Photo: BCS Crew along the Columbia River in Oregon

Hello Niaz,

We’re writing to you from the Block Corporate Salmon campaign, which is a Black, Indigenous, and people of color led campaign dedicated to stopping the release of genetically engineered salmon (GE salmon) into US and world markets, while amplifying Indigenous solutions for Salmon protection and restoration. 

Recently, some members of our team — Carl, Celia, Estefanía, Feini, and Sai — had the chance to visit Oregon and Washington, to get to more deeply know the Columbia River and the Salmon, Steelhead, and Salmon People who call the River home. We were invited there by our collaborator, teacher and friend, Buck Jones, to attend the Columbia River Indian Fishers Expo organized by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

As many receiving this newsletter know deeply, Wild Salmon are struggling across Turtle Island, threatened by habitat loss, dams, salmon farms, bycatch from factory trawlers, an industrial food system that has severed the relationships communities have to nature and place, and the disenfranchisement of Indigenous communities that have existed in caretaking reciprocity with Salmon since time immemorial. Yet Salmon cultures remain vibrant and resilient. And, through epic life cycles that feed and allow entire ecosystems to flourish, Salmon continue to teach us all about life.

Since 2019, the Block Corporate Salmon campaign has played our role in tackling the Salmon crisis largely by blocking (as our name suggests) the efforts of AquaBounty, a biotech company that produces GE salmon branded as AquAdvantage salmon. We’ve been part of a campaign that has collected commitments from more than 80 grocery retailers, seafood companies, and restaurants to not sell GE salmon. In 2022, we partnered with a former AquaBounty employee and activists in Williams County, Ohio to release an investigative report, AquaBounty Exposed, with more than 60 pages of evidence detailing AquaBounty’s violations of environmental safety, animal welfare, and human health. Today, the company has closed its only facility in the US, and though they are trying to open another, they are gasping for air as their stocks flounder at record lows.

Photo: BCS Member Carl Wassilie along the Columbia River; Credit: feini yin

As we witness AquaBounty’s downfall, we’ve been reflecting on where to put our energies as a campaign, and allowing ourselves to think even bigger. Through our time organizing together, we’ve been continually deepening relationships with Salmon Peoples, as well as with Indigenous and Black leaders in NAMA’s networks. We've been blessed to be part of beautiful convenings and we’ve hosted art builds, workshops, and creative actions that center dreaming. Our experiences together have heightened our collective conviction to widen the lens on the “B” part of BCS to embody not just the “blocking” but the “building” that has always been part of our campaign.

When it comes to building, we know relationships are the foundation. We are embarking on a visionary fiction project, centering the relationships we hold near and dear, to conjure liberatory futures together. Over the next years, we’ll be collecting oral histories and visions for the future from Salmon Protectors and BIPOC activist accomplices working toward Salmon restoration and food sovereignty across Turtle Island. Inspired by the form of visionary fiction put forth by writer-activists adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha, who themselves are building on the traditions of Black ancestors like Octavia E. Butler, this project fosters the devotional acts of building relationships, collaborative dreaming, and art-making that leads to collective healing and liberation. 

On our recent visit to the Columbia River Basin, we cherished opportunities to spend time with people’s stories, including those of Brigette at Salmon King Fisheries in Warm Springs, OR and Christina at Native Candy in Bingen, WA. Brigette shared histories of her family and her people, lessons from her grandmother that she carries with her, and the story of how she came to start her shop selling fish and beads, the biggest trade items in her people’s history. Christina spoke about reconnecting with our abilities to listen to the more-than-human kin around us: “There was a time when these natures, they spoke to us and we could understand. And what I've come to understand is that they can speak to us. They are alive. All these natures, all this, this River right here,” she said. 

Of course, we will keep blocking as well, as you’ll see from our action we recently organized with NFFC below. 

Yours in blocking and building,

The BCS Team

In This Issue

NAMA and NFFC in Berea, KY

Introducing Hamida Kinge

Fish Myth

News Roundup

Slow Fish in Charleston, SC

Find Your Seafood Week

Matagorda Bay Fishing Cooperative

NFFC says no to GE salmon, farmed fish, and factory trawlers. 2024 retreat in Berea, KY. Credit: Sam Cave / Photo courtesy of NFFC

In August, Casey Willson, NAMA’s communications and outreach organizer, and Captain Charlie Abner attended the NFFC annual meeting in Berea, Kentucky. It was a moving week where food producers and advocates came together and shared community and strategy about the year to come. While there, we deepened connections between the challenges and victories values-based food producers experience, whether at land or at sea. Land-based and sea-based food producers and their advocates often work separately from one another, but when working collaboratively we can find creative solutions to our shared challenges. We are excited to be in the position to make these connections with NFFC and their other coalition members.

