“We need to be one. We don’t need this fish farm stuff to separate us. I know it’s so easy to take money. Money is a big thing in this world today, but that fish means more to me than that.” ~ Tsu Tsii In (Alton Watts)
In November 2025, hundreds of First Nations hereditary leaders, matriarchs, fisher families, and allies gathered in hupač̓asatḥ and c̓išaaʔatḥ territories (Port Alberni) for a landmark Migratory Salmon Potlatch.
The gathering was hosted by Ḥupač̓asatḥ Ḥawił (Hereditary Chief) Tsu Tsii In (Alton Watts) and Ḥiškʷiiʔatḥ Elder/Artist Aniičačist (Tim Paul). The Potlatch purpose was to deal with the complex topics of getting fish farms out of coastal waters and restoring a natural balance for Salmon, and for hereditary leaders to sign a united declaration for Migratory Salmon.
On Saturday, November 1, the first day of the two-day Potlatch, we completed our protocols and ceremonies to bless the floor and help the spirit world align with the physical world. People clapped their hands and cheered after every speaker, and sometimes even after the dances. The children were buzzing, cheeks red from running, playing, and laughing, plus an abundance of Halloween candy.
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In case you are new here, this is not the typical Potlatch etiquette. We were raised to sit still, be quiet, and we never clapped. Usually, a Potlatch deals with business such as weddings, giving names, or acknowledging the acceptance of a chieftainship by bringing nations together, singing, dancing, drumming, feasting, and making collective decisions.
This celebration is different. We felt Grandmother Salmon and our Ancestors also clapping their hands and fins, cheering loudly with us in the spirit world. We were restoring the natural balance and putting things back in order, to live in a principled way where there is abundance, enough for everyone, in perpetuity.
Host Tsu Tsii In wanted to bring everyone together to share meals, enjoy the seafood resources which still remain, and share songs and dances to build good energy for migratory salmon.
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And the Nations showed up! Leaders gathered from far and wide, including members as far as the Winnemem Wintu tribe from northern California (who removed dams on the Klamath River to bring back their salmon), the Sylix Nation from the Interior, the Tsilqot’in, and Nations from all over Vancouver Island.
The Kwakwaka’wakw Nations showed up with over one hundred people drumming and singing as they entered into the Potlatch. Their message of hope is powerful; they removed salmon farms from their waters and are being richly rewarded with an abundance of salmon returning to their parent streams. Even the orcas are returning.
Joyful cheers continued through the second day as each of the hereditary chiefs and matriarchs signed the declaration.
In unison, everyone joined the dance floor singing and dancing with tears of joy. The room was vibrating with love for our relative the Salmon and for our ancestors.
As Tsu Tsii In and Aniičačist added the declaration’s final signatures (for now), a celebratory dance erupted. In unison, everyone joined the dance floor singing and dancing with tears of joy. The room was vibrating with love for our relative the Salmon and for our ancestors.
“This is a big step because what this does is it puts different nations in the front, standing up and being counted,” said Ho’miskanis Don Svanvik, who signed on behalf of the ‘Namgis Nation.
The declaration calls for signatories to “Relentlessly work towards the immediate removal of all open-net pen fish farms, which is within our control and works to help Salmon return in abundance.”
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Over the days many speakers shared stories about stewardship and traditional leadership roles and responsibilities towards the salmon. Others spoke of the challenge of living in two worlds and the devastation caused by salmon farming, which sees families, communities, and Nations being divided.
Despite some First Nations disagreeing on the issue (like Ahousaht and Ehattesaht Nation), brave Hereditary Chiefs, leaders, and matriarchs from those nations still came together in ceremony and signed the declaration.
With so much harm from colonialism, our own people sometimes get caught in the web that continues that harm, making decisions that impact future generations by depleting the natural world. However, as one speaker said, our responsibility is to think beyond seven generations and include Salmon within that.
Salmon is Life on the coast. Beyond their role as stewards of the waters, ensuring a healthy ecosystem, migratory salmon fertilize our beautiful forests, which are suffering. Cedar trees are turning red since the notorious heat dome of 2021 and need nourishment now more than ever. But what can we do in a toxic environment?
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I felt supported as an ahousaqsups (Ahousaht woman) standing beside the lone hereditary chief and two of Ahousaht’s qwayats’iik (law keepers). As well, it is momentous for Ahousaht First Nation, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, and Ehattessaht First Nation, who all have fish farms in their hahoulthee, to get support from everyone in attendance at the Potlatch to remove the farms, and this is expressed in the signatures of the declaration.
The waves are going in a new direction now. A south easterly is rolling in. Brace yourself for the change.
How do we move forward? Getting organized and creating our local First Nations salmon laws in a collective way, because the tidal currents on the coast connect us to our neighbours and their neighbours. Salmon swim through all the territories. We are all connected. We have fish farms in our ancestral waterways polluting our neighbours’ food sovereignty. Our inherent rights are collective rights, and the hereditary chiefs at the Potlatch who signed the declaration agree: “we don’t have a right to cause the extinction of a species.”
No nation has the right to condemn salmon to extinction. It’s time to work together, to create abundance not just for humans, but for all beings.
Hereditary or elected leaders are invited to sign the declaration. Please email salmondeclaration@gmail.com.
pawa haiyupis is an environmentalist from Ahousaht Nation. She wrote the 2025 Migratory Salmon Declaration and is a consultant residing in unceded c̓uumʕas territory (Port Alberni).
Zannia Kidd (Zan) values more-than-human relations and collaborating through shared work connecting people, place, and waters.
Photos by Christopher Roy | christopherroy.com
