Indigenous Native American Fishing in the Pacific Northwest Region of North America

In the Pacific Northwest region of North America, fish have been an important subsistence resource for the indigenous Native Americans for over 10,000 years. This fact was legally reinforced when the U.S. federal courts stated that fish have always been “not much less necessary than the atmosphere they [the indigenous Native American peoples] breathed” (U.S. vs. Winans 1905). The indigenous Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest traditionally centered both their diet and their way of life around the great runs of anadromous fish – the salmon and steelhead trout – that return each year from the open sea to spawn along the rivers of this region. In fact, anthropologists and archaeologists have estimated that upwards of 60 percent of the nutrients consumed by these culturally wealthy peoples historically derived directly from the fish (Jones 2005).

When the colonization of this region began, the indigenous Native American nations negotiated treaties that guaranteed continued access to this life giving resource. During the 1850s and 1860s, the U.S. government entered into individual nation-to-nation treaties with each tribe, and in each treaty negotiation the indigenous Native Americans were far more concerned with reserving perpetual access to their “usual and accustomed” fishing sites along the coasts and interior waterways then they were with demarcating specific territorial units. In large part, they ceded most of their traditional homeland (a total of about 64 million acres), retaining only small parcels for their own exclusive use and occupancy, in exchange for cash payments, other aid, and solemn guarantees of their fishing rights (Landeen and Pinkham 1999).

For a while it appeared as if the treaties might be honored, since the early U.S. settler population was interested primarily in agriculture, and secondarily in timbering and mining. However, as the U.S. commercial fishing fleet grew during the late 1800s, Native American fishing rights underwent a marked and rapid erosion. State regulations, enacted in direct contravention of the treaties, abolished or closely restricted Native use of traditional fishing techniques such as salmon spearing and limited Native Americans to fishing within the confines of their reservations.

As a result, indigenous people throughout the Pacific Northwest region were forbidden to fish in many rivers and tributaries they had utilized since time immemorial. These state-level treaty violations were coupled to those of the federal government itself, which, as part of the overall policy of Native American assimilation, began a campaign during the same period to eradicate the Potlatch, First Salmon, and other traditional ceremonies that formed the core of area indigenous Native American spirituality. Despite a federal court ruling in the 1905 Winans case that Native American fishing rights had never been forfeited, both the States and the U.S. Department of Interior continued their policies. On top of these anti-Native American fishing policies, the construction of numerous dams along the rivers caused further problems as many of the fish were effectively blocked from reaching their spawning grounds.

Contemporary Pacific Northwest Native American fishing is a striking amalgamation of traditional patterns and modern technologies. Many of the same communities that gather each year to participate in the First Salmon ceremony – welcoming the returning fish and honoring the natural cycle of life – also rely on sons and daughters sent to universities to learn biology in order to run state-of-the-art hatcheries. While Native Americans once again fish for subsistence, with consumption of salmon and steelhead now composing almost as much of the diet in some areas as in pre-treaty days, consortia like the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission in western Washington and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission in Oregon rely on high-powered computers to compile harvest data for commercial purposes. These latter entities, as well as representatives of the various regional Native American governments, interact regularly and directly with state, national, and international fisheries management boards, on which Native Americans now hold several key positions.

After decades of conflict, the treatied indigenous peoples of the United States are moving closer to regaining their rights to harvest and manage fish and other resources. In recent years, strong legal rulings have confirmed their claims to the natural resources upon which they have depended since time immemorial. The translation of rights guaranteed by federal treaty into the practical realities of contemporary politics has been very difficult, distorted, and sometimes blocked by state and federal actions. The sharing of resources, policymaking, and management prerogatives are all part of a system of government-to-government relations that can and must replace the structure of internal colonial domination that has defined the U.S. – Native American relationship for the past two centuries.

Jones, Peter
2005 Identity Through Fishing: A Preliminary Analysis of Impacts to the Nez Perce as a Result of the Damming of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers. Cultural Dynamics 17(2):155-192.

Landeen, Dan, and Allen Pinkham
1999 Salmon and His People: Fish and Fishing in Nez Perce Culture. Lewiston, ID: Confluence Press.

Further Reading

Cone, Joseph. 1996. A Common Fate: Endangered Salmon and the People of the Pacific Northwest. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press.

Lichatowich, James A. 2001. Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Montgomery, David R. 2003. King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.