Tribes have been concerned that water quality and other water-related decisions tend to lack consideration of tribes’ use of water and fish. The State Water Resources Control Board and the USEPA provided funding to collaborate with tribes in discovering what the patterns of fish use were historically and are currently. UC Davis researchers worked with partner tribes to establish an appropriate approach to interviewing tribe members about fish use. Members of 40 CA tribes and tribe groups were surveyed directly at 24 locations and staff from 10 tribes were surveyed online using standard questionnaires. Traditional uses of fish were assessed using literature review and surveying of tribe members and staff. Contemporary uses were assessed using tribe member interviews. We found that tribes use fish in similar patterns (fish types and source-waters) as they did traditionally, but not in terms of amounts. Tribes used 26 freshwater/anadromous fin-fish species, 23 marine fin-fish species, and 18 other invertebrate, and plant species and groups of species. The single most commonly caught and/or eaten fish species group among all tribes was “salmon”, which could include chinook or coho salmon. 95th percentile rates of consumption of caught-fish varied by tribe and ranged between 30 g/day (Chumash) and 240 g/day (Pit River). The rate of fish use (frequency and consumption rate) was suppressed for many tribes, compared to traditional rates, which most tribes attributed primarily to water quantity and quality issues.
