NEAH BAY — The Makah tribal chairman, Ben Johnson, says that hostile public response to last week’s published reports that quoted state Fish and Wildlife Department statements inferring tribal overfishing has irreparably damaged the tribe’s summer tourist fishing season.
“We’re taking a beating on this thing,” Johnson said Friday.
“This has started a whole racist kind of backlash against us.
“We’ve had lots of people call canceling summer fishing appointments and saying: ‘What’s wrong with you Indians? You talk about being stewards of the land but you go and rape the resources.”‘
A Tuesday report in The Seattle Times, quoting an e-mail memo from Pat Pattillo of the state Fish and Wildlife’s salmon intergovernmental policy group and inferring that the tribe exceeded a 500 chinook quota by 19,500, has been since recanted by the state agency.
But Fish and Wildlife has received angry phone calls, too.
Salmon policy coordinator Phil Anderson said the department even received threats from individuals in recent days, many loaded with racial overtones.
“It’s probably too late, but I don’t want to pour any more gas on this fire,” Anderson said.
“Not that it isn’t an important issue, but the type of reaction I’ve seen from some people is, from my perspective, going to be damaging to crafting fisheries packages in the future with the cooperation of all the parties.”
