Pyke Phish Pharm February 27, 2023

I would first like to explain who “we” are. Pyke Phish Pharm is made up of and consists of family members who are educated in numerous areas pertinent to and conducive to the project outlined below. Our family of siblings and volunteers consist of myself, a NYS Licensed pharmacist (retired), my sister Margaret Pyke-Thompson, Wetlands Biologist (retired), my brothers Robert Pyke, (retired) machinist/building system manager, and Vaughn Aldrich, Attorney. (semi-retired) Stanley M.P. Francis, EMT, volunteer nephew, David Francis, skilled carpenter, volunteer nephew. My children, Kiera, Jasmine, Levi and Joseph all know how to strip and fertilize Walleye eggs, and participate in our daily operations. Also available is a cadre of numerous volunteers from our native and neighboring communities.

We have been involved with aquaculture in Akwesasne since 1989. Initially we started going to workshops and visiting several hatcheries in NY state and Ontario. This was done with the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment and Dr. Joseph Buttner, of SUNY Brockport. The project was partially funded by Sea Grant to investigate the uptake and retention of contaminants by fish grown in the waters of the Great Lakes under conditions that simulated a commercial aquaculture operation. Our community is split by the international border with portions located in Ontario, Quebec and New York State . We started looking into aquaculture because we are in the impact area of a National Priority listed Superfund site and two (2) NYS Superfund sites. Our community has always been dependent on the river as a source of protein and nutrition. However, for the last 40 plus years we have been discouraged and advised against eating locally harvested fish more than once a month. Our native women who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding have been told not to consume any local fish.

Part of our experience with aquaculture involved bringing unpolluted fingerlings from local state hatcheries and raising them all summer long using pellet food in net pens. These net pens were placed in the St Lawrence, St Regis and Racquette river systems and some fish samples were taken out for pollution studies. We raised Rainbow Trout, Yellow Perch, Bullhead, Coho and Atlantic Salmon. We see the best results with Rainbow Trout and bullhead. One of the outcomes of the early aquaculture was that unpolluted fingerlings raised in suspended net pens with commercial pellet fish food came back safe for human consumption on a daily basis.

Pyke Phish Pharm, after being trained by NYS DEC and Ontario MNR, was given a permanent permit in 2000 issued by and under the authority of the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs (MNCC). This permit authorizes the harvest and return to Akwesasne of the fertilized walleye eggs. Most of our restoration efforts involved releasing these fertilized eggs directly into the local waterways. We have a portable walleye hatchery that we have built out and have not utilized since the crash of Hoople Creek. After Hoople creek crashed we had a difficult time accessing the walleye run at the appropriate times. Unfortunately, local net fisherman were constantly “holding” fish in the colder St Lawrence water. Consequently, these fish were unable to spawn because that requires warmer water. Another problem was the significant water level fluctuation of the St. Lawrence. In one instance, 5 days before hatch out, we experienced a catastrophic drop in water level causing us to lose approximately 500,000 “eyed-up” eggs. Other times we had all females and few males or the opposite depending on the source. This season we plan on loaning our hatchery out to Friends of Hoople Creek, an organization of volunteers so that they can start restocking Hoople again.

My generation didn’t get to see Atlantic Salmon in this community because they are classified as extirpated from the St Lawrence River system. There are multiple reasons why they are considered endangered. However, the Beauharnois and St Lawrence/FDR power dam systems are a contributing factor along with climate change and overharvest of the species. We know that the Robert Moses power dam (St Lawrence Seaway) had its 50th year relicensing process and all the focus was on endangered species such as sturgeon, eels and clam mussels with an insignificant reference to the loss of the historical Atlantic Salmon fishery. Such disregard of the Atlantic Salmon is a blatant and egregious affront to the family tree of the world salmon population! A clear and concise observation and reading of the Salmon family tree published by the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game on their website: adfg.Alaska.gov

A result of the relicensing negotiations was an agreement for an eel ladder to be constructed at Robert Moses Power facility. We would hope that an amendment be made for the construction of a Atlantic salmon fish ladder. Recently, we visited an 80 y/o elder who remembers going to Helena, NY by horse and buckboard wagon and coming home with barrels of Atlantic Salmon to feed his family. When I inquired if he knew of any other families from Akwesasne who utilized this historical food source he stated that they were all deceased. My 75-year-old brother recalls watching “pole netters” scooping salmon, red fin mullet, northern pike at the Hogansburg, NY dam.

We need financial assistance in acquiring hatchery supplies because Salmon eggs are usually grown out in a different process than used for walleye. We would need to travel to pick up the fertilized eggs. Utilizing our permit issued from MNCC allows us to possess and transport fertilized walleye through the US/Canada border. Our permit will need to be modified to include fertilized Atlantic Salmon eggs. Pyke Fish Farm utilizes the Beaver Bowl, commonly referred to as the One Dish One Spoon Treaty memorized in that wampum belt to harvest and transport the eggs . To begin with, we plan on utilizing small Jordin/Scotty fish egg incubators (5 unit Pak ) and place them in suitable areas in the local waters, and this will involve local as well as off reserve volunteers to monitor the areas of incubators.

