The Whatcom County Council Tuesday voted against a temporary ban on recreational floating devices on the South Fork of the Nooksack River.
Members of Nooksack Indian Tribe and Lummi Nation had called for the ban on rafts, inner tubes and paddleboards between Acme and Deming to help protect endangered Chinook salmon. A ban is already in place upriver from Acme.
Council member Carol Frazey sided with the three conservative members of the council in a 3–4 vote rejecting the ban.
Frazey said she would need to see evidence that rafting harmed salmon before banning a recreational activity.
“I have a really hard time taking away recreational opportunities for people [when] we’re not really sure if it’s affecting salmon,” she said.
Tribal officials speaking before a public hearing on the ban said Chinook salmon face multiple stressors, including high water temperatures, loss of habitat and low flows.
“High temperatures already stress the fish, and extensive tubing startles them further, stressing them and eventually causing them to die of stress,” Nooksack Chairwoman Rosemary LaClair said.
The tribes are seeking additional protections for the endangered salmon species after a “mass mortality event” in 2021, in which 2,500 to 2,600 adult Chinook died before they spawned.
