Biography
David Sohappy Sr., known as Tucknashut, was a Wanapum and Yakama fisherman and religious leader who became a central figure in the Native treaty fishing-rights struggle on the Columbia River. Living at Cooks Landing, he fished according to treaty rights and refused to submit to state regulation, and was the named plaintiff in the landmark case Sohappy v. Smith (1969). In 1981 and 1982 federal agents ran an undercover sting known as Salmonscam, luring Columbia River Indians into selling salmon caught out of season. Sohappy, his son, and three other Yakama tribal members were convicted in 1983 under the federal Lacey Act, and he was sentenced to five years in prison — a term widely condemned as grossly disproportionate. He suffered a debilitating stroke while incarcerated and was released only on May 18, 1988, after U.S. Senators Daniel Inouye and Dan Evans intervened. He died three years later. Sohappy became an international symbol of the fight to defend Native treaty and human rights.
Wanapum traditional fisherman and religious leader who fought for Columbia River treaty fishing rights, leading to the 1969 Sohappy v. Smith decision affirming Native fishing rights. Targeted in the 1982 federal Salmonscam sting operation, convicted of illegal salmon sales, and sentenced to five years in federal prison despite his age and ill health. Documented in PFOC Breakthrough magazine.