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How the Squaxin Island Tribe is boosting shellfish populations

The Squaxin Island Tribe recently constructed a floating upwelling system (FLUPSY) to help maintain a growing shellfish enhancement program. “This gives us much more flexibility in our shellfish growing operation,” said Eric Sparkman, the tribe’s shellfish management biologist. “By buying seed, raising and holding it until we’re ready to plant, we are much more efficient.” […]

Did a Winter Visit By Orcas Help Puget Sound Steelhead?

The Nisqually Indian Tribe – with help from the federal and state government – is trying to find out how much a winter-time visit of marine mammal eating transient orca whales might have benefited endangered steelhead. The orcas preyed on marine mammals, whose numbers had been spiking around Puget Sound in recent years. Recent research […]

Swinomish Fish Co. to sell salmon bacon

The Swinomish Fish Co. has found a purpose for the meat left on a salmon’s frame after it is filleted. Salmon bacon. The tribally owned company is smoking and packaging the remaining meat into a new ready-to-eat product. The Native Catch brand salmon bacon should be in stores by mid-June, along with its new sockeye […]

Coastal razor clam harvest closed indefinitely

The state Department of Health has closed the non-tribal razor clam harvest for the Washington coast indefinitely and Quinault Indian Nation has also closed its ceremonial and subsistence and commercial razor harvests. Levels of a marine toxin, domoic acid, is high enough in the clams to sicken or harm humans, though it does not harm […]

New tools aid tribe’s steelhead tracking

Nisqually tribal surveyors are hitting the water with a new piece of equipment that will help them better track endangered steelhead. “We’ve been adapting our surveying techniques to gather more precise information on not only how many steelhead make it back each year to spawn, but where exactly they spawn,” said David Troutt, natural resources […]

Tribal and state salmon co-managers come to agreement on upcoming fishing seasons

Treaty tribal and state salmon co-managers reached agreement late Tuesday on a package of fishing seasons that will fairly share the burden of conserving weak wild salmon stocks while providing limited harvest opportunities. “Cooperation on both sides helped to ensure that everyone will be able to fish this year,” said Lorraine Loomis, chair of the […]