Feds announce $240 million for fish hatcheries to support Pacific Northwest Tribes

The Departments of the Interior and Commerce on Thursday announced a $240 million investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to support fish hatcheries that produce Pacific salmon and steelhead, underscoring the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to empowering Tribal Nations and fulfilling the federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities. Fish hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest support essential subsistence, ceremonial and economic benefits for Tribal communities, as well as fulfilling 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.

Today’s investments build on the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented 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. These investments also further the Biden-Harris administration’s historic progress to empower Tribal sovereignty and self-determination and align with Executive Order 14112, which President Biden signed at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit, requiring federal agencies to take action to ensure that federal funding for Tribes is accessible, flexible, and equitable. By executing these awards through Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act contracts and compacts, the Department will lift a significant administrative burden from the awardee Tribes. NOAA plans to continue building on this partnership with BIA for future work opportunities to address Tribal needs throughout the United States.

“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 Secretary Deb Haaland. “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.”

“Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda and commitment to guaranteeing equitable access to federal funding for Tribes, this cross-agency partnership will ensure Tribal communities have the resources they need to sustain Pacific Salmon and Steelhead fisheries that are essential to their economic development,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “There’s also more to be done, and I look forward to working with all Tribes and Congressional champions to find future opportunities to support salmon hatcheries.”

Tribal fish hatchery production in the Pacific Northwest benefits subsistence fishers as well as both 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.

As part of (Thursday’s) 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.

Lummi Nation statement

Secretary of the Lummi Indian Business Council Lisa Wilson, who worked on this funding from the beginning, released the following statement:

As the People of the Northern Straits, we Lhaq’temish, better known as Lummis, are Salmon People, as we have been here since Time Immemorial. Salmon are as important as the air we breath, our health, our existence — our schelangen, or way of life.

This historic funding is being dispersed through self-governance which means that it is directed straight to the Tribes. It will support our salmon hatcheries at Lummi Bay and Skookum Creek, which are nearly 60 years old and in desperate need of major infrastructure repairs and updates. Tribal hatcheries have been grossly underfunded for many years relative to state and federal facilities. Skookum Creek Hatchery has played an essential role in not only saving our ESA-listed Chinook population from extinction, but has also helped rebuild the natural-origin population. Investment in hatchery infrastructure will ensure we can continue our success in restoring salmon in the Nooksack River.

Hatchery fish are Treaty fish and play a vital role in the survival of our natural-origin populations while also providing salmon for our subsistence and ceremonies. If it weren’t for the hatcheries and the Tribes, nobody would be fishing.

It has been stated that this is a once in a lifetime funding but we think that we finally kicked the door down and are setting the precedent moving forward.

I join Lummi Nation Chairman Anthony Hillaire in saying, “Hy’shqe si’am — thank you,” to those who recognized this as an investment into our collective future: Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell; Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo; Janet Coit, NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator; Bryan Mercier (Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde), Northwest Regional Director at the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Jen Quan, NOAA Fisheries West Coast Regional Administrator; and Zach Penney (Nez Perce Tribe), NOAA Senior Advisor.

We have always learned from the strength of salmon. Today, when we release them as smolts, they are subject to habitat degradation, pollution, major pinniped predation, and vessel traffic. While offshore in the ocean, they face warming waters. They return to rivers that have too little water, are too warm, and can no longer support robust natural-origin populations as a result of habitat destruction. But return they must, and return they do, thanks in large part to efforts of tribal leadership.

Like the salmon, tribes are resilient. None of this funding was guaranteed. We fought hard to ensure that it came to us, as it should under federal obligations. We know how to manage and govern ourselves. The Lummi people know how to manage the gifts the water provides, and we protect and defend those gifts with sustainable projects like our salmon hatcheries.

Again, we say, “Hy’shqe.” We will look forward to continuing work with NOAA Fisheries to strengthen our hatchery programs, which strengthens the whole Northwest region.