Californian Native Tribes, Anglers, Enviromentalist gather to fight for their water rights

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http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/05/05/18647052.php

As of May 1, the Kashia Pomo will be banned from ceremonial and subsistence gathering under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

Photo of tribal gathering at Danaka courtesy of Violet Wilder: woman in buckskin dress, Violet Parrish Chappell, in purple, Vivian Parrish Wilder, in pink jacket Vana Parrish Lawson, behind Vivian, Eric Wilder, Arch Richardson between Vana and Violet.

Video Covers Historic Tribal Gathering at Stewarts Point (Danaka)

by Dan Bacher

The historic tribal gathering at Stewarts Point (Danaka) on April 30 drew 145 people, including members of the Kashia Pomo Tribe, members of other northern California Indian Tribes, recreational anglers, seaweed harvesters and environmental justice advocates. It was very moving to see everybody there united in defense of indigenous food gathering and fishing rights.

This purpose of the event, hosted by landowner Archie Richardson, was to bless an area where the Kashia Tribe of Pomo Indians has gathered seaweed, mussel, abalone, clams and fish for centuries. Danaka, an area that is sacred to the tribe, will close to all take of seaweed, shellfish and fish the following day under new regulations implemented through Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

“We are here today to talk about what the Fish and Game Commission is doing to us,” said tribal elder Violet Chappell. “They’re interfering with our religion, the food that we lived off before the white man came.”

The Fish and Game Commission voted 3 to 2 in their meeting on August 5, 2009 to close “Danaka,” in spite of moving testimony by Lester Pinola, past chairman of the Kashia Tribe, to not close it because the tribe has used the area for centuries.

Under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's corrupt and injust MLPA process, overseen by oil industry, real estate, marina development and other corporate interests, the Kashia Pomo and other tribes will be denied their right to harvest seaweed, shellfish and fish off Danaka as they have done for thousands of years starting today, May 1.

This is clearly a case of cultural genocide under the guise of marine "protection" under the MLPA Initiative. Everybody who cares about environmental justice must support the Kashia Pomo Tribe and other coastal tribes in their battle to defend their sacred and ceremonial food gathering sites.

A video of the blessing ceremony by the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, on the Richardson Ranch lands at Stewarts Point, will be aired on MCTV Channel 3 on Wednesday, May 5 at 8:30 p.m. and again on Saturday, May 8 at 8:30 p.m. The show duration is 1 hour, 22 minutes, according to independent journalist David Gurney who produced the video. Contact MCTV @ 961-1127 for additional showtimes and stations.

Here is the link to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat article on the event: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100430/ARTICLES/100439928/1349?Title=Pomo-grieve-loss-of-ocean-fishing-grounds.

For more information, go to Violet Wilder's facebook page: "KEEP THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACHES ACCESSIBLE FOR THE COASTAL TRIBES" (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105945012781743).

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1. Native Americans should have to keep fighting against Greedy Corporations and Corrupt Politicians

It is amazing. It is never ending. Help spread the word

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2. for over 200 years the tribes continue to be attacked

"At this point, coho are so close to extinction and the Scott and Shasta are so severely dewatered each year that this type of action may be warranted, but it cannot be a substitute for rewatering, and in the long term it's not likely to be a viable survival strategy for coho in these basins," said Klamath Riverkeeper Erica Terence. "It's a band-aid solution at best on what has become a major water hemorrhage," she added.

As young coho were being captured and shipped elsewhere in the Klamath River basin as part of their emergency rescue program by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) in the Scott and Shasta valleys readied to start issuing permits (ITPs) with CDFG's blessing for Scott and Shasta irrigators and ranchers to kill coho as usual.

Klamath Riverkeeper joined a coalition of river and fish advocates that filed a legal challenge against the ITP program last fall. Co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Quartz Valley Indian Tribe, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the Institute for Fisheries Resources, the Environmental Protection Information Center, the Sierra Club and the Northcoast Environmental Center.