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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2000)
my y y fm SPILYAY tymoo WARM SPRINGS, OREGON June 1,2000 3 Ceremonial Fisherman Harvest Spring Chinook & Revive Debate Over Snouts t . - " " " , 4 - . r . ,." ' . -,.,,,. t. - 1 .. . l . -T . '1 , , ' - . ' t i v v.. Kl ' 0 -f " " feC-V"' iY"' . - V. .. : ' : C4wi. V m w'ii , . ! Wilbur Johnson, Sr. loads the days harvest onto the tribal boat. By Lenora Starr The number of spring salmon run ning up the Columbia River is the highest it has been in more than 2 12 decades and with that the Ceremonial Fisherman of the Warm Springs, Yakama, NezPerce and UmaullaTribes were able to harvest an additional 750 salmon for their people. Bruce Jim, Virgil Culps, Randy Smith and Wilbur Johnson, Sr. have more than a century of fishing experi ence between them. They share their frustrations of this springs harvest. "We risk our lives to get this fish for our people and we're glad to go down to get the fish. We always pray and we always sing and we give offerings to the river. This is the way we were shown by our elders," said Bruce Jim. Earlier this season a boat sank with a crew of fisherman and a natural re sources biologist. Although there were no fatalities, the river could have taken any of them. "One little mistake could cost your life. It could get real danger ous. Something like a button or a watch could get caught or sometimes the waves could getreally high," says Virgil Culps. Following the boating accident the natural resources department had a boat "shadowing" the ceremonial fisherman . Bruce Jim, "Living in Celilo and Tenino, fishing and hunting has been my life. I grew up a fisherman. I grew up a hunter. We traveled all over the place, hunting and gathering." Bruce started ceremonial fishing almost 30 years ago. During that time he witnessed many changes. He recalls one of the changes is the snouts being cut off of the salmon. He explains that the taking of the snouts wasn't done in the past. But when the biologists came along and wanted to conduct research, it was the tribal membersfisherman who took the scale samples. "We took the snouts off and this was supposed to only be done for two years. After that time the taking of the snouts were to end." Bruce states the fish and wildlife committee members were in agree ment not to take any more snouts. "These fish are used for ceremonial purposes and we do not want to deface Warm Springs J r r y- : 1 - , Hatchery Manager Mike Paiya, displays one of many native salmon that were processed during this year's salmon run. - the salmon in any way. There's no longer any more data that they (biolo gists) can collect any more than they can get from the hatchery." The ceremonial fisherman and the natural resources biologist became in volved in a heated debate over the cutting of the snouts during the recent spring harvest. The intensity of the debate drew attention from the On ; Reservation Fish and Wildlife Com mittee and the Chairman of the the , Tribal Council. According to the fish-'1 erman, the end result was the Chair man of the On Reservation Committee was suspended from his job and the responsibilties of the committee was transferred to the Off Reservation Fish and Wildlife Committee. Stanley "Bear Tracks" Simtustus, Chairman of the On Reservation Fish and Wildlife Com mittee maintains that he didn't do any this wrong and that the committee is there to work for the peoples interests and not for the interests of others. It's this debate over cutting off the snouts that made it difficult for the fisherman to maintain their compo ' sure. Bruce Jim explains, "That white man (biologist working for the natural resources) made us really mad; telling us he was the Confederated Tribes and saying things that aren't appropriate. We really had to clear ourselves and push all those bad thoughts and feel ings out of the mind because we are fishing for the people. All the stuff that you do begins in the home. When you go out and you handle these fish, you do it in a good way. You're not to get mad. Not angry or anything else. When you handle this food, that's what you pass down to the people at these longhouses, you give them 'clean food' because you weren't mad and there were prayers that were said. That white man really made us mad. We had to clear ourselves and push all those bad thoughts back. A representative from the Natural Resources Department who was at the river with the fisherman was contacted for an interview but was unavailable forcomment. However resolution 623 1 is printed here in it's entirity. WHEREAS, The Confeder ated Tribes of the Warm Springs Res- Fish Hatchery Spring Chinook Salmon 2000 run, breaks new record 1 ... . . . 