Geoducks

Lummi Nation accounts for all tideland species

Lummi inventory Delanae EstesThe Lummi Nation is surveying every species living in more than 7,000 acres of tidelands on the tribe’s reservation.

The Lummi Intertidal Baseline Inventory (LIBI), funded by the energy company BP, will be crucial in the event of a catastrophic oil spill from activities associated with four nearby oil refineries: BP and ConocoPhillips in Ferndale, and Tesoro and Shell at Anacortes.

“We want to know what’s living here now, so if there is a spill, we will know the extent of the damage,” said Merle Jefferson, Lummi Natural Resources director. “After the Exxon-Valdez spill, they had no pre-disaster data to compare it to.” (more…)

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China Epidemic Damaging Tribal Shellfish Exports

OLYMPIA (May 30, 2003) — Tribal shellfish harvesters across western Washington have been reporting drastic drops in orders due to the continuing Severe Acute Repertory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China. “Geoducks are eaten in restaurants in China, but now because of SARS, it seems like no one even wants to go out in public,” said Dave Winfrey, shellfish biologist with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. Most of the geoducks harvested in Washington are eventually sold in overseas markets, such as China.

“We have geoduck fishermen going out for half days, filling 500 pound orders when they are used to filling orders four times that size,” said Winfrey. “The geoducks themselves are safe; there just isn”t a market right now. This is a huge blow not only the individual harvesters, but to their families and entire tribal communities.”

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