A $240 million investment in fish hatcheries that produce Pacific salmon and steelhead was announced July 25 by the U.S. Interior and Commerce departments in support of economic ceremonial and subsistence needs of Pacific Northwest tribes.
The investment also fulfills treaty-reserved fishing rights, the federal agencies said.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is to partner with the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to deliver the funds to regional tribes.
“Since time immemorial, tribes in the Pacific Northwest have relied on Pacific salmon, steelhead and other native fish species for sustenance and their cultural and spiritual ways of life,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. “This funding will help us deliver historic investments from the President’s Investing in America agenda that will empower Indigenous communities and safeguard resources they have stewarded since time immemorial.”
The investments come on the heels of an Interior Department report in June documenting the historic, ongoing and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin tribes.
By executing these awards through Indian Self-Determination Act contracts and compacts, the federal government will lift a significant administrative burden from these tribes, according to the Biden administration.
NOAA said that it plans to continue building on this partnership with the BIA for future work opportunities to address tribal needs nationally.
Commercial, subsistence and recreational fishing, tourism and the broader ecosystem from California to Alaska benefit from tribal fish hatchery production in the Pacific Northwest, as well as both local and global markets, the federal agencies said.
Millions of fish produced in tribal hatcheries annually drive tribal employment and subsistence, nutrition for tribal families and also preservation of cultural traditions and recreation.
As habitat is restored and reconnected to better support natural fish production, hatcheries will remain a critical tool to supplement fish for tribal and non-tribal fisheries, as well as other salmon-dependent animals and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest, the agencies said.