1 rn 1 1 . J .A f.,n11i TVnofc fieri orfs nlor c ervalion of Oregon reserved the right in the Treaty with the Tribes of the Middle Oregon of 1855 to fish for ceremonial, subsistance and commer cial purposes in the waters of the Co lumbia River and at all other usual and accustomed places beyond the bound aries of the Warm Springs Reserva tion; and WHEREAS, The Tribal Council regards the right to fish for ceremonial and religious purposes to among the most sacred of its Treaty rights, and WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Tribal Coundil to exercise full regulatory control over the ceremonial fisheries so as to protect the religious purpose of the fisheries and to insure conservation of fishery resource; now, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reserva tion of Oregon that the following tribal ceremonial fishery procedures are hereby adopted; and BE IT FURTHERE RE SOLVED, that the following tribal ceremonial fishery procedures shall be codified in the appropriate chapter of the Warm Springs Tribal Code, and all prior resolutions governing cer emonial fishing procedures are hereby rescinded: Ceremonial Fishery Procedures 1. Fishery Plan 1.1 Prior to each ceremonial fish-' :ry Natural Resources Department ;hall prepare and present to the Tribal Council for approval or modification a ishery plan. 1 .2 The ceremonial fishery plan hall include the following elements: (a) The harvst goal for each .salmonid species. The harvest goal shall be based on a determination of tribal needs with due consideration given to the conservation requirements of the salmonid species contributing to the ceremonial fishery. Tribal needs shall be determined through consulta tion with tribal elders and religious leaders. (b) The dates of the ceremo nial fishery. The dates of the fishery will be determined with due consider-; ation given to the conservation re quirements of the salmonid species contributing to the fishery. , (c) The minimum qualifica tions for head fisherman and helper. ;' 1.3 No ceremonial fishing shall, ( take place until approval of the fishery , plan by the Tribal, Council. , , . ,. 1 .4 All ceremonial fishing shall be conducted in strict accordance with the fishery plan approved by the Tribal Council. 2. Fishing Crew All ceremonial fishing shall be conducted by a single crew of four persons. The crew shall consist of a member of the Natural Resources De partment staff,,a member of the tribal fish and game law enforcement staff, and a head fisherman and helper se lected by the Fish Committee in accor dance with the procedures out herein. (a) Prior to each ceremonial fishery , Natural Resource Department shall solicit applications for a head fisherman and helper and shall publish notice of the minimum qualifications. (b) In addition, Natural Re sources Department shall compile a list of individuals nominated by Tribal elders and religious leaders for head fisherman and helper. (c) Natural Resources De partment shall submit a list of all appli cants satisfying the minimum qualifi cations and all individuals nominated by Tribal Elders and religious leaders to the Fish and Wildlife Committee. (d) TheFish& Wildlifecom mittee shall select a head fisherman and helper. 3, Notice 3. 1 Natural Resourcdes Depart ment shall submit appropriate notifi cation to state and federal agencies a minimum of seven days prior to the start of the fishery. The Spring Chinook Salmon 2000 run at the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery has been the best year yet with hundreds of incom ing salmon on a daily basis. This is the first large return run of upriver spring chinook for years. According to Mavis Shaw, As sistant Manager at the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery, 70 of the run is already in. 'This is record breaking news. As of May 30, 2000, a total of 1,667 wild and 4,003 hatchery salmon have returned bringing the total to 5,670 salmon," says Mavis. The difference between the wild and hatchery salmon is, wild salmon have been uniquely shaped by natural forces to sur vive and reproduce in their home stream. Hatcheries do not present the same rigors as stream life, and thus, can produce fish that 3.2 The tribal notice shall con tain a statement of the dates of the fishery, the fishing sites used, the har vest goal for each salmonid species, and the indentity of the fishing crew. 4. Fishery 4.1 The fishery shall be con ducted in strict accordance with the fishery plan approved by the Tribal Council. 4.2 The fishery shall utilize fish ing sites registered to the head fisher man or helper, and any other fishing sites registered to Warm SpringsTribal members. 