The U.S. Departments of the Interior and Commerce announced July 25 that they will invest $240 million in Pacific Northwest fish hatcheries that produce Pacific salmon and steelhead. The investment will support essential subsistence, ceremonial and economic benefits for Tribal communities, and fulfill Treaty-reserved fishing rights.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will partner with the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to deliver this funding to regional Tribes. The funding builds on the Biden-Harris administration’s agreement to restore salmon in the Columbia River Basin and follows the Interior Department’s recently released report documenting the historic, ongoing and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin 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,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the U.S.’s first Native American cabinet secretary. “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.”
As part of the announcement, an initial $54 million is available to 27 Tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska to address current hatchery facility maintenance and modernization necessities, and to support Tribal capacity needs. The remaining funding will be made available, competitively, to help Tribes address the long-term viability and effectiveness of critical infrastructure for the propagation of Pacific salmon and steelhead.
According to the announcement, Tribal fish hatchery production in the Pacific Northwest benefits subsistence fishers as well as local and global markets, supporting commercial, subsistence and recreational fishing, tourism and the broader ecosystem from California to Alaska. Millions of fish are produced in Tribal hatcheries each year, driving Tribal employment and subsistence, nutrition for Tribal families, and the 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.
