Tribal Treaty Rights

Read more about the article Makah Tribe continues pursuit of treaty whaling right
Makah tribal member Paul Hayte addresses NOAA Fisheries personnel during a public hearing on the tribe's whaling proposal.

Makah Tribe continues pursuit of treaty whaling right

Paul Hayte post“Our treaty is a living document just like the Constitution,” said Makah tribal member John Haupt during a public hearing about the tribe’s proposed whale hunt. “You are making something simple, complicated – we ceded thousands of acres of land in exchange for protection of our rights on the ocean.”

The hearing, held in Port Angeles at the end of April, was part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries public comment process for a draft environmental impact statement for the tribe’s whaling proposal. There are six options, including no whaling and the tribes’ proposal of the harvest of up to five Eastern north Pacific gray whales a year. (more…)

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Port Gamble S’Klallams Concerned About Dosewallips State Park Expansion

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe is concerned about impacts to tribal hunting rights if Washington State expands Dosewallips State Park by 1,300 acres, as recently proposed. Point No Point Treaty Council biologist Tim Cullinan explains tribal concerns in this article published by the Kitsap Sun recently. The Point No Point Treaty Council provides natural resources management services to its member tribes, the Jamestown S’Klallam and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes.

From the article: (more…)

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Court’s Ruling Ignores Makah Treaty Right

January 16, 2003

It’s just plain wrong.

In response to yet another suit from an animal rights group, a three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that requirements of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act take precedence over the tribe’s treaty-reserved right to hunt whales. “We conclude that the MMPA must apply to the Tribe, just as it would apply to any other person,” the judges wrote.

The U.S. Constitution clearly states that treaties are “the supreme law of the land.” Even the Marine Mammal Protection Act itself addresses the question of tribal treaty rights: “nothing in this act…alters or is intended to alter any treaty between the U.S. and one or more Indian tribes.”

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