HUNTING AND FISHING RIGHTS

A current major issue arising from the limitations on state authority due to quasi-tribal sovereignty is the hunting and fishing rights controversy in the Northwest. It is well settled that a state cannot enforce its game and fish laws within the boundaries of an Indian reservation. (31) However, the issue of state control over on-reservation hunting and fishing should be distinguished from the question of the extent to which treaty rights prohibit states from interfering with hunting and fishing by Indians off reservations. In a confusing decision, the United States Supreme Court recently held that treaty rights to "fish at all usual and accustomed places" may not be qualified by a state, but that the exercise of such rights is subject to reasonable state conservation legislation. (32)

NOTES:
31) Pioneer Packing Company v. Winslow, 159 Wash. 655, 294, p. 557.
32) Puyallup Tribe v. Department of Game, 391 U.S. 392 (1970).

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