Lummi Nation receives $11 million in salmon fishery disaster assistance funding

Sept. 2, 2022 Updated Fri., Sept. 2, 2022 at 6:42 p.m.

By David Rasbach Bellingham Herald

The Lummi Nation is set to receive more than $11 million in fishery disaster assistance funding to compensate for recent salmon fishery disasters the Tribe has faced in the past decade.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, announced more than $16 million in disaster relief funding that the Lummi Nation and three other tribes in the region will receive in a news release Friday.

“Wild salmon populations in Washington state are declining on the whole and threatening our ecosystems and local economies – and its disproportionately harming Washington state Tribes,” Murray said in the release. “This funding will help our Tribes recover the losses they’ve experienced through no fault of their own.

The funding is through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, according to the release.

The more than $11.4 million awarded to the Lummi Nation is for disasters involving the Washington Fraser River sockeye, chinook, chum, coho and pink salmon fisheries in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, according to the release.

“I’m going to do absolutely everything I can in the other Washington get our Tribes and our fisheries the resources they need to support their communities and have productive, healthy harvests,” Murray said in the release. “Healthy fisheries have to be an ongoing policy priority at every level of government, and I’m committed to doing my part in the Senate.”

Also receiving disaster assistance funding were the Upper Skagit Tribes ($4.1 million), Squaxin Island Tribe ($411,508) and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe ($550,599).

The Bellingham Herald reached out to the Lummi Indian Business Council for comment about Friday’s announcement.

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Lummi Nation receives $11 million in salmon fishery disaster assistance funding

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