[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 5, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2215-S2216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 573--COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOLDT 
                            DECISION OF 1974

  Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Merkley) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Indian Affairs:

                              S. Res. 573

       Whereas, since time immemorial, fish have been an integral 
     part of Native American cultural, spiritual, and economic 
     life in the Northwest;
       Whereas, between 1854 and 1859, the United States 
     Government signed a series of treaties with Indian Tribes 
     across the Northwest, reserving to the Indian Tribes the 
     right to fish in their usual and accustomed places, in common 
     with the citizens of the Washington Territory;
       Whereas article VI of the Constitution of the United States 
     recognizes treaties as the supreme law of the land, including 
     those with Indian Tribes;
       Whereas, after the Indian Tribes signed these treaties, 
     their right to fish in accordance with these treaties was not 
     upheld, leading to more than 100 years of litigation;
       Whereas, following decades of arrests and fish-ins during 
     which Billy Frank Jr. and other Tribal members exercised 
     their treaty-protected fishing rights, Indian Tribes won a 
     historic legal victory protecting those rights;
       Whereas, on February 12, 1974, United States District Court 
     Judge George Boldt ruled in United States v. State of 
     Washington, 384 F. Supp. 312 (W.D. Wash. 1974), that--
       (1) Indian Tribes that were parties to treaties which 
     reserved their right to fish could take up to 50 percent of 
     the fish harvest that passed through their recognized fishing 
     grounds, to be calculated on a river-by-river, run-by-run 
     basis;
       (2) State law could not regulate treaty-based tribal 
     fishing rights; and
       (3) Treaty Tribes would co-manage fisheries in Washington 
     State;
       Whereas the decision was affirmed by the United States 
     Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in United States v. 
     State of Washington, 520 F.2d 676 (9th Cir. 1976);
       Whereas Tribal co-management of Washington fisheries led to 
     the creation of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and 
     the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission;
       Whereas the Northwest Indian Fishing Commission member 
     Indian Tribes include the Lummi, Nooksack, Swinomish, Upper 
     Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Tulalip, Muckleshoot, 
     Puyallup, Nisqually, Squaxin Island, Skokomish, Suquamish, 
     Port Gamble S'Klallam, Jamestown S'Klallam, Lower Elwha 
     Klallam, Makah, Quileute, Quinault, and Hoh Tribes;
       Whereas the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 
     member Indian Tribes include the Nez Perce Tribe, the 
     Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the 
     Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of 
     Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama 
     Nation;
       Whereas sharply declining salmon populations continue to 
     threaten the ability of the Indian Tribes to exercise their 
     treaty rights, secure their economic futures, and protect 
     important cultural practices; and
       Whereas the Boldt decision reinforced Tribal sovereignty, 
     elevated the legal status of Tribal treaty rights, and 
     advanced resource co-management: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Boldt 
     decision;
       (2) recognizes the importance of Tribal treaty rights;
       (3) acknowledges the invaluable role that the Northwest 
     Indian Fisheries Commission and the Columbia River Inter-
     Tribal Fish Commission play in fisheries management; and

[[Page S2216]]

       (4) reaffirms its commitment to support salmon recovery.

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