A Tribal Nation Created Enterprise With Traditional Food Ways

The Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Indian Reservation provides an example of advancing self-determination and economic development while maintaining traditional practices by creating the Suquamish Seafood Enterprises (SSE). Taking their name from the traditional Lushootseed phrase for “people of the clear salt water” these expert fishermen, canoe builders, and basket weavers have lived in harmony with the lands and waterways along Washington’s Central Puget Sound Region for thousands of years. Fishing continues to be an important livelihood for many tribal members today.

Traditional Homelands and Historic Ties to Fishing

Suquamish woman gathering shellfish. Photo courtesy of Suquamish Museum Archives.

The Port Madison Indian Reservation is on the Kitsap Peninsula, just a 30-minute ferry ride away from Downtown Seattle. It is approximately 7,657 acres and is allocated in two parcels, the Indianola Parcel and the Suquamish Parcel. Both lands are part of the Port Madison Indian Reservation. The Suquamish traditional homelands include the site of Old-Man-House Village, the winter home of Chief Seattle, and the heart of the Suquamish people according to the Suquamish’s website.

The Suquamish depended on salmon, cod and other bottom fish, clams and other shellfish, berries, roots, ducks and other waterfowl, deer, elk, and other land game for food for family and community use, ceremonial feasts, and for trade. Traditionally, fishing was the most important source of food for the Indigenous peoples of the Puget Sound. The Suquamish fished widely throughout Puget Sound, and continue to do so today. The Suquamish produced a variety of ingenious tools and other devices to efficiently harvest fish and gather other foods. They caught salmon with nets, traps, weirs, hook and line, and netting from canoes according to their history and culture webpage.

Suquamish Seafood Enterprises (SSE)

Established in 1996 by tribal charter Suquamish Seafood Enterprises (SSE) was formed to develop seafood markets for tribal fishermen as well as market the bountiful harvests of geoduck clams that populate the tribe’s surrounding waters.  It is a benefit for the tribal members via seafood sustainability, subsistence living, and support the tribal economy as a whole. SSE has been able to have access to the ancestral lifestyle of subsistence life.

SSE is located on the Kitsap Peninsula in the State of Washington. Many tribal members harvest fish and shellfish resources throughout Puget Sound waters.

Suquamish Seafoods’ major business is the marketing and selling of Pacific Oysters. The tribal geoduck harvests an average of 500,000 lbs. per harvest year. SSE will be expanding its product line to include Dungeness crab, Salmon (Chinook, Coho, and Chum varieties), Manila Clams, and Oysters. Future expansion plans include culturing oysters and clams inter-tidally in hopes of benefiting both cultured and wild-harvest opportunities. SSE is looking to diversify and develop markets both internationally and domestically while operating under its own branded product line all according to SSE’s website.

The Suquamish Indian Tribe shows the CoP a way in which how tribal nations and Indigenous communities can utilize their traditional and cultural practices to enhance community economic development. The CoP is proud to highlight these efforts for our community to learn from.