Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fisheries Enforcement (CRITFE)

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fisheries Enforcement department is a part of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. This organization is made up of the fish and wildlife committees of the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes. These four tribes have treaty-guaranteed fishing rights and management authority in their traditional fishing areas.

For thousands of years, Indians have harvested salmon from the Columbia River for commercial, physical, and spiritual sustenance. The salmon were routinely sold to and traded with neighboring tribes, settlers, and explorers. Celilo Falls, the spectacular waterfall on the Columbia River inundated today behind The Dalles Dam, has been called the “original Wall Street of North America.”

Standing on wooden platforms extending over the falls, tribal fishers harvested salmon using long-handled dip nets. The powerful sight of the falls and fishers drew spectators and trade until Celilo Fall’s destruction on March 10, 1957.

In 1855, the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Yakama, and Warm Springs tribes signed a treaty with the United States government to reserve, forever, their right to fish at all of their usual and accustomed places. The rich custom of tribal fishing continues to be essential to the
heritage, culture, and economy of the Indian people and to the Pacific Northwest.