By Carl Wassilie
As a Yup’ik Salmon Person, I know that for coastal Tribes, including the Lummi, Samish and Swinomish, wild Pacific salmon are sacred and inextricably tied to cultural, physical, nutritional and spiritual well-being. Tribal fishers cleaned up Cooke’s mess, recapturing 55,000 escaped salmon. In return, Cooke tried bribing the Lummi Nation to keep quiet on the harms of net-pen aquaculture. Timothy Ballew II, of the Lummi Indian Business Council, responded, “The Lummi Nation is not willing to be muzzled.” Brazenly, Cooke restocked its Cypress Island net pen just two months after the collapse.