Salmon form the ecological backbone of the Salish Sea bioregion. For that reason, the Boldt Decision—50 years old in February of this year—stands as a landmark in the ongoing struggle for healthy salmon runs and Indigenous sovereignty. Issued in 1974, this legal ruling forever altered the landscape of salmon fisheries, Tribal rights, and environmental conservation in our region.
Read the full story below, written by Puget Soundkeeper’s Communications Manager Nicole Loeffler-Gladstone.
Female coho salmon jumping falls at a beaver dam in Longfellow Creek, Seattle, during spawning season. Photo courtesy Tom Reese.
Salmon form the ecological backbone of the Salish Sea bioregion. For that reason, the Boldt Decision—50 years old in February of this year—stands as a landmark in the ongoing struggle for healthy salmon runs and Indigenous sovereignty. Issued in 1974, this legal ruling forever altered the landscape of salmon fisheries, Tribal rights, and environmental conservation in our region.
Dispossession
Disruption of Indigenous and Tribal ecosystem management began with the first European settlers and the advent of colonization along the West Coast of Turtle Island (North America). Burgeoning European industrialization in the form of habitat destruction and pollution, and the attempted genocide of Indigenous people, had a catastrophic impact on ecological function.
Indigenous people sustainably managed Northwest ecosystems for tens of thousands of years. By the 1950s—about 100 years after some Tribes signed treaties with Governor Isaac Stevens—60% of Indigenous people on reservations were living in poverty. Native people endured the Code of Indian Offences, which made certain cultural religious practices illegal; the appalling violence of residential schools; the Dawes Act (General Allotment Act) that further fractured and shrank reservation lands; and the Indian Relocation Act that encouraged Native people to leave reservations for urban areas and supposed employment opportunities.
Treaty Rights, Lifeways, and the Fish Wars
Pacific Northwest salmon runs plummeted by the mid-20th century. Non-Native fishermen, angered by what they saw as competition over increasingly diminished fisheries, began to attack and harass Native fishermen. Indigenous people were shot at by vigilantes, had their gear stolen or destroyed, and were arrested. In 1945, legendary Nisqually leader Billy Frank Jr. was arrested for the first time at age 14 as he fished on the Nisqually River. He would be arrested more than 50 times during a lifetime of activism.
Northwest Native people were deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement. Frank Jr. wrote, “We marched with Dr. King, and when we returned home, we continued the struggle by protesting, getting arrested, getting out of jail and doing it all over again.” Northwest Native people created “fish-ins,” integrating the Civil Rights tactic of the “sit-ins” into their own nonviolent direct. The first fish-in was held March 1st, 1964, on the Puyallup River.
The “Fish Wars” came to a head after the violent dispersal of a six-week-long fishing camp set up underneath the Puyallup River Bridge—what's now known as Frank’s Landing. In September 1970, Tacoma Police raided the camp, using teargas on the crowd and arresting over 60 people, including children.
The Boldt Decision
Sam Pitkin, a federal prosecutor, was present as a legal observer that day. He filed United States v. State of Washington nine days later, asserting that the State of Washington was infringing on Native treaty rights.
On February 12th, 1974, Judge George Boldt reaffirmed the tribes' treaty-protected fishing rights guaranteed under 19th-century treaties with the federal government. Significantly, he allocated 50% of the annual catch to Tribes, affirming their rights to fish in their usual and accustomed areas. The decision helped to establish government-to-government relationships between Tribes and Washington State, as fishery co-management became mandatory. Boldt also ruled that non-Native fishing could be limited for conservation purposes.
Fishing rights activists had worked to create an intertribal fisheries commission for at least a decade prior. After the Boldt decision required co-management, 19 federally recognized treaty Tribes formed the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
Legacy and Fallout
The Boldt decision rested on 1850s treaties and the designation of “usual and accustomed grounds.” However, not every Northwest Tribe had signed treaties, and “grounds” described by European and white colonizers were often arbitrary and had not been previously legally established.
As a result, the decision demarcated areas for each federally recognized Tribe’s use and created geographic divisions that were not necessarily representative of Indigenous lifeways. Colville Tribe member Pam James, the tribal liaison for the Washington State Historical Society (WSHS), told Al Jazeera, “When we think about pre-contact, the resources were shared.”
Further, non-federally recognized Tribes were left out of the Boldt decision altogether. The Chinook Tribe in Oregon and the Duwamish Tribe in Washington, for example, do not have guaranteed fishing rights and access to fisheries co-management.
And salmon runs continue to suffer. Climate change and warming waters, toxic stormwater laden with chemicals like 6PPD-quinone, dams, culverts, and habitat destruction all play a role in the long-term decline.
However, there are some bright spots: In 2022, Washington State banned commercial net pen fish farming in state waters. In 2023, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe members fished for salmon for ceremonial purposes on the Elwha River, a first since dam removal was completed in 2014. These successes emphasize the integral role of salmon in Northwest culture since time immemorial. It is our shared responsibility to ensure salmon and salmon culture continue to survive and thrive into the future.