featured image: Lake Superior trout
This really doesn’t pertain to anyone outside the State of Michigan, but if you fish you might find it of interest.
The Five Tribes
the Bay Mills Indian Community
the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa
the Sault Tribe of Chippewa
the Little River Band of Ottawa
the 1836 Treaty of Washington. The agreement ceded more than 13 million acres of Indian land in northern Michigan and the eastern Upper Peninsula to the federal government
but it also enshrined the fishing rights of the 5 Tribes
there is a Consent Decree set to expire in August of 2020 concerning those rights
the State, and the Federal government have begun negotiations to try to reach a new agreement on how fishing in the northern Great Lakes will be managed. The Coalition is also a participant in these negotiations. These negotiations will directly impact anyone who fishes, or even uses, the Great Lakes. If a new Consent Decree is reached, it will also directly affect your fishing and it will likely affect everyone who uses the Great Lakes for recreation.
I won’t talk about the 56 pages of the Consent Decree there is one area I do want to mention
Equipment:
Back in 1835 the equipment used by white or red or brown or black or yellow (did I miss any)
was rather primitive compared to today, talking about welded boats and motors, etc.
With no limitations on equipment, which includes gill nets,
the fishing industry will be a thing of the past.
The Gill net kills
Indiscriminately
big big difference between a gill net and a trap net
say you went out for white fish an your gill nets catch sturgeon, big deal an so what, right? No that’s not right
fish try to back out of a gill net
the more they try the more they get entangled, the gill net doesn’t care what species you are
with no limitations on equipment, just imagine the effects that would have over all, on fishing and attitudes
during the 70s and 80’s there was violence
everything from broken bones to shots fired at boats in safe harbor and on the lake operated by Indians.
i don’t understand why the the Sault Tribe of Chippewa are thinking as they are.
my dad would not agree with this greed, nor do I
KBIC