouri River tribes encountered by Lewis and Clark were primarily hunters, foragers, farmers, and traders. The Nez Perce, whose homes were in the Columbia River watershed were a "transitional people," adding fishing to the mix. The further down river the Corp of Discovery traveled the greater was the dependency on fishing of the Tribes who lived there. On their return up the Columbia the Corp was permitted to witness one of the more significant events in Columbia River native culture, the "First Salmon Ceremony" held each spring at Celilo Falls. As many as 3000 people would gather each year at this sacred place to celebrate the rebirth of the cycle and to give thanks for the plentiful supply of fish. The Ceremony was a time to mingle with other tribes, to conduct business, to share in the other joys of life, to solidify marriages and remember those who had died, to tell stories, to confirm and preserve a way of life. To the European traders living in the area salmon were "trash fish" they were so plentiful. To the Indians Salmon were more than food or objects of commerce, they were an integral part of "life."

The Lewis and Clark expedition described the Columbia as a river "full of salmon." Some argue the Indians may have harvested as much as 40 million pounds of Salmon from the river each year in the early 1800's; evenso, it seemed to all the supply of fish was inexhaustible. Today, one by one, the Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead "runs" have become extinct, have become listed by the government as "endangered" or "threatened," or at best have seen their numbers severely depleted. The Columbia is no longer "full of Salmon." Celilo Falls is now buried under eighty feet of water, a casualty of the development of hydroelectric power. In fact, except for a hundred mile stretch of free flowing water, the once raging Columbia is now a series of slack water lakes, a sacrifice to the energy gods.Fishing is no longer "life" for Native Americans living there. Those who do fish must compete with others, under a set of complex regulations and political negotiations for their livelihood. Some fear that Salmon, and the way of life surrounding them, may not survive in the 21'st century.

For four decades after Lewis and Clark, except for the devastation of European disease, life, and fishing, continued without significant or rapid change. Then came the opening of the Oregon Trail and rapid "white" settlement of the Pacific Northwest. First came the treaty with Great Britain in 1846 which ceded the Northwest territory to the U S. Then came the 1848 treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo with Mexico which opened California and the Southwest to Anglo settlement. In 1855 territorial Governor Isaac Stevens and his associate, Joel Palmer, persuaded, or forced, tribes to sign treaties. The Tribes would give up most of their land and move to reservations away from the river. They were, however, guaranteed the right to travel to the Columbia to fish at their "usual and customary places." Tribal culture would remain relatively in tact for a few more years, but then "technology" would change everything.

That "technology" was the development of the refrigerated rail car and the opening of the Trans Continental Railroad. Though salmon might be a "trash fish" to whites in the Northwest, it could now be transported to other parts of the country and sold as a delicacy, or at least as a new variety of food. Soon, salmon croquettes would be a common sight on food tables in Texas and Oklahoma. Indians would be forced to compete with better financed and equipped canneries for access to their "usual and accustomed" fishing places. By the 1880's the devastation of the salmon population and native fishing cultures was in full swing.

Well before the age of environmentalism, whites and Indians alike were aware of what was being done to the salmon. The states of Washington and Oregon began to issue regulations regarding the quantity of fish that could be taken and how they could be taken. Enforcement of the regulations was lax, however, seemingly affecting Indians more than the canneries. For example, the state of Washington passed a law forbidding the taking of salmon from the Columbia by anyone not holding a valid commercial fishing license. In order to obtain a license one had to be a U S Citizen. Most Indians were not, nor could they become, U S citizens at that time. Many Indians, particularly members of the Yakama Federation resisted such regulation, claiming treaty rights and rights of sovereignty. Indians would be arrested, sometimes violently, for violating this regulation or that. They would appeal their convictions to a Federal court, and win. In 1903 a group of Yakamas attempted to fish at a "usual and customary place," land occupied by a cannery. They were arrested for trespass and violation of other Washington law pae4rtaining to fishing. Their case eventually wound up in the U S Supreme Court, there that body ruled in United States v Winans that the Yakama possessed fishing rights which had not been given away when they ceded land and moved away from the river. Fishing was essential to their way of life. The right to fish in "usual and customary places" was theirs, and superseded any state law. Perhaps the very treaties which had cost Indians so dearly in terms of land might yet save them.

But the salmon population continued to decline. Washington and Oregon issued new and stronger regulations, often placing the interests of Native Americans inferior to those of white commercial and sport fishermen. In 1942 the U S Supreme Court upheld the Winans decision, ruling in Tulle v. Washington that a law requiring Indians who fished using a dip net, the accustomed way of fishing, to pay an annual $5 fee was invalid. Conflict among those who would harvest the Columbia's bounty intensified. Yet another influential contestant appeared on the scene, the hydroelectric energy industry.

