Salmon Harvest Complexities

Like many tribes in the Northwest, the Makah tribe harvests salmon.  They've been doing it for millennia, though not for profit until recently.  So what happens if they harvest too many?

Makah officials are defending the tribe's larger-than-expected winter catch of 20,000 chinook salmon, saying it will not put a dent in future fishing on the North Olympic Peninsula.

"This will have no effect on other people's fisheries," said Dave Sones, the tribe's vice chairman. "The chinook salmon we've caught this season represents a tiny percentage that exist in our fisheries."

If 20,000 adult chinook is but a tiny percentage of the total number in the fisheries, then the Makah would seem to be saying that chinook aren't really endangered.  But they are legally.  So, what's the punishment for harvesting a few extra salmon?   

Well, it wasn't just a few too many.   

The comments came after state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials expressed concern that the tribe's overfishing of wild chinook -- a threatened species -- might hurt nearby commercial, sport and tribal fisheries in the 2005-06 season.

Under state guidelines, the tribe was supposed to take about 1,600 chinook, Fish and Wildlife spokesman Doug Williams told the Peninsula Daily News, correcting a previous report from one of the agency's coordinators that the limit was 500.

So, the Makah caught 12.5 times too many chinook.  That's neither an accident nor an oversight.  These salmon were troll fished from the ocean, meaning they weren't just native to the Olympic Peninsula, but from places with depressed salmon counts from as far away as the Snake River.  That brings in Endangered Species Act considerations.  So, what's the punishment?  From the link in this paragraph...

The Makah troll fishery, Pattillo says, is managed not under a quota but as a season, just like most Puget Sound sport fisheries.

Each year when state, federal, tribal, sport and commercial fishing constituents set salmon seasons, they come up with estimates on the number of fish that can be taken in all fisheries and are expected to stay within that ballpark figure.  "We will be contacting (the) Makah to discuss the issue and will request they close the fishery," Pattillo said.

The Makah tribe quickly responded.

The Makah Indian Tribe has closed its fishing season 72 days early after a controversy over this year's catch of wild chinook salmon.

Tribal chairman Ben Johnson announced the decision Thursday, saying the tribe always planned to close the fishery when the harvest approached 20,000 fish.

Oops, got caught...time for damage control.  Because the Makah have fished the chinook so heavily this year, others will have their catch curbed to ensure the necessary "escapement"--the euphemism for the salmon that escape capture so they can breed. 

In recent years, Sones said the tribe has typically taken fewer chinook than it had estimated at the start of each season. He suggested that the recent catch may turn out to be a sign of progress.

"Our biologists think this signals the increasing abundance of chinook salmon in the area," Sones said. "It seems that our stocks are recovering, which, if it turns out to be the case, will lead to more liberal fishing in the future."

The Fish and Wildlife Department is set to unveil salmon forecasts for Puget Sound, coastal Washington and the Columbia River on March 1 in Olympia. The final salmon fishing season for 2005-06 will be announced April 4-8 in Tacoma.

The tribe has been taking fewer chinook than it had estimated...which as shown this year has nothing to do with the quota set by state Fish and Wildlife officials.  The tribe says it has been coordinating with federal biologists in the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  In the '80s and early 90s, the Makah used to harvest about 50,000 chinook during the winter season, but was that a sustainable number?  That was before the chinook was classified as endangered.

Who has the authority here?  Many tribes have battles with states regarding their authority or lack thereof regarding environmental and other matters.  Are the Makah shopping for the answers that are best for them, and/or indeed are chinook numbers so healthy that there's not a problem significantly boosting harvest levels?

There's no doubt that Washington is going to reduce the numbers others can take to make up for the surprisingly large Makah chinook harvest.  In essence through geography, the Makah's salmon fishing rights have ended up superceding those of folks who live further from the open ocean, including other tribes. 

