[env-trinity] Yurok Tribe adopts ordinance banning Frankenfish and GMOs

[Dan Bacher]

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/12/23/18781207.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/23/1463001/-Yurok-Tribe-adopts-ordinance-banning-Frankenfish-and-GEOs

Yurok Tribe adopts ordinance banning Frankenfish and GMOs
by Dan Bacher
Wednesday Dec 23rd, 2015 8:12 AM
"The Yurok People have the responsibility to care for our natural  
world, including the plants and animals we use for our foods and  
medicines," said James Dunlap, Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. "This  
Ordinance is a necessary step to protect our food sovereignty and to  
ensure the spiritual, cultural and physical health of the Yurok  
People. GMO food production systems, which are inherently dependent on  
the overuse of herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics, are not our  
best interest."

yurok.jpg

The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 19 approved  
genetically engineered salmon, "Frankenfish," as being fit for human  
consumption, in spite of massive public opposition to the decision by  
fishermen, Tribes, environmental organizations and public interest  
organization. (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/11/20/18780189.php)

While the FDA may have approved AquaAdvantage salmon for human  
consumption, these “Frankenfish” and all Genetically Engineered  
Organisms (GEOs) are now banned on the Yurok Reservation on the  
Klamath River in northwest California. This ordinance is apparently  
the first of its kind in the U.S. to specifically address the  
AquaBounty Technologies’ application for AquAdvantage Salmon, an  
Atlantic salmon that reaches market size more quickly than non-GE farm- 
raised Atlantic salmon, as well as all GMOs.

A news release from the Yurok Tribe states:

"On December 10, 2015, after several months of committee drafting and  
opportunity for public comment, the Yurok Tribal Council unanimously  
voted to enact the Yurok Tribe Genetically Engineered Organism (“GEO”)  
Ordinance.

The Tribal GEO Ordinance prohibits the propagation, raising, growing,  
spawning, incubating, or releasing genetically engineered organisms  
(such as growing GMO crops or releasing genetically engineered salmon)  
within the Tribe’s territory and declares the Yurok Reservation to be  
a GMO-free zone. While other Tribes, such as the Dine’ (Navajo)  
Nation, have declared GMO-free zones by resolution, this ordinance  
appears to be the first of its kind in the nation.

This announcement comes on the heels of the Federal Food and Drug  
Administration’s (FDA) approval of genetically engineered  
'AquAdvantage' salmon in November.

On April 11, 2013, the Yurok Tribe enacted a resolution opposing  
genetically engineered salmon, and then secured a grant from the  
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) to support the Tribe’s  
work in continuing to protect its ancestral lands, including: waters,  
traditional learning and teaching systems, seeds, animal-based foods,  
medicinal plants, salmon, sacred places, and the health and well-being  
of the Tribe’s families and villages. GMO farms, whether they are  
cultivating fish or for fresh produce, have a huge, negative impact on  
watersheds the world over. The Yurok Tribe’s homeland is on the  
Klamath River, where massive algal blooms, exacerbated by agricultural  
runoff and antiquated hydroelectric dams, turn the river toxic each  
summer.

The Yurok People have managed and relied upon the abundance of salmon  
on the Klamath River since time immemorial. The Tribe has a vital  
interest in the viability and survival of the wild, native Klamath  
River salmon species and all other traditional food resources.

'The Yurok People have the responsibility to care for our natural  
world, including the plants and animals we use for our foods and  
medicines. This Ordinance is a necessary step to protect our food  
sovereignty and to ensure the spiritual, cultural and physical health  
of the Yurok People. GMO food production systems, which are inherently  
dependent on the overuse of herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics,  
are not our best interest,' said James Dunlap, Chairman of the Yurok  
Tribe.

The Ordinance allows for enforcement of violations through the Yurok  
Tribal Court. Yurok Chief Judge Abby Abinanti stated, 'It is the  
inherent sovereign right of the Yurok People to grow plants from  
natural traditional seeds and to sustainably harvest plants, salmon  
and other fish, animals, and other life-giving foods and medicines, in  
order to sustain our families and communities as we have successfully  
done since time immemorial; our Court will enforce any violations of  
these inherent, and now codified, rights.'

The Yurok Tribe is working with other Tribes in a regional  
collaborative as part of the Northern California Tribal Court  
Coalition (NCTCC), and the Tribe and NCTCC are co-hosting an  
Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit in Klamath in the spring of 2016.

A signed copy of the ordinance can be found on NCTCC’s  
website:nctcc.org.

For questions about the ordinance, contact Matt Mais at 707.482.1350,  
yuroktribe.nsn.us.

Or Stephanie Dolan, Executive Director of the Northern California  
Tribal Court Coalition 530.575.5818, nctcc.org."

The Tribal Council passed the ordinance at a critical time for West  
Coast salmon and steelhead. The Klamath River, the Tribe's homeland,  
is plagued by massive algal blooms, exacerbated by agricultural runoff  
and antiquated hydroelectric dams, that turn the river toxic each  
summer.

The Klamath's salmon and other fish populations are also threatened by  
Jerry Brown's California Water Fix to build the Delta Tunnels to  
export water to corporate agribusiness interests, Southern California  
water agencies and oil companies conducting fracking and other extreme  
oil extraction methods in Kern County. A large proportion of the water  
of the Trinity River, the Klamath's largest tributary, is diverted  
from Trinity Reservoir to the Sacramento River basin via Whiskeytown  
Reservoir to irrigate almonds, pistachios and other crops on drainage  
impaired land in the Westlands Water District on the west side of the  
San Joaquin Valley.

The giant tunnels would imperil Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead  
and lamprey populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers, as well as  
hastening the extinction of Sacramento River winter-run Chinook  
salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, Sacramento  
splittail and green sturgeon populations.
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