Bernie Kai-Kai Gobin, an elder from the Tulalip Tribes and original member of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, passed away earlier this week. The burial service is 9 a.m. Friday at the Tulalip Tribal Center, 6700 Totem Beach Road, Tulalip, Wash.
Over a long and active life, Bernie Gobin was a fisherman, a politician and a master carver. But each endeavor had a single motivating force — his heritage as an American Indian and his commitment to preserving the Tulalip Tribes’ history and culture.
“Everything he was involved with was an expression of how passionately he felt about his people,” said his son Steve Gobin.
Bernie Gobin died of an apparent heart attack Monday (May 4). He was 79.
Mr. Gobin served 26 years on the Tulalip board of directors, a period that was turbulent and triumphant. A commercial fisherman, he was active in the fight for Indian treaty rights, including testifying in the case resulting in the landmark Boldt decision of 1974 that awarded half of the state’s salmon harvest to Washington tribes.
He was one of the original five members of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, formed after the court decision, to give tribes a say over the management of the state’s natural resources. He helped negotiate agreements with the state and federal governments and with other Northwest tribes.
“Bernie was a big part of the management scheme we put in place to revive salmon runs. He never missed a meeting. He was committed to restoring and protecting salmon habitat,” said longtime friend Billy Frank, a Nisqually tribal member who has chaired the Fisheries Commission for the past 26 years.
