Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
... and the reason is because we view salmon as being important to our environment.
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No. The reason is because the tribes signed treaties in the 1800's with the US Federal government that exchanged millions of acres of valuable land for official recognition AND the harvest of enough salmon to sustain their people into perpetuity.
Those treaties have been upheld multiple times in federal court up the the US Supreme Court. As recently as the 1990's federal courts have ruled that the US government must repopulate salmon in the Columbia basin and bring them up to a level that meets treaty obligations.