Problems in salmon and steelhead management related to Indian fishing rights in Washington State may be grouped into three categories: legal and political, logistic and procedural, and technical. A comprehensive solution to the present controversy must address itself to the major problems in each of these three areas. Substantial progress toward solving the legal and political problems must occur before logistic and technical problems can be addressed, however. The decision in U.S. v Washington covers 20 recognized and 5 unrecognized Indian tribes located on the Olympic Peninsula, throughout the Puget Sound basin, and in portions of the Columbia River watershed. The Quinault Indian Nation (Figure 1) is one of the larger tribes involved in U.S. v. Washington (hereafter referred to as the ''Boldt" decision) both in the size of its reservation and population and in the extent of its fishery. The perspective on anadromous fisheries management presented here represents the views of the Quinault Nation and is generally shared by many of the other case area tribes, although I do not purport to represent them.
|
