Opinion ID: 751395
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Post-Treaty Developments

Text: 12 In the years immediately following the Treaties, the Indians harvested the majority of the shellfish resource. In 1879, however, the territorial legislature passed a law that, for the first time, allowed citizens the exclusive right to use and harvest natural oyster beds. Shellfish I, 873 F.Supp. at 1440. Washington became a state in 1889, and in 1895 it passed legislation (the 'Bush' and 'Callow' Acts) for private purchase of tidelands, even when those tidelands contained natural shellfish beds. Id. Since that time, the State has sold off the vast majority of its tidelands to private owners. Id. at 1439. 13 Uncontradicted evidence at trial showed that native shellfish populations have declined dramatically and have been replaced to a large extent by foreign species introduced into the area after the Treaties. For example, native littleneck clams have been replaced by the introduced species, manila clams, which comprised over eighty percent of the total clam harvest in the Puget Sound from 1988-90. This litigation-initiated by the Tribes and United States-is the consequence of the increasing competition for, and depletion of, the shellfish resource.