The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Judd Esty-Kendall is a retired lawyer who practiced in Maine for 48 years, most of it with Pine Tree Legal Assistance, where he managed the Native American unit providing legal services to tribal members. Tony Sutton is a professor at the University of Maine in the field of ecology and environmental science with a focus on food sovereignty for Wabanaki communities.
Most Mainers know about our lumber industry in the 1800s, the work camps and the log drives and the wealth that flowed through Bangor, but few know the rest of the story; what happened to the fish.
One hundred and 50 years ago, in their annual report to the Legislature, the Maine Commissioners of Fisheries wrote: “People . . . are now beginning to realize the mighty wrong that was perpetrated when our rivers were obstructed by special privileges, granted to individuals and corporations, and the rights of the people sacrificed. There was no excuse for exterminating . . . a greater amount of food value, that cost the State not one cent in its production, than all the lumber of Maine was worth. The fish of the Penobscot or the Kennebec was worth, is worth more than the lumber on either of those rivers.”
Sea Run, a report published by the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission (MITSC), discusses how the Wabanaki Nations’ freedom and ability to fish for sea-run species has been nearly eliminated and the status of those fish populations from European contact until today. It tells that story and documents the impact of colonial and Maine policies and activities on the quality and quantity of tribal fisheries spanning the time from first contact between Europeans and the Wabanaki Nations to the present day.
Before colonial contact, river herring, shad, salmon, striped bass, and sturgeon swam up Maine’s rivers in the millions to spawn in our brooks and lakes. They were a primary food source for Wabanaki people and then for early colonists, but the Wabanaki were intentionally separated from the fisheries, first by colonial governments targeting their fishing sites and villages and later by Maine as it took Wabanaki lands and waters for dams and industrial development.
The effect on Wabanaki fishing heritage has been profound by restricting available species, access to fisheries, a role in fisheries management, and traditional Wabanaki food security practices such as widespread sharing of food within the community.
The 1980 Maine Implementing Act, which confirmed settlement of the land claims case between Maine and the Wabanaki nations, recognized the right of Wabanaki people to take fish “for their individual sustenance.” But in 1980 this promise was largely illusory because of the decline in the quantity of sea-run fish and the level of pollutants rendering any remaining fish a hazard to health if eaten in quantity.
Sea Run examines the factors that limited Wabanaki access to the fisheries and caused the severe decline in the fisheries themselves. Brought to life through the voices of individual Wabanaki tribal citizens, Sea Run describes how current projects on the Penobscot, St. Croix, and Meduxnekeag rivers create spaces where state, federal, and Wabanaki governments can work on revitalization side by side. The report emphasizes progress in the restoration of sea-run fish migrations including a clear state policy favoring restoration, the removal of several major dams and other impediments to fish passage, and efforts to improve policy on water quality standards.
Finally, Sea Run recommends ways Maine and the Wabanaki Nations can foster traditional Wabanaki practices while enhancing the state policy of restoring sea-run fish to their historic place in Maine’s ecology. These include defining sustenance in a way that takes into account the way Wabanaki people understand that concept, greater coordination between the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Maine Department of Marine Resources on sea-run fish policy, and further study of water quality standards for recovery of salmon and other anadromous fish at all stages of development. It recommends ways to restore not just the sea-run fish but also Wabanaki lifeways practices including access to other traditional food sources and the use of “traditional ecological knowledge” in every study and plan for Maine’s waters.
This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, MITSC encourages every Maine resident to reflect on what each of us can do to support Wabanaki sustenance lifeways and restore sea-run fisheries.
Join the commission this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Oct. 13, at 10 a.m. at the Veazie Salmon Club to celebrate the audiobook version of Sea Run, narrated by Wabanaki tribal citizens, and learn how we can collectively support Wabanaki Nations’ right to fish and restore these once abundant fisheries.