After talking with Scott Schlueter FEMRF Project Manager ( Fish Enhancement Mitigation and Research Fund is a 24-million-dollar fund that was established as part of the relicensing agreement for St Lawrence -FDR power project)on February 17, 2023, he informed me that the Atlantic Salmon is not considered significant enough to be ranked higher on the priority list for projects. Consequently, the disregard of the importance of re-establishment of the Atlantic Salmon will result in extinction. The FEMRF is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife service with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation serving as the trustee of the fund. The purpose of the FEMRF is to benefit fisheries resources in the Lake Ontario/St Lawrence River basin and to continue research on the American Eel and any other species that may be affected by the project. FEMRF are accepting proposals for funding that address 5 criteria:

1) projects in area with benefits to multiple species

2) Projects to benefit declining species, species of special concern, species listed under the

Endangered Species Act or a candidate

3) Research determined by the Service to support upstream or downstream passage of fish

at NYPA project

4) Projects in the area that benefit species of ecological or economic importance

5) Projects in Canadians waters to benefit species of international importance or concern Pyke Phish Pharm needs to access FEMRF funds in order to initiate this process of restoring Atlantic Salmon to our waterways that have had dams removed and would be crucial to this restocking. To start with, we would access our First Nations brothers in New Brunswick and help with their restocking efforts. In 2019 the New Brunswick First Nations issued a draft of their fishing plan. Their conservation target was a deposition level of 71 million eggs, escapement 12,200 mature Salmon and 2,500 Grills. Although the USFWS and NYSDEC are restocking 300,000 Atlantic salmon fingerlings, this restocking will not result in the same strain as the historical Atlantic salmon who mature in the ocean. The process we will use will allow us to bring “ hardened-off” eggs to Akwesasne when available. By initially using small Jordin/Scotty fish egg incubators and our 10 McDonald incubators, we could hatch and return Atlantic alevin and possibly fry to local waterways. Eventually we would like to get stackable gravity fed incubators to save on water usage. These funds could also be accessed to add a fish ladder (near eel ladder) in the spillway of the Beauharnois dam near Valleyfield Quebec, this would be necessary to facilitate fish going to and returning from the Atlantic. FEMRF funding would enable us to do a yearly restocking from New Brunswick as well as rehabilitating local waterways for spawning beds.

Even considering several adverse effects which might result from bringing Atlantic Salmon back into the Akwesasne and St. Lawrence watershed which may include cross breeding with any residual populations along with other instances. Human induced mortality through research activities have concluded that these environmental risks are outweighed by the positive consequences of inaction. Some previous studies have shown that if Atlantic Salmon were introduced into the Great Lakes there would need to be a decrease in hatchery production of Pacific Chinook, Coho, Washington strain steelhead and Skamania strain steelheads and European Brown trout. However, that is not the case in this area of the St Lawrence River. The only hatchery operation in this area of the St Lawrence River has been Pyke Phish Pharm and has been for walleye.

Pyke Phish Pharm also realizes that Steve Gephard’s 46-year effort to restore a viable Atlantic Salmon population in the Connecticut River failed. This failure can be confirmed to be directly related to global warming, due to the changes in Ocean currents. These changes influence how much energy is spent fighting currents and locations of sources of prey. We also understand that it takes double the amount of eggs to get a one year at sea Atlantic Salmon, since 1990.

The Fisheries Act in Canada has specific provision that make fish passage mandatory and require the construction of fish-ways (when deemed appropriate by the Minister ) sec 20. This would require Minister approval for the Beauharnois dam.

Our communities’ loss of this enormous Atlantic Salmon fishery can be compared to the attempted extermination of the American Buffalo and its effect on our western First Nation communities. When combined with the fact that most of the elders that remember the huge Atlantic Salmon runs are now gone to the spirit world it is no wonder that the FEMRF didn’t put Atlantic Salmon on the top of the list. The St Regis Mohawk Tribe representatives on FEMRF also would not remember the Atlantic Salmon runs because they were not even born and the BIA certainly have no recollection of fish runs. So, Pyke Phish Pharm would like FEMRF to reconsider the status of Atlantic Salmon and allow some of this fund to go into restocking the historical Atlantic Salmon. The removal of the dams in the Salmon and St Regis rivers in 2008 and 2016 respectively, should be of benefit for the successful return of this species. The fishery would also benefit from adding fish ladders at the Beauharnois dam as well as the St Lawrence/FDR project that could be added to the spillways that house the eel ladders. (Criteria 5)

The Salmon River in Oswego County has 12 miles of public fishing and has some of the best sport fishing in North America. Two major fish records have been set in the Upper St. Lawrence watershed. These records are the Great Lakes record for Chinook salmon ( 47 pounds 13 ounce ) and the world record Coho salmon ( 33 pounds 4 ounce). However, out of the fish stocked in the Great Lakes system that includes Pacific Chinook, Coho, Washington strain Steelhead, Skamania strain Steelhead, Atlantic salmon, and European Brown Trout, only the Landlocked Atlantic salmon is native to here. The other trophy Salmon and Steelhead targeted by sportsmen are native to the Pacific Ocean and basically are an invasive species.

Pyke Phish Pharm would be greatly pleased and thankful if the Fisheries Advisory Committee would positively consider putting Atlantic salmon on their priority list and allow Pyke Phish Pharm to access funding for this project.

Thank you for your consideration,

RaRonHiarHa, Turtle Clan

Michael Gus Pyke RPh

12 Pyke Rd Akwesasne, NY 13655

[email protected]

518-651-4748