CIT.fish.overview.5.09

The Coquille Indian Tribe has strong cultural ties to coastal streams, wetlands, estuaries, bays and marine ecosystems. Oral histories retained by Coquille Tribal members and anecdotes of other local informants tell of a time when there was a rich abundance and diversity of fish within the four coastal streams that make up the Coquille Indian Tribe’s Empire Reservation. Today these areas are in recovery after 150 years of heavy human impacts and associated land use influences. To what extent are the water quality and habitat conditions of First, Second, Fourth, and Tarheel Creeks limiting fisheries abundance today? Independent biological assessments have found viable populations of coastal cutthroat, pacific lamprey ammocetes, stickleback, yellow perch, and cottids existing within all four of the Tribe’s creeks. With the improved fish passage problems solved on Fourth and Tarheel Creeks, the Coquille Tribe is making important strides in restoring culturally sensitive fish species to these recovering aquatic ecosystems.