Tribes express coastal gathering rights in ancestral territory

For Immediate Release: July 16, 2011

Contact: Matt Mais, Yurok Tribe
(707) 482-1350 ext. 306
(707)954-0976

Tribes express coastal gathering rights in ancestral territory

Tribal members will meet at several locations on Saturday to practice traditional harvest

Armed with only tribal identification cards, Native Americans from Tolowa Country to the Wiyot Nation will be assembling on culturally critical beaches Saturday to harvest marine resources.

“We don’t perceive traditional tribal gathering of ocean resources to be some kind of delinquent activity, but the state and feds do,” said Yurok Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer, Bob McConnell. “We harvest from the ocean for our ceremonies and physical health. It is time to decriminalize our culture.”

“The Tribe’s rights are nonnegotiable,” added Yurok Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr. “As long as we are here, we will continue to gather in culturally appropriate way that is beneficial to all species.”

State parks and national marine reserves and parks do disproportionate and unjustifiable harm to California’s indigenous people who need access to marine resources in order to perpetuate complex spiritual practices and life ways.

“Our methods of take enhance these resources rather than harm them. We offer as evidence the abundance of coastal resources prior to European contact,” McConnell said. “Prayer is an integral part of the process as no life can be taken without acknowledgement of that life. We thank the creator and the plant/animal for that life each and every time we gather a resource.”

Decades have passed and public perceptions about Native Americans have changed since most of the rules that govern California’s coast were signed into law.

“These government bodies have made criminals out of people for embracing their culture. We want the people of California to know that and join us in the process of reversing it,” McConnell concluded.

Tribal members are encouraged to gather at their favorite spot. There will be tribal members at Patrick’s Point State Park at 5:30 a.m., Clam Beach at 7:30 a.m. and Wilson Creek Beach near Klamath at 8:30 a.m.