Fish War

The Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest have fought racism and police brutality to secure their treaty rights to harvest salmon. When Washington State started arresting Indigenous tribal fishers, it was a declaration of war. Scores of legal battles culminated in a landmark Supreme Court case that was meant to put an end to the violent Fish Wars. Fifty years later, they’re still fighting adversaries including habitat destruction and climate change that threaten to destroy salmon runs forever.

Fish War is an honest, and at times brutal, look at the fish wars, the US v WA court case, and the ensuing fight to save salmon. It tells the story of how Tribes have been marginalized and pushed to the brink and invites non-tribal audiences to grow an even deeper appreciation and understanding that Tribes lead the fight to save the natural world from destruction — FOR EVERYONE.

This is the first time this story has been told from the point of view of the tribal citizens who were there, and the tribal leaders who stepped forward as environmental stewards to ensure there will always be salmon in the Pacific Northwest.

Using historical footage and first-person accounts, Fish War depicts the attacks on tribal fishers in the 1970s. Among them was Nisqually fisherman Billy Frank Jr., famously arrested about 50 times for fishing off-reservation. He’d get out of jail, go fishing, and get arrested again until a landmark 1974 court decision reaffirmed his treaty-protected right to harvest salmon and established tribes as fisheries managers. The film provides cultural context to this era in the civil rights movement and will add to the ongoing discourse about environmental justice.