Federal Court Upholds Indian Treaty Fishing Rights in Pacific Northwest Story-Date: 09:14 p.m. PST Monday , February 9, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ Federal Court Upholds Indian Treaty Fishing Rights in Pacific Northwest By Allen Brewer, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News LA PUSH, Wash.--Feb. 9--"Eighty per cent of the Puget Sound beaches are polluted; hurting, affecting and in some cases, outright destroying many of the wildlife species in this area," said Carson Boyer, information and education spokesman of the Quileute Tribe, as he discussed the recent federal court decision in favor of upholding the shellfishing rights of 20 Northwestern tribes. "Part of the reason we have fought so hard for our shellfish and other fishing and hunting rights is to be in a position where we can influence change and cause to stop the terrible things that are happening to our environment. The government has simply not done its job right," he said. Mr. Boyer was elated on the resounding legal defeat recently suffered by the state, groups of private tideland owners and commercial shellfish growers who were contesting Indian treaty fishing rights. Federal courts have again reaffirmed the Stevens Treaties of 1855, a series of five treaties that clearly state the responsibilities of the federal government to the tribes and their every day ongoing rights. Rights which have so often been unilaterally abrogated by various states and the government itself. The supreme importance and right of simply being able to fish and hunt on all the lands which had been theirs from time immemorial, an original condition of the 1855 treaties, was always obvious to the tribes and never surrendered when the tribes ceded over the majority of their lands to the federal government, some 1,500,000 acres in the Washington state alone. The ongoing insistence of the state and private owners to deny the truth of the various treaties is foolish, greedy, thoughtless and a terrible waste of taxpayers, tribes and private monies, and in legal costs, particularly when the courts have always affirmed the correctness of the Native American claims, Mr. Boyer inferred. Mr. Boyer, though obviously happy, was extremely conciliatory in wanting to discuss ways to bring an end to the endless wrangling and those attempts to bypass stated treaty rights. He said, "No commercial shellfish grounds, to my knowledge, have ever been infringed upon, nor do we intend to ever dig or fish upon any of these grounds, private or commercial, without first notifying the owners well in advance of our intentions. We would really prefer to discuss our needs and take into consideration, their needs before we dig or fish on their property. Shellfishing, is a physically tough, difficult, dirty task, usually done under arduous weather conditions; and the fact that we do this at all, clearly shows our desire to work honestly and hard to support our families and culture." Some of the funds to defend the treaty rights were provided by the BIA, money expressly set aside for that purpose, and the tribes also contributed their monies to help fight the good fight. Already 190 tribal members have been legally licensed to dig for shellfish in anticipation of the legal settlement. Ultimately, it is believed the income, so earned, will exceed that of salmon fishing, a much needed boost to tribal economic development. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1998, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------