During their retreat, NFFC also did a photo action organized by Block Corporate Salmon! BCS and collaborators are calling on major seafood restaurants retailers like Landry’s and Long John Silver’s to commit to: no GE salmon, no GE animals, no farmed fish, and no pollock caught by factory trawlers, which catch and discard huge amounts of Wild Salmon and other bycatch.

Berea, KY is just two hours from the Long John Silver’s headquarters in Louisville, KY. The corporate-industrial seafood system says that we need false solutions like genetically engineered animals, industrially farmed fish, and fish caught by factory trawlers to feed the Midwest and the rest of the world. In reality, these solutions are aimed toward lining the coffers of big corporations. At this gathering, family farmers, fisherfolk, and food advocates came together to say: NO to false seafood solutions; the Midwest doesn’t want seafood that harms fishing communities, Wild Salmon, ocean ecosystems, and public health!

As NAMA's Content Strategist, Hamida supports the communications team with strategy, media relations, content development, and web management. You can learn more about the new addition to the NAMA family here!

Check out the latest installment of our Fish Myth social media series here.

There are those that want to pretend like this is not David vs Goliath. But a quick look at the history of how fishers have lost access to the water, to the docks, to basic services, and ultimately their livelihood proves otherwise. We present to you part 2 of this myth that says that the deterioration of the ocean over the last couple of decades is the fault of fishing communities themselves. This history will show you just how much has changed as large corporate interests have gotten interested in the fisheries. 

Together, these large-scale corporate players contribute to labor exploitation on their large vessels where there are countless cases of violence towards workers and sometimes even murder at the hands of the employer. For this reason we proudly support the Wi-Wi Now campaign led by migrant fishers who are demanding access to Wi Fi on the boats so they can document what's happening aboard and be in touch with their families while at sea. 

This is a great opportunity to uplift the Catch Share Reform Coalition which is a campaign seeking to make a change in the ways the quota system works so that “sealords” cannot accumulate quota and push fishers out. We can do better and we will! 

Please visit the Catch Share Reform Coalition’s website to learn more.

In a new study published in Maritime Studies, researchers examined 46 aquaculture court cases over a 30–year time frame and found crucial barriers to sustainability due to poor regulation, contested jurisdictions, inadequate consultation, frequent environmental problems, and scientific disputes. Their paper raises concerns about how, whether, and by whom aquaculture will be regulated in an offshore Blue Economy, with significant consequences for ocean ecosystems.

The fourth annual #FindYourSeafoodWeek is happening September 8-14! Hosted by the Local Catch Network, FYSW is a social media campaign that increases the visibility of domestic seafood harvesters and businesses that participate in direct marketing. You can check out the toolkit (photo credit: Nels Ure), and share the press release with your networks. If you have photos of your seafood business in action that you’d like to share, email them to info@localcatch.org.

Photo: Pictured Veronica Briceño of Matagorda Bay Fishing Cooperative, Niaz Dorry of NAMA, Candice Bribiesca of Matagorda Bay Fishing Cooperative, and Terrance Courtney of Federation of Southern Cooperatives.

When our friend Diane Wilson reached out in 2019 asking for help with setting up a new fishermen’s cooperative in Matagorda Bay, Texas it was a no-brainer to connect them with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Fast forward to today and we were excited to meet up with members of the Matagorda Bay Fishing Cooperative at the annual gathering of the Federation in Epes, Alabama. They didn’t come to their first annual meeting empty handed! They came with enough shrimp to feed the rest of the attendees. Many thanks to the Federation for their support of this project. And much gratitude to the indefatigable Diane Wilson whose efforts to hold plastic companies accountable for their role in polluting the ocean led to a $50m settlement, part of which was used to set up this new multi-racial cooperative that’s putting fishermen back to work and in control of their aggregation, processing, marketing, and sales.

Photo: Texas crew peeling shrimp to feed members of the Federation at the annual gathering in Epes, Alabama.

Become part of the team that is resourcing our movement for farmers and fishers! We are currently hiring for a Development Coordinator within both NAMA and NFFC! You can learn more here.

If you love our work then tell the world! Stories about us from people like you will help us make an even bigger impact in our community. GreatNonprofits – the #1 source of nonprofit stories and feedback – is honoring highly regarded nonprofits with their 2024 Top-Rated List. Won’t you help us raise visibility for our work by posting a brief story of your experience with us? All content will be visible to potential donors and volunteers. It’s easy and only takes 3 minutes! Go here to get started!

Have you always wanted a NAMA hoodie? Now’s your chance! We’ve got hoodies, aprons, and onesies for the littlest fishes among our movement! Our merch is made in the US by Worx Printing Co-op, a worker-owned union coop and printed with water-based, organic, toxin-free, vegan ink. They’re PVC free, contain no phthalates and are safe for babies!