Share Stories about San Juans Fishing for Conservation Project

Forage fish survey. San Juan Update file photo.

From San Juan County Environmental Stewardship Department

San Juan County’s Environmental Stewardship Department wants to hear and share your fishing stories.

We are collaborating with an organization called Salmon Nation that recognizes the fight for wild salmon is about much more than fish — it’s about culture, livelihoods and the viability of our natural and human systems.

San Juan County will collect stories for our “Fish Tales of the San Juans – Then and Now” project from native and nonnative elder fishers of their experiences from decades past when Chinook were plentiful in our waters.

We also will interview those fishing our waters today to spotlight current patterns and conditions in the San Juan Islands. Video clips of these interviews will be compiled to tell a broader story that helps to instill a conservation ethic in both residents of and visitors to the San Juan Islands.

We will conduct casual 20-minute interviews with fishers in August. If you would like to share your story of fishing in the old days, or of the extraordinary challenges facing our tribal, recreational and commercial fishers today, please contact us by Aug. 7 at [email protected].

Those interviewed may choose to also contribute their fish tale to our collaborator Salmon Nation for their salmon story project. Hundreds of stories are being collected about why wild salmon are important to people from all walks of life. Anyone from the North Slope of Alaska to Northern California may participate.

For more information, contact Byron Rot, project manager, San Juan County Environmental Stewardship at 360-370-7593 or [email protected].

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