Blessing of fleet honors Lorraine Loomis, tribal fishers

Lorraine Loomis died nine months ago but her presence was clearly felt Friday during the Swinomish Blessing of the Fleet and First Salmon Ceremony.

Loomis truly lived for the sacred springtime ritual – a large community-wide feast and program at the tribal youth center followed by a procession through Swinomish Village leading to a solemn shoreline prayer service marked by a moment of silence for lost fishers.

Many of the day’s speakers invoked Loomis’ name, citing her commitment to Native treaty rights, Northwest fisheries and the Blessing of the Fleet and First Salmon Ceremony itself.

“Our late elder put this together,” said recently elected tribal senator and longtime Swinomish Cultural Events Director Aurelia Bailey. “She saw the need for our people to be honored for what we do.”

Loomis enjoyed a long tenure as chair of the Swinomish Fisheries Commission and later as the lead official of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, succeeding the legendary Billy Frank, Jr.

“This is the first time we’ve had this blessing without her,” said Swinomish Senator Brian Porter, who served as Friday’s master of ceremonies. “It’s up to us to carry out that legacy.”

Loomis’ daughter, Kim Murphy, her voice cracking with emotion at times, recounted her mother’s role in having launched the Blessing of the Fleet and First Salmon Ceremony, which prior to the COVID-19 pandemic drew upwards of 700 people, including public officials and dignitaries.

“She started this event,” Murphy said. “She wanted it to be about community, about the fishermen. She was so proud of her community. She wanted the outside world to see it.”

This year marked the first fleet blessing seafood luncheon and program since the pandemic. It was scaled back compared to prior years, showing a gradual easing back to normal at a time when local COVID-19 cases are again increasing.

“We know the pandemic won’t go away anytime this season,” conceded Swinomish Senate Vice-Chair J.J. Wilbur, “but it’s good to see everybody. It’s what our elders have missed.”

The focus was on tribal fishers and the life and career of Loomis, themes addressed by the program’s four official witnesses, Larry Campbell, Joe McCoy and Nancy Wilbur of Swinomish and attorney Emily Haley, of the tribal legal staff; representatives of the Swinomish Fisheries Commission; and tribal senators.

“She put a lot into this,” Swinomish Senator Tandy “Wolf” Wilbur reflected, upon citing the legacy of Loomis, his great-aunt. “It was important to her that the community could share in this meal.”

Following dinner and traditional blanketing ceremonies, the Wilbur family song group performed a send-off for those joining the march up Pioneer Parkway.

Four Swinomish members of the La Conner High School class of 2022 carried baskets of food covered by cedar branches to be dispersed by boat in all four directions, an offering exercise of great significance dating back generations.

“It’s something that’s important to our community,” Porter said. “Even though we’ve been out on the water already, they’re here to make our offering.

“We can’t just take,” he added. “We have to give. We are at the mercy of the water.”

Parts of the program harkened back to the so-called “fish wars” of the mid-20th century, prior to the 1974 federal court decision that re-affirmed the rights of Washington state tribes to co-manage and harvest salmon as they had been accustomed. The court ruled in United States v. Washington that in exchange for ceding vast lands to the United States, the tribes reserved the right to fish as they always had.

“Those were dangerous times,” Nancy Wilbur, a former Skagit Valley College instructor, said of the 1960s and early ‘70s. “We weathered that storm. I’m glad we did. I’m proud to have been part of that. Ours is an amazing, wonderful way of life. We have to do what we can to preserve this way of life.”

She praised Loomis, her aunt, for being a leader on the fishing rights front and sharing her insights.

“She was very generous with her knowledge,” said Wilbur.

The political climate might change, but one constant is the emphasis upon personal safety on the water.

“We want to make sure our fishermen can be the safest they can be,” Porter said, “so they can bring home that bounty and have feasts like this one.”