Squaxin Island Tribe's Natural Resources

Preseason planning of 2010 Washington State commercial and recreational salmon fisheries is underway.   The process known as North of Falcon is a series of meetings where representatives from Tribal, State,  NOAA Fisheries,  Fishing Industry and general public work together in developing the fisheries for the year.  Over the next two months Andy Whitener and Joseph [...]

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From the press release: The Squaxin Island Tribe is appealing to Gov. Chris Gregoire the decision by the state Department of Ecology to reject a petition to protect Johns Creek. ”Ecology’s inaction does further harm to our treaty-based fisheries,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the Tribe. “Salmon recovery should not have to bear [...]

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A news release this afternoon: The Squaxin Island Tribe has filed a second petition with the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to stop all new water withdrawals, including permit-exempt wells, in the Johns Creek watershed near Shelton. The action was taken to protect several runs of salmon that spawn and rear in the creek. “There [...]

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Spawned out Kennedy Creek chum- November 4th Thousands of chum salmon have started to make their journey up Kennedy Creek to spawn.  The past weeks small rain events have push this fish out of the estuary in to the spawning grounds.    It’s great to see the chum are here. Squaxin Island Tribe treaty fisheries do [...]

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It’s that time of year again when Squaxin NR staff puts on the chest wadders and walk  a number of streams in the the South Puget Sound area counting the returning Chum and Coho salmon.    We are  in the streams 3 to 4 days out of the week count chum and hopefully finding some Coho [...]

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This year the Squaxin Island Tribe closed the  Arcadia Pt. area in Pickering Passage during  its Treaty coho fishery to protect wild chum salmon.   The area is well know by Tribal fishermen as a great place to intercept chum salmon as they begin to return to Totten and Hammersley Inlet streams. In 2008 an unusually [...]

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Video of  Squaxin Island Tribe Fish Techs Danny Snyder and Bear Lewis sampling the Tribes coho commercial fishery. Commercial sampling video Video recorded and provided by Emmett O’Connell, South Sound Information and Education Officer, NWIFC.

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On Monday September 21, WDFW staff with some help from Squaxin NR staff began spawning approximatly 100 female and 100 male Chinook at the Tumwater Falls Hatchery. An estimated 500,000 eggs were taken and milt from 100 males to Minter Creek Hatchery for fertilization.   Eventually these fertilized eggs will return to Tumwater Falls Hatchery as [...]

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Ocean sunfish or Mola mola are a rare find in the Puget Sound. These fish are  generally found worldwide in temperate and tropical seas. They feed primarily on jellyfishes.  Although the photo above is a small Ocean sunfish, they can get up to 2 meters in length and  are known as the heaviest bony fish [...]

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From Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Website: Anderson Good Choice to lead WDFW The treaty tribes of western Washington look forward to continuing to work with Phil Anderson as director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Anderson was named the department’s permanent director Saturday by the nine-member commission….(read more at NWIFC website).

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