4.3 All nets shall be clearly marked as Warm Springs tribal cer emonial fishing nets. 4.4 During the cow se of the fish ery.NaturalResourcsDepartmentshall be responsible for preserving and stor ing the catch at a site near the fishery. 5. Post Fishery 5.1 At the conclusion of the fish ery, Natural Resources Department shall be responsible for safe transpor tation of the ceremonial catch from the fishery storage site to the tribal lock ers. 5.2 Natural Resources Depart ment shall submit relevant harvest data to state and federal agencies and shall maintain all appropriate records re quired for tribal fishery management. 6. Violation 6.1 It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in ceremonial fishing except in accordance with the proce dures set out herein. 6.2 It shall be unlawful for any member of the ceremonial fishing crew, or any other person, to sell, barter, give away or keep, fish taken for ceremo nial purposes. 6.3 Unlawful activity in connec tion with the tribal ceremonial fishery shall be punishable in accordance with thepenaltiessetoutinWSCT340.700. Certification The undersigned, as Secretary Treasurer of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon; hereby certifies that the Tribal Council is composed of 1 1 members, of whom 8 constituting aquorum were present at the meeting thereof, duly and regularly called, noticed, convened and held this 8th day of June, 1982; and that the foregoing resolution was passed by the affirmative vote of 7 members, the Chairman not voting; and that the said resolution had not been recinded or amended in any way. RalphMinnick, Secretary-Treasuer Merritt E. Youndeer, Superinten dent Randy Smith, a fishing crew mem ber, "you look at this resolution 6231 everything that is noted in this resolu tion is enacted by Tribal Council ac tion and not any one individual. The majority of the Tribal Council had to be in agreement and not any one indi vidual can change this resolution. That's the way I understand it." Bruce Jim explains that it isn't just a matter of keeping the fish "whole" but it's our it's our rights. Speaking passionately Bruce says, "We are pro tecting that little right that we have from our fishing. Once they start in fringing on that right, than they will continue to take more and more like they are doing because nobody wants to say anything and it's making them stronger. Enough is enough! We are losing a lot of things. Even our hunt ing! All in the name of protection of the resources. A deer lives where he can live. Just because there isn't a deer in that one square mile, it doesn' t mean that there's supposed to be one there. Everything was fine until they came here." Wilbur Johnson, Sr. recalls a time are not as genetically and behav iorally suited to life in the stream over generations. "The run is expected to con tinue through mid-June or early August. According to Warm Springs Fish Hatchery old records, the best years were in 1990 1,867 salmon were pro cessed while in 1989, 2,528 were processed bringing the total to 3, 947," said Mavis. "Salmon are still coming in," said Hatching Manager Mike Paiya. "There for awhile about 300 to 400 salmon were coming in daily with bigger numbers waiting after the weekend," said Mike. According to Randy Boise Fish Hatchery employee, many of the salmon are being stored in the hatchery freezer for future tribal ceremonial use, while a when the salmon were so plentiful that he and his family could go to Beaver Creek on horse back and hook and line or gaff them out. He also remembers the big meetings (hat took place in Celilo about the building of the Dalles Dam. He saw the surveyors at the site and recalls his grandpa saying, 'What are we coming down here for? They are already surveying like they already beat us' "Sure enough, we went out there for nothing. They already de cided they were going to tuke Celilo away from us." . , "We can't make our own biologists understand that it's the things that we do that make a good return of the salmon, a good healthy salmon," said ' Wilbur. He continues, "We try to ex plain to them that they have done enough handling of the fish. They have done enough damage to them, they take the snouts. When we pray for the salmon, we pray for the whole salmon. And when they take the snout they are taking the part of the salmon that is the main part of the salmon that guides them back. There's a lot of things that old people say about the brain of the salmon. He (the salmon)can tell where his own water is and knows which one , to go back to. When he leaves the ocean he challenges many different streams and he always knows which one to go back to. We never harvest until we are finished giving thanks and the creator recoginizes that and takes care of us." Wilbur credits much of the knowlege he's gained to his