Tribal fishing dispute in Washington ends in prawn harvest

A federal judge on Friday allowed the Tulalip Tribe, Lummi Nation and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community to proceed with a spot prawn harvest in the final 11 days of the season, over objections from four other Washington tribes. Judge Ricardo Martinez said the objecting tribes had not met their burden to block the fishery, even while acknowledging problems loom for next season.

The four objecting tribes argued the regulations were issued unilaterally, without intertribal agreement, and risked triggering the same overharvest-then-quota-cut cycle that has plagued the fishery before. The North Sound tribes countered that their harvest shares were calculated from five years of data plus a 10% ceremonial set-aside, and that no overharvest had actually been shown.

Martinez said he found the four tribes’ preferred outcome more sensible but concluded the shellfish implementation plan gave him no authority to halt the fishing given the evidence before him. He urged all parties to negotiate a fix and revise the plan rather than return to court.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.