Office of the Deputy Secretary
Contact: Noel Gerson, (202) 208-6444
For Immediate Release: August 7, 2000

EMBARGOED UNTIL 7 P.M.

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced this evening that it has reached agreement with the State of Michigan, Bay Mills Indian Community, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa/Chippewa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians and the Little River Band of Indians to settle the U.S. v. Michigan lawsuit, currently pending in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The agreement will govern allocation, management and regulation of state and tribal fisheries in the 1836 treaty waters of the Great Lakes for 20 years. A previous agreement made in 1985 expired this year.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes said, "This historic agreement is the result of intense negotiations among the Tribes, State and United States. I commend the parties in their cooperative efforts in forging an agreement that provides fishing opportunities to all parties, protects the rights of the Tribes and conserves and protects the fishery resources of the Great Lakes."

This Indian fishing case was initiated by the United States in 1973 to affirm the Tribes' right to fish free from state regulation in the areas of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior ceded under the Treaty of 1836. In 1979, the District Court determined that the treaty tribes hold a right to fish in the ceded waters pursuant to the treaty.

Major points of the agreement include:

• An equitable division between state and tribal fishermen of the species available for harvest. The tribal commercial fishery will generally concentrate on harvesting whitefish and will also harvest other species. The state licensed sport fishery will concentrate on harvesting recreational species and lake trout harvest will be shared approximately equally.

(More)

• The removal of more than 14 million feet of annual large-mesh Tribal gill net effort. To accomplish this goal, many of the largest tribal gill net fishing operations will be converted to impoundment (trap net) operations. Conversion will be accomplished, in part, by the voluntary agreement of State commercial fishers to sell their trap net operations to the State. The State will then provide these operations to tribal commercial fishers who chose to participate. This conversion will reduce by-catch of other species, including lake trout.

• All parties agree that lake trout rehabilitation is an important goal in the scheme of fishery management. The agreement provides specific management provisions intended to accomplish lake trout rehabilitation in order to re-establish indigenous naturally reproducing lake trout.

• The agreement creates the Technical Fisheries Committee, an entity composed of biologists for each party, for consultation and collaboration on biological issues under the agreement.

• The agreement adopts a joint tribal fishery management plan and creates a management body called the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority (CORA) to which the tribes have delegated certain management and regulatory authority.

• The agreement provides for regular reports of fishing activity, notice to all parties of any proposed state or tribal regulatory action affecting the fishery, and for the exchange of biological information regarding the fishery resource.

• The agreement creates a law enforcement committee to consult and collaborate on enforcement issues and to create annual work plans for state and tribal enforcement agencies within the 1836 waters.

There will be a press briefing at 5:30 pm at the Bay Mills Indian Community at the Bay Mills Resort and Casino on Lake Shore Drive in Brimely, Michigan. The signing ceremony will follow at 7pm across from the Resort at the Wild Bluff Golf Course.

- DOI -