But, the Makah aren't new to rebuffing external pressures regarding their fishing activities.  For instance, the Makah recently resumed whaling after an over 70 year hiatus.  Whaling is important to them culturally, and per their treaty with the U.S., they are allowed to do so.  So for a time, they used motor boats and high-powered weapons to kill a small number of gray whales (5 whales per two year quota).  It was classified a "subsistence hunt" in the environmental assessment, even though the Makah were letting the whales go to waste. 

The eastern Pacific population of gray whales was removed from the endangered species list in 1995.  The Makah didn't hunt the whale while it was endangered, though in theory they could have done so.  But, the gray whale is subject to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which is what various groups have recently used to stop the hunts in the courts.  The U.S. government (NOAA) argued for the Makah.

The Makah are used to working with NOAA on quotas.  At the moment, that's not good for the salmon fisherman subject to Fish and Wildlife quotas in the State of Washington. 

Comments

[SummerSalmon]

Kind of a one-sided, 'blame the indians' type of posting, don't you think. Don't you think it should be more of 'blame the state' because they're the ones that screwed up. The state's fisheries division is responsible for setting up catch quotas and making sure harvest doesn't exceed that limit, whether it's commercial, sport, or tribal. Simple as that.
Sure, the Makah's went way over their quota and I'm sure they new it after the first day. Do you think they said to each other, 'Hey wait a minute! I think we caught enough salmon, we better stop because we're making too much money...' Probably not. No tribal or white commercial fisherman would do such a thing. This would've happend in any other commercial fishery, in this case it just happend to be tribal. When we look to point fingers, I think we should look at the Washingtion Dept of Fish and Wildlife. They're the one responsible for monitering catch quotas and shutting down a fishery.
From your link ~ the Seattle Times article says 'Phil Anderson, Fish and Wildlife policy coordinator, said it's too early to know whether the Makah catch will reduce seasons for others. He conceded the state should have kept closer tabs on the tribal catch'... Damn right the state should've kept closer tabs on the tribal catch. OOPS! Tradgedy of the commons... Without any supervision, the Makah's are like a bunch of kids locked in a candy store.
In summary, the state should've had their fingers on the pulse of that fishery. They're the ones that screwed up! However, the media spin has made sound like it's the indians fault. It always seems easy to hate/blame the indians. In this case, somebody in the state's fisheries office dropped the ball and articles like yours make it sound like the Makah's are totally at fault and I believe that's incorrect.

[RoguePundit]

Did Fish & Wildlife catch the salmon or did the Makah? You're actually claiming the Makah couldn't help but disregard the target without the state's supervision? They would naturally break the law if not for law enforcement??

I agree that state supervision has proven to be inadequate. But, that in no way absolves the Makah of the blame for doing the overfishing.

[SummerChinook]

"You're actually claiming the Makah couldn't help but disregard the target without the state's supervision?"
YES! Seems childish and unbelievable, but yes, in today's world of commercial fisheries, there's no limits without supervision. Once again, Tragedy of the Commons... always out to one up your neighbor and catch as many fish as possible with totally disregard to repercussions to devastating future fish stocks.

"They would naturally break the law if not for law enforcement??" You bet! Same reasons as above. For some reason, the state ignored the Neah bay fishery. Why? You're going to have to ask them. They're not currently ignoring the ongoing Columbia River commercial (gill/tangle net)Springer fishery. They have observers on board fishing vessels and they keep close tabs on catch/bycatch totals.
Should the Makah have stopped fishing? Of course, but why would they if no one seemed to care. The state obviously didn't think they'd catch as many fish as they did, otherwise they would've been keeping a closer eye on the fishery.
The Makah's are at fault, I'm not absolving them from blame because of overharvest, however I believe the finger is pointing is the wrong direction. Commercial ocean fisheries demands close supervision due to the possiblities of large catches and mixed stock harvest. Plus, this fishery isn't like a sports fisherman releasing a native and only keeping two hatchery fish. This is commercial fishing for money and as noted in the articles the prices are high this year. With that said, state is at fault, they should've been watching that Neah Bay fishery. You can bet they've learned their lession and this won't happen again in the future.