Ecopoetics Along Shorelines

By fighting for their fishing rights, those in the native community at Frank’s Landing were protecting their culture. In seeing the footage of the family fishing from their canoes it seems ridiculous that they were ever forced to stop. Clearly, their fishing was not the cause of the salmon decline. The treaty rights are a legal foothold for the protection of vital resources and, thanks to the Boldt decision, a meaningful one. That victory was won by the consistent resistance to the unjust laws through physical disobedience and sacrifice. The work of justice is the work of our bodies.