The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
60°F
Current Conditions
Scattered clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Tribes begin lamprey harvest

Traditional food source scarce

A Native American woman rests Friday at Willamette Falls near Oregon City, Ore., after hand-catching lampreys, an eel-like fish. Lampreys, a traditional source of food for tribes in the Pacific Northwest, have been in drastic decline in recent decades. (Associated Press)
Gosia Wozniacka Associated Press

OREGON CITY, Ore. – They dove into the cold waters, emerging with writhing, eel-like fish in hand and thrusting them into nets.

Northwest Native American tribes thus began harvesting lampreys this week at a 40-foot waterfall south of Portland.

The jawless, gray fish are a traditional food source for tribal members in the Columbia River Basin. They’re prized for their rich, fatty meat.

Lampreys also offer an alternate food source for sea lions and other predators that otherwise would be munching on threatened salmon.

But lamprey numbers have declined dramatically during the past 30 years because of hydroelectric dams and pesticides and other toxins. Willamette Falls is the last place where they can be caught by the hundreds.

Tribes have been working to spur lampreys’ restoration. They run research and recovery projects, and truck lampreys past dams.