There appears to be a cloud of stench rising over Tulalip Bay. Recently, KIRO television reported that restaurants were buying undocumented crab and shrimp from a commercial source that was traced back to the Tulalip Tribe. Not just any fishermen, but the Tribal director of Fish and Wildlife. Apparently, the fishing was done in the middle of the night and out of season. The crabs and shrimp were sold for only $6 per pound.
Sports fishermen, for the most part, follow the licensing and regulations here in the Puget Sound. There has long been suspicion between the sports fishermen and commercial fishermen that the tribal fisheries do not always account for their full catch and often use much more than their 50 percent allotment given to them by the Boldt Decision.
If the director of fisheries is caught with his hands “dirty,” it would not be out of order to wonder what else is going on over there in Tulalip Bay. In early January, another tribal fisherman was caught trying to sell two bald eagles he had clubbed to death and tried to sell.
What is most concerning is the Everett Herald has had no coverage of the fact that the fisheries director was arrested and booked in Everett and how the case is proceeding. It is almost as if the tribe has managed to keep bad publicity out of their paper through some unknown means.
If we are going to be able to live in the same space together, there must be a sense of trust between us, and must be some mechanism for ensuring that the allotment of fish and shellfish is legally harvested. This is paramount now that the climate change in the Pacific Northwest has struck so severely this year and fish runs are so impacted. Perhaps the tribes, not only the Tulips, should hire directors from other tribes who do not have family connections within the tribe? Perhaps they should account, voluntarily, well kept records to the federal government?
John A. Anderson
Marysville
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