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Indian Fishing Rights: Aftermath Of The Fox Decision And The Year 2000, Karen Ferguson

American Indian Law Review

The ongoing Indian fishing rights debate in northern Michigan is intensifying as a 1985 court ordered consent agreement nears its year 2000 expiration date. Many of the local citizenry are concerned that the debate may turn violent as it did in the 1970s. In the 1970s there was fierce competition between Indians and non-Indians over a fish resource that was becoming depleted at an alarming rate. While pollution of the Great Lakes and the presence of non-native parasites were more likely the cause of the depleted stocks, the sport fishermen blamed Indian gill netting for the problem. In recent years, …