The first of the great dams, Bonnieville, came on line in 1935. This massive structure inundated many "usual and customary" fishing places. At least the Army Corp of Engineers, builders of most of the Columbia's dams, did provide fish ladders so that the stronger of the returning salmon could continue upriver to their spawning beds. Such was not the case with the Grand Coolie Dam which came on line three years later. This engineering marvel blocked access to more than 600 miles of spawning streams in the upper Columbia, not to mention the inundation of Kettle Falls, another important "usual and customary" and sacred place. The energy rush was on. Dam after dam came on line. The Dalles Dam, coming on line in 1955, took away Celilo Falls. The salmon population became more severely depleted.

While many factors contribute to the destruction of the salmon population, dams are considered the most significant. The cycle of nature is both complex and simple. Salmon and steelhead hatch up stream, often hundreds of miles from the ocean. Surviving juveniles use the river current to migrate down stream. At some point during their journey, chemical changes in their bodies will allow the fish to enter the ocean. If they don't go to sea immediately after the change the fish will die. Dams significantly slow the currents, their turbines also grind up many juveniles. Perhaps five fish in a hundred which would have made it out to sea prior to the construction of the dams now do so. Those who do survive spend three or four years before they come home to spawn. They gather at the mouths of rivers where another chemical change which allows them to live in fresh water again occurs. Then the final struggle begins. The fish try to swim up river, where they will spawn and die. Until the dams, fish had to negotiate only two major waterfalls to make it to their spawning grounds. Now they must negotiate as many as eight major dams to do so. As a result the salmon population has declined to the point where the Endangered Species Act of 1973 may be their only hope for survival.

In the midst of decline Indians have won significant victories. When The Dalles Dam was built and four Columbia River tribes were paid $23 million in compensation for the flooding of Celilo Falls, most people thought the Indians would fade into oblivion. They did not. The Indian Awakening of the 1960's found its way to the Northwest. Though most objective studies since the 1940's had concluded that Indian fishing was hardly a significant factor contributing to the decline of the salmon and steelhead population, non Indians thought their fishing practices to be "above the law" and used Indians as a convenient scapegoat. Sport and commercial fishermen alike clamored for more strict regulation of Indian fishing. The states attempted to ignore the Winans decision and exact new regulations. Indians resisted. George Sohappy, a Yakama, was arrested for violating Oregon fish and game regulations. He brought suit against Oregon in Federal Court. The Federal Government also sought to intervene on behalf of the Indians. The decisions in Sohappy v Smith and United States v Oregon (collectively known as the Belloni decision,) would send shock waves throughout the region. Judge Belloni upheld the Winans decision in its entirety, arguing that the treaties had not been overturned by The Dalles Dam payments, and that the treaty entitled Indians to a "fair and equitable share' of the salmon and steelhead runs passing their fishing places. Sohappy set the stage for one of the most far reaching decisions ever to affect treaty rights, the Boldt Decision.

In essence the Boldt Decision, actually United States v Washington (1974) involved a dispute over fishing regulations in Puget Sound. Judge Boldt after lengthy testimony and after studying thousands of pages of submitted ruled in favor of the Indians on every count. His most important ruling was that as a result of the treaties Indians were entitled to take 50% of the salmon and steelhead passing through their fishing sites. Judge Boldt was subsequently hanged in effigy. The 9'th Court of Appeals affirmed the Boldt decision later that year, and in 1976 the U S Supreme Court let the Boldt and Belloni decisions stand. Judge Belloni applied the 50% rule to the Columbia River. These decisions raised a "hue and cry" from non Indian fishing interests throughout the Northwest. The State of Washington attempted to act as though the Boldt decision did not exist as state courts were used to promote the interests of non Indians. Over the next few years Judge Boldt would make literally hundreds of specific decisions regarding the matter. Slade Gorton, Washington Attorney General, scion of a canning family, and later a U S Senator, argued that the non Indians of Washington could not live with such a far reaching decision without the consideration of the U S Supreme Court, succeeded in bringing one of the state cases to that body. In Washington v, Washington State Passenger Commercial Fishing Vessel (1979), however, the Court essentially upheld the Boldt and Belloni decisions. The battle is not over, however. Recently Senator Gorton has introduced legislation which would give states jurisdiction over such matters, a change which would be harmful to Indian fishing rights. The legislation has so far failed to clear Congress, but it is clear evidence that the battle continues.

The story is not hopeless, as the competing interests may yet decide that saving the remaining fish runs is more important than fighting over proportions. The 1991 "Salmon Summit" was a hopeful sign. A wide variety of interests including the Tribes, Governors of four states, federal energy and environmental agencies, sport and commercial fishers, transportation agencies agricultural irrigators, and recreation and environmental groups met to map out a strategy for saving the salmon. Some encouraging steps have been taken since, though no comprehensive plan has been developed. Too many interests want more than the Columbia can provide. The treaties, however stand. THE TRIBES HAVE A VOICE: THE VANISHING RACE, DIDN'T!!