Oregon Water Quality Decision Affects Fish Safety and Indian Diet

Luke Fishing From a Scaffold
(Photo courtesy of Wil Phinney)

The 17.5 gram per day consumption rate is at the low end of a three-tiered recommendation by the DEQ's Technical Advisory Committee, which suggested that waters where fish are actively harvested by members of Oregon subpopulations with high fish consumption (Native American and Asian) would be assigned the high intensity value (389 grams per day), waters where fish are harvested by sport fishers but not members of the subpopulations would be assigned the medium intensity (142.4 grams per day), and the remaining waters in which fishing is a beneficial use would be assigned the low intensity fish consumption value. The TAC went so far as to designate Oregon waterways with one of the three rates. River basins designated as high intensity fish consumption included parts of the Columbia, Umpqua, Rogue, Willamette, Deschutes and Snake rivers.

In its defense, DEQ said that although the criteria will be less protective of people who consume more than 17.5 grams per day, that rate is higher than the 95th percentile consumption rate for children 14 years and younger, includes more than 18 percent of adult fish consumers within the Umatilla, Nez Perce, Yakama and Warm Springs tribes, and offers a level of protection within EPA guidelines for acceptable risk to more highly exposed subgroups such as the Columbia River tribes. Representatives from the Umatilla Tribes, who attended the meeting, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, which represents the Umatillas and Warm Springs in Oregon, expressed their disappointment with the decision.

"In our comments, 540 grams per day was the protection level we advocated," said Chuck Hudson, a spokesman for CRITFC. "Oregon made a willful decision to deny adequate protection to subsistence groups, minority populations and tribal people. It denies them the protection of harvesting healthy fish from their waters."

Armand Minthorn, a member of the Umatilla Tribes' Board of Trustees, said DEQ failed to respect the government-to-government relationship between Oregon tribes and state agencies.

"DEQ had many tools to use to help with the recommendations," he said. "Because we consume larger amounts of fish, we're at a higher risk. DEQ needs to acknowledge that."

Kathleen Feehan, the Umatilla Tribes' Water Quality Policy Analyst, said the decision leaves tribes no other recourse than to oppose this rule in consultation with EPA, which has the option of confirming the state’s plan or sending it back for further consideration.