The story behind an innovative Indigenous fishing method is coming to a small screen near you.
Season 3 of the docuseries Cascade PBS Origins, “The Last Reefnetters,” premieres Friday, March 21 at 8:50 p.m. on Cascade PBS.
Thousands of years ago, the Lummi Nation and other Northern Straits Salish tribes developed Reefnet Fishing.
The series follows the Salish Sea’s last reefnetters, examining the intersectionality among the legal, spiritual and cultural paths that intertwine them.
“When I initially did research on it [reefnet fishing], I discovered that there was only 12 captains left with a reefnet fishing license, and only one of them was an enrolled tribe member. So you have this dynamic where you have this centuries-old fishing technique that was essentially ubiquitous across this culture, yet today there is only one captain left, so that was kind of my ‘in’ to the series,” Wolfe said.
Origins is a grant-funded project that provides $40,000 to one filmmaker from the Pacific Northwest each year, along with support from Cascade PBS Original Productions team.
This year’s Origins grant is now open for submissions through April 18. You can apply here.
