In the preceding chapters of this book, we have reviewed multiple sources of state, federal, and international law that establish a right to keep water instream. The sources of law reviewed in the preceding chapters, however, have generally not framed this right as a fundamental human right. When viewed in the context of the broader field of indigenous rights, we can discern the basis for framing the right to keep water instream as a traditional established human right.

Throughout the world, there are many indigenous cultures in which salmon is central and essential to tribal identity. For instance, in Siberia and the Russian Far East, the Itelmen ethnic group on the Kamchatka Peninsula petitioned the Governor of Kamchatka and the federal fishing agency to protect indigenous fishing rights.1 As another example, in British Columbia in Canada, First Nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island have banded together to form the Nuuchahnulth Salmon Alliance to press the provincial and federal Canadian governments to strengthen protection of salmon stocks from logging operations that degrade spawning waters.2