Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe officials say they will comply with a court order not to ban fishing of certain species by non-tribal members on lakes within their reservation.
“The Tribe respects the court’s process and remains committed to government-to-government relations with the state of Wisconsin and to the protection of treaty-protected resources for present and future generations,” tribal officials said in a statement.
The temporary restraining order was issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
In April, tribal officials announced they were prohibiting walleye and musky fishing on about 20 lakes within the reservation because population numbers for those species’ were deemed critically low on those lakes.
They argued a similar ban on Flambeau Lake in 2022 allowed the tribal fish hatchery to replenish the populations. They said non-tribal members were specifically banned from fishing because their harvests are not strictly monitored. The harvests of tribal members already are tracked to keep within safe sustainable limits.
Other popular species, such as northern pike and bass, were not included in the ban.
The state of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the ban ahead of the general fishing season starting May 2. Gov. Tony Evers said the tribe’s action “has the potential to unnecessarily sow division, stoke tension and further entrench animosity between neighbors where it need not and should not exist.”
The state cited a 1983 case, State of Wisconsin vs. Baker, in which the courts ruled the state has jurisdiction over the lakes on tribal lands, as a legal argument for its lawsuit.
Tribal officials said they’re looking forward to presenting their arguments before the court at a scheduled May 29 hearing. In their statement, the officials said they were acting “under the tribe’s inherent sovereign authority” to protect the fish populations.
“The tribe’s state of emergency declaration … remains in effect, and the tribe’s conservation work, including the operations of the tribal fish hatchery, continues without interruption,” they said.
The animosity Evers mentioned was a reference to the longstanding tension over tribal spear fishing.
State Department of Natural Resources officials had issued warnings to residents to not harass tribal members ahead of Ojibwe spearing season, which started earlier in April. Nevertheless, some tribal members have reported apparent incidents of harassment. Greg Biskakone Johnson said he and his crew “were shot at” late May 1 while on Lost Canoe Lake on a canoe spearing for walleye. No one was injured and he said he reported the incident to police, but doesn’t think anything will come of it.
Other Ojibwe spearfishers have been reporting incidents as well.
Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@usatodayco.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on X at @vaisvilas_frank.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ojibwe will comply with court order to halt ban on non-tribal fishing
Reporting by Frank Vaisvilas, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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