Indian nations operate as independent governments.  They have their own elected officials, schools, courts, and police forces.  They are also responsible for all of the natural resources on their lands.  A number of tribes are now acquiring underwater equipment to aid in variety of tasks including environmental monitoring, fisheries management, exploration of cultural resources, and search and recovery missions. 

    One is the Confederates Tribes of Colville Reservation(CTCR) in Washington state.  The group includes 9,000 descendants of 12 aboriginal Indian tribes.  The reservation covers 1.4 million acres and takes in parts of the Columbia River, the San Poil River, the Okanogan River, the Sanke River, the Wallowa River, and Lake Roosevelt.   The CTCR is part of a cooperative endeavor, the Lake Roosevelt Fisheries Evaluation Program, which includes the Spokane Tribe and Washington’s Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. The objective of the program is to develop strategies to effectively manage fish populations, which were dramatically impacted by the construction of the Grand Coulee and the Chief Joseph Dams.  To aid in the research and monitoring efforts the group is using a JW Fisher SeaLion-2 remote operated vehicle.  This highly maneuverable underwater camera system allows the team to observe and record fish stocks and environmental conditions in the habitat. 

    Alaska’s Sitka Tribe is also using high tech underwater search equipment.  Their lands include Baranof Island and parts of Chicagof Island in the southeastern part of the state. The tribe has procured a Proton 4 magnetometer to aid in search missions.  This super sensitive metal detector assists when there is a need to locate a sunk boat or a vehicle that goes through the ice, track a pipeline, find a lost anchor, or pinpoint a missing mooring.  For any task that requires locating an iron or steel target from a great distance, the Proton 4 is the perfect tool.

    The Cree Nation of Eastmain in Quebec, Canada has secured a SCAN-650 scanning sonar for their Public Health Department.  The scanning sonar operates in water similar to the way radar does on land.  The sonar’s transducer is lowered close to ocean floor, or river bed, and an acoustic wave sweeps the bottom. The wave reflects off any object laying there, returns to the transducer, and is sent topside where an image is displayed on a laptop PC.  The sonar saves many hours of dive time when searching for a drowning victim or a snowmobile that has broken through a frozen lake.

    Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, comprised of descendants of the Coast Salish people in the pacific northwest, is using a Pulse 8X metal detector.  The 8X is a popular tool with police and military dive teams for locating weapons and explosive devices, but “we have a different use for it” reports Les Hoffer, an official with the tribe’s Preservation department. “The detector will help in investigating and mapping some of the old burial grounds.  Once other departments hear about our use of it, they will waste no time in asking to borrow the detector to locate utilities and other things around the reservation.”

  For more information on Fishers complete line of underwater search equipment go to www.jwfishers.com.