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BELFAIR -- David Pulsifer peered through the fog on September 11 and smiled as he watched 18 fellow Skokomish tribal members digging clams and picking oysters on a southern Hood Canal beach. It was only a few miles east of the Skokomish reservation, but the tribe hadn’t harvested here in nearly a century.

 That’s because the beach has been privately owned since the State of Washington sold off tidelands to private landowners many decades ago. Tribal members were accused of trespassing if they harvested in traditional areas and weren’t allowed to return until a 1994 federal court ruling – the Rafeedie Decision – affirmed the tribes’ right to shellfish on private tidelands. September’s commercial harvest was the tribe’s first on private tidelands since the Rafeedie Decision.

“Salmon and shellfish are the backbone of our tribe – it’s in our blood.” said Pulsifer, the tribe’s shellfish monitor. “To see my people come down here, where we haven’t harvested since the early 1900s – it fills me with pride.”

 Private landowners of the roughly 300-foot beach section, about five miles west of Belfair on Highway 106, were cooperative. The five landowners were notified by the tribe more than 30 days in advance of both the biological population surveys and harvest. The beach was surveyed in July.

 “I thought they went about it very responsibly,” said Carol Wentlandt, one of the beach owners. “I was amazed at the background work that went into it.”

Wentlandt said learning details of the tribal biological surveys and harvest made a big difference in her attitude. “I was reacting (negatively) like a lot of people, so I called  the tribe and asked questions and really felt better afterward,” she said.

“Most landowners don’t have a problem once they understand the harvest is biologically sound and realize how little they are actually impacted,” said Skokomish Fisheries Manager Dave Herrera.

The details, said Herrera, include the fact that most harvests occur in just a few hours during low tide, perhaps once or twice a year, and that tribal members access private tidelands by water or by public access whenever possible. A tribal harvest monitor and tribal fisheries enforcement officer are always present to ensure regulations are followed.

Most importantly, the tribes can harvest only half of the “harvestable” amount of shellfish available, which is the surplus beyond what is needed to sustain healthy shellfish populations. Wentlandt said she initially believed the tribe was allowed 50 percent of the entire shellfish population.

 In fact, Skokomish members harvested only 1,180 pounds of clams (or about 10 percent of the clam population in the surveyed area) and 10,020 oysters (only about 2 percent of the oyster population in the surveyed area.).

 Despite its shellfishing history, the Skokomish Tribe has no tidelands of its own. Tribal members have harvested on state Parks and state Department of Natural Resources tidelands until now.

 “One of the biggest goals of the Skokomish shellfish department is to acquire our own piece of land to enhance and to have for tribal members to harvest,” Skokomish shellfish biologist Eric Sparkman said.

 Until then, the tribe is pleased with the cooperation it is getting from landowners. Sparkman said the increased access to historical shellfishing sites will decrease pressure on public areas to which the tribe was previously limited. Some landowners have expressed interest in entering into cooperative enhancement projects with the tribes to help bolster shellfish populations.

For more information: Dave Herrera, Skokomish Fisheries Manager, (360) 877-5213; Eric Sparkman, Skokomish Shellfish Biologist, (360) 877-5213;