Yesterday the state Department of Health release an advisory on eating blackmouth (resident) chinook. A couple of places covered the tribal angle pretty well.
The biggest impact from the advisory could be among Puget Sound tribes. While wild chinook are protected under the Endangered Species Act, tribes catch tens of thousands of hatchery chinook in Puget Sound. It’s an important source of income for tribal members. And the fish are important to their culture, traditions and ceremonies.
Georgiana Kautz, the natural-resource manager for the Nisqually Tribe, is livid about the pollution in the fish. But she was also mad about the Health Department warning. “You’re still scaring people,” Kautz said.
The advisories were unwelcome and upsetting to Georgiana Kautz, a Nisqually Indian who manages her tribe’s natural resources.
The Health Department’s recommendation could affect the marketing of the Nisqually catch, she said.
“People will back off of eating salmon. I think that’s totally wrong,” she said. “I don’t see our people getting sick from fish. I see them getting sick from a lot of other things, not the salmon.”
