{"id":22602,"date":"2022-04-04T00:15:49","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T04:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=22602"},"modified":"2022-04-04T00:22:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T04:22:28","slug":"underscore-news-tribal-citizens-battle-state-over-treaty-fishing-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/04\/04\/underscore-news-tribal-citizens-battle-state-over-treaty-fishing-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Underscore.news: Tribal citizens battle state over treaty fishing rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Anthony<\/a>
Anthony Paul’s boat. Photo courtesy Gabe Galanda<\/figcaption>\r\n\r\n
Tribal Leaders in Washington Allege State Intentionally Ignores Treaty Rights<\/div>\r\n
After a judge dismissed charges of shellfish trafficking on treaty grounds, tribes and treaty rights organizations say the case exemplifies how Washington officials are working to undermine treaty fishing rights and agreements, which the state denies. <\/strong><\/div>\r\n
Monday, April 4, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Chris Aadland<\/div>\r\n
Underscore.news<\/a> and Indian Country Today<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThis story originally appeared on Underscore.news<\/a>.<\/strong>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn 2015, the state of Washington began investigating two enrolled members of the Tulalip Tribes for alleged illegal shellfish trafficking. More than six years later, the charges have been dismissed but the men\u2019s fish-buying business is shuttered, and they say broader concerns of state interference in tribal sovereignty remain unaddressed.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) investigation into Hazen Shopbell and Anthony Paul, who owned one of Puget Sound\u2019s largest fish-buying operations, came amid complaints from non-Indigenous fish buyers about loss of business due to an alleged monopoly involving tribal fishers. While the resulting criminal charges didn\u2019t produce any convictions, Shopbell and Paul say the ordeal led to the collapse of their business and ended a period of fairer prices for the crab and fish caught by Indigenous people. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe case officially concluded last month after Skagit County and state prosecutors declined to appeal a judge\u2019s ruling dismissing the charges on treaty rights grounds. Now, tribal governments and treaty rights organizations in Washington are drawing attention to the case as an example of how, they say, the state isn\u2019t fully respecting tribal sovereignty. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nShopbell said he is relieved that the prosecution is over, but, like others, he worries that he won’t be the last example of Washington officials and agencies interfering with tribal citizens who want to exercise treaty rights. And despite the saga\u2019s consequences for him, he believes his case has at least raised awareness about the issue. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cI\u2019m grateful it\u2019s over,\u201d Shopbell said, before adding: \u201cThe way I see it, I think it’s just the beginning.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWashington tribes and treaty rights advocates say the concerns over treaty fishing and shellfishing rights are longstanding, arguing that WDFW and other state officials have resisted court rulings, like the landmark 1970s Boldt Decision<\/a> in the case of U.S. v. Washington<\/em><\/a>. That ruling upheld treaty fishing rights and guaranteed co-management of state fisheries with tribes.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWDFW said its investigation of Shopbell and Paul was proper and didn\u2019t violate tribal sovereignty, and that larger concerns about hostility toward treaty rights are unfounded. Still, treaty rights organizations, tribes and others are pressing state leaders to address their concerns.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nNot addressing those issues, said Gabe Galanda, a Seattle tribal rights attorney who represented Shopbell in the criminal case and Paul in a related civil case, could mean Indigenous people interested in starting a similar business may be discouraged from doing so out of fears of legal action. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThey’re afraid they will be the next to be persecuted and prosecuted,\u201d he said. \u201cThe status quo has been restored as it was before.\u201d\r\n

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\u2018I\u2019ll Give My Life for This\u2019<\/div>\r\nMany Washington tribes signed treaties with the federal government in the 1850s that guaranteed their rights to fish and hunt in their traditional homelands. The state of Washington\u2019s refusal to recognize those rights led to the \u201cFish Wars\u201d of the 1960s and 1970s<\/a>. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nThen, in 1974, a federal judge affirmed those treaty rights in the Boldt Decision. That ruling recognized the tribes as co-managers of the state\u2019s fisheries and guaranteed tribes half of the harvestable catch in Washington. Subsequent court rulings reinforced those rights or expanded them to shellfish, for example. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nWhen WDFW launched its investigation in 2015, Shopbell and Paul owned and operated a multi-million-dollar wholesale seafood distribution company, Puget Sound Seafood Distributors. The business had become one of the state\u2019s largest wholesale seafood distributors by offering higher prices to Indigenous fishers for their catches, helping to corner the Coast Salish market.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nShopbell said he first got the idea to start a business like the one he operated with Paul after hearing complaints from family members and other tribal members about getting low prices for their catches.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThat, according to Galanda, didn\u2019t sit well with non-Indigenous businesses, who complained to WDFW about an allegedly illegal monopoly. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nThose complaints became part of a WDFW investigation in 2015 that would eventually lead to felony charges in Skagit County for Shopbell and Paul for illegal trafficking of bait. WDFW had already presented the same charges to several other counties<\/a>, which declined to prosecute. A judge would later say he was troubled by WDFW \u201cshopping the prosecution\u201d to those counties<\/a>. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn 2019, the Skagit County Superior Court dismissed the trafficking charges after a judge said WDFW had seized evidence \u2014 bait clams \u2014 without a warrant and then failed to properly preserve it, while acknowledging \u2014 but without issuing a ruling \u2014 that the two men had a treaty rights defense. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nAfter an appeal from Skagit County prosecutors, a state appeals court returned the case to the lower court, saying the judge had to determine whether fish and wildlife agents acted in bad faith during the investigation.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nLate last year, the Skagit County court dismissed the charges, saying the state didn\u2019t have jurisdiction in the matter in the first place. The case formally came to an end last month, when Skagit County prosecutors declined to appeal the ruling. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\"Anthony<\/a>

