SalmonAid Festival Puts Spotlight on Need For Fish Restoration

SalmonAid Festival Puts Spotlight on Urgent Need For Fish Restoration

by Dan Bacher

A unique coalition of recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, members of Indian Tribes and conservationists came together from throughout California and the West Coast to sponsor the SalmonAid Festival on May 31 and June 1 in Jack London Square in Oakland.

The event aimed to draw attention to the ongoing salmon fisheries disaster on the Klamath, Sacramento, Columbia and other West Coast rivers. This year, due to record low numbers of salmon expected to return to the Central Valley Rivers because of increases in California Delta water exports and other factors, all commercial and recreational ocean fishing is banned off the California and most of Oregon.

The event was the brainchild of Mike Hudson, a commercial salmon fisherman and president of the Small Boat Commercial Fishermen’s Association. Hudson wanted to use the event as a venue to highlight the economic, cultural, and culinary value of salmon – and to bring diverse groups together to work for their restoration.

“This really all came together, didn’t it?” said a very happy Hudson as we watched Les Claypool, Bay Area alternative rock royalty and Primus front-man, start playing before the largest crowd gathered before any act in the square on Saturday.

The festival, advertised as a “family-style” event, drew over 20,000 people during the two days. Big Rick Stuart, KFOG disk jockey, emceed SalmonAid.

“It was a total smashing success,” observed Hudson, a blues musician who performs with Mike and the Sea Kings. “It was a giant first step in educating people about the need to save our salmon and other fisheries. With all of the favorable press we received in newspapers, TV and radio outlets, I feel that we won our first battle in a long drawn out war to restore our salmon and our rivers.”

Claypool, whose thumping bass lines and unique worldview have become the calling cards for a number of wildly successful and influential albums in the last two decades, high lined a diverse roster of twenty bands on two live outdoor stages at the event.

"The Pacific salmon is an icon and inspiration for a lot of us on the West Coast and it's one of my favorite foods," said Claypool, who regularly sport fishes for salmon off the northern California coast. "But today we're in danger of losing this incredible fish. The bands at SalmonAid played to help ensure that wild Pacific salmon will always be around and to help protect the rivers where salmon live."

Members of three Klamath River Indian Tribes - the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley - hosted a traditional salmon bake for the public at Ocean Beach in San Francisco the night before to show support for the festival. Murkie Oliver, Yurok Tribal Elder, and Earl Aubrey, Karuk Tribal Elder, carefully cooked the big strips of freshly caught Klamath River spring chinook salmon on redwood sticks next to an open fire.

Ken Brink, Rabbit Brink, J.J Reed, Tuffy Tims, and David Goodwin of the Karuk Tribe helped with the cooking. The salmon was delicious, with everybody going back for seconds and thirds. Salmon cooked in the traditional manner like they did is the absolute best way to prepare it. Rabbit and Ken Brink also perfumed traditional songs with drum accompaniment after the bake.

"The time has come for real solutions like curtailing pumping freshwater from the Bay-Delta and the removal of Warren Buffett's lower four Klamath River dams," said Ron Reed, Karuk cultural biologist and traditional dip net fisherman, drawing the close connection between fishery failures on the Klamath and Sacramento.

Musical acts featured at the event included the Zydeco Flames, Stacy Kray, Sizemo, Saul Kaye, Captain Zohar, Tia Carroll, Manaleo, Captain Mike and The Sea Kings, Asheba, John Craigie, The Bobby Young Project, Eliyahu and Qadim.

Congressman Barbara Lee (CA-9) showed her support for the event by issuing a statement that included the following:

"The economic stability of our local fishing industry affects the financial health of our entire community, and the environmental conditions fish and wildlife face certainly affect the human population directly. We cannnot separate public health, economic health, and environmental health. To take care of one, we must take care of them all. SalmonAid 2008 shines as a much needed light on this important and urgent issue."

The Coastside Fishing Club, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fishery Resources, American Fishing Association, Water for Fish, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Trout Unlimited, Alameda Creek Alliance, Klamath Riverkeeper, SPAWN, Save Our Wild Salmon, Friends of Butte Creek and other fishery conservation and environmental organizations set up tables and displays. A dedicated crew of anglers, including Gary Adams of the California Striped Bass Association, Bob Mellinger of Cloverdale, John Webb of Sacramento and George Sacsa of Berkeley, gathered thousands of signatures for water4fish during the event.

The festival also featured educational forums, children's activities, speakers and a chance for the public to enjoy wild king salmon served by some of the West Coast's finest restaurants.

Restaurants including Fish. in Sausalito, The Basin in Saratoga, CA, Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park, and Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport, OR, banded together for the event. Alaskan commercial fishermen donated the wild salmon served at the festival.

For more information about this or next year’s event, call Mike Hudson, Organizer of Salmon Aid, (510) 407-2000, or go to http://www.salmonaid.org.