. QUARTERLY What vaiue nave Indian tishing rights if they are rights tn nothing? CATCH By Bill Bakke The salmon and steelhead stocks that use the spawning tributaries above McNary Dam on the Columbia River are now being studied for possible listing as Threatened or Endangered species. It is also these fish that > the Indian tribes rely upon to support their treaty fishing rights. The salmon’s habitat has been altered so that it is less productive, and the dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers kill vast numbers of both the upstream migrating adults and the juveniles moving downstream to the sea. The ancient pathway of the salmon and their nursery waters have been reshaped and ruined by development to a degree that some stocks have been completely lost and others face extinction. Ed Chaney, a consultant on Columbia River fishery problems, says, shaking his head in dismay, “Why are people not outraged by this?” I have been fortunate to tramp through the beautiful watersheds of the Clearwater and Salmon rivers in Idaho and see the magnificent salmon and steelhead spawning habitat that exists there. The Salmon and Clearwater are the last two salmon spawning streams left in Idaho, and considerable portions of those watersheds are now in wilderness protection. The habitat rests there, productive and beautiful, unlikely to be changed by man; it awaits the salmon’s return. A game warden on the Clearwater told me that last year he saw two salmon spawning, and that was at the peak of the spawning season. The Indian tribes that have treaty fishing rights on the Columbia River fish the great river and its tributaries above Bonneville Dam. Yet these rights — granted to the Indians as sovereign nations by the United ■ States — are rights to nothing if the salmon disappears. The four Indian tribes, the Warm Springs, Yakima, Umatilla, and Nez Perce, are in a tough position because they rely upon strong runs of salmon, runs that have a harvestable surplus that can be safely fished. These tribes constitute the terminal fishery; that is, as the runs are now managed, they are the last to fish the salmon resource, the last to receive their share. Sport and commercial fishing at sea from California to Alaska take the first slice from the runs as they mature in the ocean fishing grounds. Then the in-river fishermen below Bonneville — gillnet and sport fishermen — take their share. The sport and Indian fishermen above Bonneville Dam get what is left, which, for many years now, is very little or nothing. Although conservation management of the salmon begins at the river mouth, the ocean fishery cannot be regulated to the extent that certain stocks are protected. If the runs entering the river are poor, the inriver fishermen, Indian and nonEDIHI.I'.S . LIVE MI SIC SPIRITS 836 NORTH RUSSELL ’ 282-6810 Best Live Music Thursday-Saturday Happy Hour Pitchers $1 — 4:30-6:30 Every Day Monday Night — Dirty Muther Night ANY DRINK MADE WITH COFFEE LOLITA OR KAMORA $1.35 TITS AND CHIPS $1.95 STARTING 5:30 PM Tuesday — Stud Night WELL DRINKS $1 BUCKET OF STEAMERS AND PITCHER OF BEER $4.25 STARTING AT 5:30 PM Wednesday — Tequila Night MARGARITAS, SUNRISES, ETC. — ANY DRINK MADE WITH TEQUILA $1.35 FISH AND CHIPS SPECIAL $1.95 STARTING AT 6:30 PM Thursday — Ladies’ Night WELL DRINKS $1 including Margaritas, Sunrises, Bloody Marys — free cover for ladies 28 Illustration by Alan Brewster
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