The first Pacific Northwest Indigenous Aquaculture Summit to be held on August

Organized by the Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation (KGASF) in partnership with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe (JST), the first Pacific Northwest Indigenous Aquaculture Summit will be held August 26-28 in Washington State.

For three days, the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe's 7 Cedars Resort on the Olympic Peninsula will be the setting for this innovative conference bringing together Pacific Northwest Tribes and First Nations with interests and businesses active in aquaculture.

Fostering learning and connection for North American Indigenous students

In line with the purpose of the Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation itself, this first Pacific Northwest Indigenous Aquaculture Summit's specific goal is to foster learning and connection for North American Indigenous students of marine and fisheries science, natural resources, and aquaculture.

To that end, the Summit will feature a diverse range of presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and site visits led by experts in marine environmental science and aquaculture, indigenous fishing practices, as well as state and federal government agency personnel and aquaculture industry professionals.

The event will begin on Monday, August 26 with a welcome reception at the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal headquarters. On the second day, Tuesday, August 27, the full day will be devoted to conference sessions on various aspects of aquaculture of interest to tribal members at the 7 Cedars Resort. Finally, on Wednesday the 28th, the final sessions will include tours of aquaculture facilities in the Salish Sea area.

Those interested in participating in the first Pacific Northwest Indigenous Aquaculture Summit can find more information about the sessions and registration on the Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation website by clicking here.

Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, an aquaculture advocate

When nearly two years ago the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) banned commercial finfish aquaculture on state-owned aquatic lands, the JST's response was to take legal action against the WA DNR. However, committed to preserving historic tribal fishing rights and opportunities, including aquaculture, if there is one thing the JST is devoted to, it is education through the KGASF.

The Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2022 to carry out the legacy of the late Kurt Grinnell, a Native American leader of the JST who passed away in 2021. A strong advocate of Tribal food security and sovereignty, Grinnell recognized that aquaculture - whether shellfish, finfish, or plants such as algae - was a necessity if the Tribes of the Pacific Northwest were to continue to harvest seafood in their usual and accustomed areas, as guaranteed under Federal Treaties.

Recently, her daughter Jaiden Grinnell Bosick was named KGASF's new President. A commercial fisher in Alaska herself, at the time, she said she welcomed the opportunity to guide the organization at this critical moment when food sovereignty and food security have become vital importance issues to Tribes and First Nations.

One of Washington State's biggest aquaculture advocates, the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe is also a partner with Cooke in the Salish Fish Project, a business in jeopardy following the DNR's ban. "The DNR's decision to end marine net pen aquaculture in Puget Sound is a direct threat to our Tribe's self-reliance goals and cultural aquaculture traditions via Salish Fish, our Tribe's sustainable marine aquaculture business," they said in a public statement made at the time