grandfa ther and from listcningtotheoldpeoplc. He learned that there is a riht time to gather tools and foods and offers this story as an example of knowing how to recognize as asighn of when the salmon are coming, "Swallow, she come up the river too early. She had her babies. She waited to fish the salmon. Day after day she would go to fish the salmon. Everyday there was no salmon. Everyday she was getting hungrier and everyday here babies were hun gry. She had nothing to give them. Finally she got so hungry when she went back to her babies and she ate them to survive. The next day the salmon came. Just one more day she had to wait. So in her way to show that she was guilty and wanted forgive ness, she told everybody, 'Next time when the salmon come, I will come up aday ahead of the salmon and they will be behind me. When you see me fly ing i1 i s.. 'i .,: (;(" y I r:.! !hvilf!l.-;i. '.. .;' ,t r r r . 1 1 . j . V r '1.-. I , V - 1 t . 'Tt j i l CJ " f. 1 I11A... Oliver Kirk, Natural Resources Enforcement packs fish to be stored for ceremonial purposes after being weighed and measured. total of 3,658 have been donated to Warm Springs Tribal commu nity members. In the wild, Pacific salmon return to their streams of origin to spawn at the end of their natural life cycles, and die afterwards. Returning hatchery salmon are also at the end of their natural life cycles. They are killed to allow the removal of eggs and semen, which are combined to produce fertile eggs. This is called artifi cial spawning. Each hatchery has a quota, determined by a man agement plan, for the number of salmon needed for artificial spawning. When more salmon return to the hatchery than are needed for artificial spawning, they are sur plus and may be killed if they cannot be returned to rivers and streams for harvast or to spawn around, you know the next day the salmon are coming.' That's what she done to say that what she was sorry for eating her babies. Wilbur:" You know that it's true when you see the swal lows diving around the river that the salmon are coming the next day. Wilbur wanted to share this mes sage, "One thing I'd like to share is about what education is doing to us and tribes all around the world and all people. This part I'm talking about is in the Bible. It's coming to one gov ernment. Even the money is going to change; we have a new 100 dollar bill. A new 20 Dollar bill and even a new silvcrdollar. Banks willgobroke pretty soon. More and more earth quakes, hail storms, and fires. One third of our trees are going to burn. Look at the fires we've had. Our trees are burned. We are working toward on world gov ernment and you could see that. Our cops are able to go to Madras and the Dalles and their cops come here. The state cops, they're allowed to come here. States and Canada's agreements. And the laws are becoming more. And people will become frustrated. Now you see the laws are becoming more. And people will become frustrated. Now you see the Tribal Council trav eling everywhere. They're forgetting what the old people was teaching them. The guys getting educated. The world is doming to an end and the prophies from the Bible are being fulfilled. The white man is coming in and doine this research. We're trying to get the coun cil.' to realize that we have all these fisherman with experience about the salmon. We don't need the biologist to tell us anything aout the salmon be cause we already know this from our old people. You're letting the educa tion go over" the experience. And you let them study 'cause they're college people and you're letting the experi ence go to waste." the fisherman finished their cer emonial harvest and the fish are stored away for ceremonial use. Some of the salmon are laying in the freezers with the snouts removed. The snouts are removed from the hatchery fish be cause there is identifying data place in the snouts by the hatcheries. It is this data that the biologists are after. There fisherman will continue to talk to the council about the fishery procedures. We will know how that turns out when it comes time for the fall harvest. naturally. These fish are also at the end of their natural lire cycles arid are used as a food resource, or to provide nutrients to streams from the decaying salmon bod ies to enhance aquatic life. When the return salmon are processed, usually, the fish are struck once over the head with a club, similar to a baseball bat, which, when done properly, is a quick and humane way to kill them. The Warm Springs Fish Hatch ery would like to thank the Fire Management employees who assisted them as well as the Warm Springs Salmon Corps crew. For more information ox questions about the Spring Chinnok Salmon 2000 run, please call (541) 553-1692. I