The Boldt Decision - 39 years Later
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 12:02AM On February 12, 1974, Federal Judge George Boldt issued his historic ruling reaffirming the rights of Washington's Indian tribes to fish in accustomed places. The "Boldt Decision" allocated 50 percent of the annual catch to treaty tribes and his ruling is still being litigated today in the court of public opinion.
Back to the River tells the story of the treaty rights struggle from pre-Boldt era to tribal and state co-management. The movie includes the voices and personal accounts of tribal fishers, leaders and others active in the treaty rights fishing struggle.
In 2004 the Seattle Times did story on the 30th anniversary of the Boldt Decision. The tag line on that piece was, the fish bonanza is over; now, preserving habitat is a paramount issue.
Nine years later and we're still in the same boat.
Reader Comments (8)
Piss Party on Judge Boldt's grave tonight!!!
Sure tribal netting has it's evils, just like non-tribal commercial netting. But you'd be pissing on the author of one of the best tools we (and the tribes) have to mandate restoration and preservation of wild steelhead and salmon habitat in the northwest during this century.
Great vid...
but if were still in the same boat, obviously not enough effort is being put in the direction of turning away from the hatchery dinosaur and towards the sustainability of Native fish.
Funny how you never hear about any problems with fishery's... until the Euro guy shows up.
(money money money money... MONEY!)
My ancestors were Vikings. They used to ride around on boats and rape and pillage communities for their survival. It was their way of life. I demand the right to rape your women and steal your belongings because it is my heritage.
Wow, the ignorance in some of the comments on here is astonishing
Viking - why don't you go back to the land of your sorry-ass Viking heritage. Indians were here long before euro-white trash invaded "America"' , committed mass genocide on natives and, destroyed the rivers with their logging, factories and pollution.
Do they use that piece of shit video to brainwash Indian youth? Disgusting misrepresentation. I'm going to puke now.
Hey Viking,
Our ancestors were colonialists responsible of etnocide of indigenous peoples throughout North America. Surely the fly fishing community should see indigenous peoples as allies in the struggle for a cleaner, more sustainable environment. Subsistence fishing has been going on for thousands of years without wiping out stocks - other factors such as commercial overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, mining, dams etc. do much more damage.