From left: Anthony Paul, Hazen Shopbell and Gabe Galanda. Photo courtesy Gabe Galanda<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nA concurrent prosecution of Paul and three other men for shellfish trafficking in Pierce County was also dismissed in 2018 after the prosecutor revealed that WDFW had withheld vital information from the prosecutor\u2019s office that \u201cwould be a complete defense in this case,\u201d according to the prosecutor\u2019s dismissal memo. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nWDFW\u2019s arrests also led to a federal civil rights lawsuit from Shopbell and Paul. Some of the claims were dismissed because WDFW had immunity from the lawsuit, but last year the agency settled claims of wrongful arrest of the two men for $50,000.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nGalanda, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, said he\u2019s represented Indigenous clients in the past who faced WDFW investigations and potential prosecution. In those cases, he said, clients made deals with the state to settle their cases in order to get their property back and move on with their lives, often because they didn\u2019t have the resources for a drawn-out legal fight. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nThat kept the issue from gaining widespread attention, he said. But Shopbell and Paul were different because they decided to fight the charges, which helped highlight how WDFW interferes in tribal treaty rights, Galanda said. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nShopbell said \u201cthere was no settling with me\u201d and that he intended to fight the case to the end no matter what the consequences could be. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThese guys have been coming after us for years, decades,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ll give my life for this. That’s how much it meant to me.\u201d\r\n

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Pressing for Answers<\/div>\r\nTo Shopbell, his case illustrates how Washington officials haven\u2019t moved on from fighting against treaty rights in the Fish Wars of the 1960s and 70s. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nOthers are expressing similar concerns. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn late January, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), an organization with 57 member tribes that advocates for tribal interests in the region, passed a resolution<\/a> during its winter conference calling on Washington Gov. Jay Inslee or state Attorney General Bob Ferguson to investigate WDFW for potential violations of law or policy stemming from its investigation of Shopbell and Paul. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe organization also called for WDFW to disclose the cost associated with the investigation and prosecution, as well as a moratorium on WDFW impounding tribal citizen boats or vehicles taken on treaty lands or waters. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn a response to questions from a reporter, a Ferguson spokesperson provided a Feb. 17 letter to ATNI responding to its resolution. The letter didn\u2019t say whether it would investigate itself or WDFW, as ATNI requested, but indicated that Ferguson didn\u2019t believe his office had violated any laws or policies. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cI look forward to working with you on these and other issues,\u201d Ferguson said in his letter. \u201cI strive to be a strong partner with Indian Country, and fully support the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians\u2019 efforts to support tribal self-determination.\u201d\r\n

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State Court Dismisses Charges Against Hazen Shopbell, Anthony Paul On Treaty\u00a0Grounds https:\/\/t.co\/5Rt4OaqkPt<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nThe ATNI resolution followed an October letter from the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission to WDFW that raised concerns about \u201cdiscriminatory or illegal enforcement actions against tribal members in treaty territories and waters,\u201d where tribal governments have the primary fisheries enforcement authority over Indigenous treaty fishers. The Tulalip Tribes have also protested the charges through letters to state officials. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cFrom our standpoint, it appears WDFW is focusing its enforcement efforts against tribal members who typically do not have the resources to defend themselves,\u201d the letter from NWIFC Executive Director Justin Parker said. \u201cWDFW is violating treaties and federal, state, and tribal laws in the process. That is no way to co-manage our fisheries resources.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nA WDFW spokesperson provided a letter it sent to NWIFC denying allegations that it intentionally targets tribal citizens for investigations or that it works to undermine treaty rights or tribal sovereignty. In the October 28 letter, WDFW Director Kelly Susewind said it was inappropriate for NWIFC to write a letter that he alleged appeared to have been intended to influence the court case against Shopbell and Paul. He added that his agency and tribal fisheries and natural resource agencies have been increasingly working together on enforcement issues. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThe empty allegations in your letter appear to be designed to discredit these gains and are counterproductive to fostering cooperation between co-managers,\u201d Susewind said.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nSusewind also said WDFW disagreed with the court\u2019s ruling and Skagit County\u2019s decision not to appeal. Moreover, he said the agency believed the state had jurisdiction in the matter and that Paul and Shopbell\u2019s treaty rights were improperly applied. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nMike Faulk, a spokesman for Gov. Inslee, said his office hadn\u2019t seen the ATNI resolution but that the governor was aware of the \u201ccomplex and lengthy cases.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe expect and will continue to encourage the (WDFW) to operate in a professional, fair and respectful manner,\u201d he said. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nWhile it\u2019s unclear if the appeals from groups like ATNI and NWIFC will result in an investigation or broader changes, Galanda said the result of Paul and Shopbell\u2019s case and attention from it might make WDFW more hesitant to pursue cases against tribal citizens that interfere with tribal sovereignty. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThey might think twice about further violating treaty fishing and territorial rights,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that doesn’t mean that they won’t come back and do that again.\u201d\r\n

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