Earth Economics has been working with the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) First Nations and Tribal Caucuses as they drafted a Memorandum of Understanding for salmon recovery. Caucus members reached out to Earth Economics about the MOU based on previous collaboration on a report to document the Sociocultural Significance of Pacific Salmon to Tribes and First Nations.

 

Murray Ned, Russ Jones, Gord Sterritt, and W. Ron Allen signing the MOU.

 

The MOU aims to collectively safeguard the salmon that have sustained Tribal and First Nations communities for countless generations.

The MOU outlines a collaborative framework for Tribes and First Nations to:

  • Sustain healthy salmon populations to meet the social, spiritual, economic, and cultural needs of current and future generations.

  • Enhance the capacity of Tribes and First Nations for fisheries governance and resource stewardship.

  • Share information to support conservation, resource management, and salmon harvest, use, and governance. 

The MOU is based on The Sociocultural Significance of Salmon to Tribes and First Nations (2021) Special Report.

Commissioners from the Caucuses signed the MOU at the February 2024 Annual Meeting in Portland OR.

 

Murray Ned, Russ Jones, Gordon Sterritt, and W. Ron Allen with the MOU.

 
 

Press Release

We are stronger together for a common cause.

For 40 years, Indigenous nations in the United States and Canada have participated in the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) to implement the 1985 Pacific Salmon Treaty, with the goal of conducting equitable fisheries to manage salmon responsibly.

From our point of view, government efforts on both sides of the border have failed to stop the decline of the salmon that sustained tribal communities for countless generations. “Just as salmon are vital to ecosystem health and larger food webs, salmon are essential to every aspect of Indigenous livelihood and culture,” according to a special report to the PSC by Earth Economics. “Salmon are integral to family structures, community cohesion, gatherings and ceremonies, and practices of giving, trading and sharing — all central to cultural identity.” Unfortunately, we have fewer and fewer fish to share. Habitat degradation, pollution, climate change, marine mammal predation and inadequate harvest management systems continue to drive down our salmon runs. Harvest management alone won’t save salmon — we need to take holistic approaches that integrate harvest, habitat and hatcheries. At the PSC meeting in Portland this year, members of the U.S. Tribal Caucus and Canada’s First Nation Caucus put our commitment into words in a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to: sustain healthy salmon populations to meet the social, spiritual, economic and cultural needs of current and future generations; enhance Tribal and First Nations capacity for fisheries governance and resources stewardship; and share information to support conservation, resources management, and salmon harvest, use and governance.

At the signing ceremony, the chair of the First Nations Caucus Gordon Sterritt, Xsaxgyoo, (Gitxsan Nation) credited two of NWIFC’s late leaders: “I’d like to acknowledge the late Lorraine Loomis (Swinomish) and Terry Williams (Tulalip), who championed these relationships throughout their careers—knowing the greater the collaboration, the better chance we have for ensuring there are salmon resources for future generations,” he said.

“We’re in a period of great uncertainty on a number of fronts and only with all of us working together will we have a fighting chance to address the issues that salmon—and by extension, we—are all challenged with.” The memorandum draws from guiding principles recommended by the Earth Economics report: recognize Tribes and First Nations as co-managers and respect their sovereignty, rights and trust responsibilities; commit to joint environmental stewardship to rebuild salmon populations for future generations through habitat restoration and protection; and incorporate Indigenous values and traditional knowledge alongside western science in salmon management. Haida Hereditary Chief Nang Jingwas Russ Jones and Murray Ned, Kwilosintun, (Semá:th) signed the memorandum on behalf of the First Nations Caucus. The caucus is planning a traditional longhouse ceremony next year to commemorate the signing.

Signing along with McCoy Oatman of Nez Perce on behalf of the U.S. Tribal Caucus, Jamestown S’Klallam Chairman and CEO W. Ron Allen quoted NWIFC’s late chairman — and my mentor and longtime friend: “Billy Frank Jr. always used to say, ‘Every river has a people,’ and we take care of it and that’s our job passed on by our elders.”

“We all agree to help each other understand what we can do to protect the salmon so that it will be sustained for future generations,” he added. “That’s the spirit that’s inside the document.” Billy also used to say, “It’s going to take all of us.” It gives me hope to stand alongside leaders from First Nations and the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission to celebrate respectful and collaborative relationships that will help us achieve our shared goal of recovering salmon for the next seven generations.