Opinion ID: 359936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: background applicable to all appeals.

Text: 3 All of these cases arise from the efforts of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington to enforce its decree in United States v. Washington, W.D.Wash., 1974, 384 F.Supp. 312, Aff'd, 9 Cir. 1975, 520 F.2d 676, Cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1086, 96 S.Ct. 877, 47 L.Ed.2d 97. The district court, finding its decree opposed and frustrated by the executive and judicial departments of the State of Washington, and by the organized and vocal defiance of the commercial fishermen in the State of Washington, felt compelled to implement its judgment by the issuance of an injunction. That injunction regulates fishing for salmon in Puget Sound and certain other areas by non-Indian (non-treaty) commercial fishermen for the purpose of assuring to Indian (treaty) fishermen the opportunity to catch their share of salmon as determined in the court's original judgment. 4 The court's injunction, issued September 27, 1977, provides in material part: 5 1. All Puget Sound and other marine waters easterly of Donilla Point-Tatoosh line and their watersheds, all Olympic Peninsula watersheds, and all Grays Harbor and its watersheds are hereby closed to all net salmon fishing except during such times and such specific waters as are opened by State or tribal regulations or regulations of the United States conforming to the orders of this Court in this case. 6 2. All reef net, gill net and purse seine fishermen licensed by the State of Washington, all other persons who attempt to net or assist in netting salmon in the waters described in paragraph 1, the Puget Sound Gillnetters Association, the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association, the Grays Harbor Gillnetters Association and all persons in active concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and prohibited from engaging in taking, possessing, or selling salmon of any species taken from such waters, unless such person has first ascertained from the Washington Department of Fisheries telephone hot-line, 1-800-562-5672 or 1-800-562-5673, that the area to be fished is open for fishing by non-treaty fishermen at the time the individual intends to fish, Provided, that this provision shall not apply to persons exercising treaty fishing rights in accordance with the orders of this Court. 7 3. The defendant State of Washington is directed to maintain a continuous telephone hot-line service free of charge to any caller from within the State of Washington to provide information on areas within the waters described in paragraph 1 of this order that are open to net salmon fishing by non-treaty fishermen in conformity with the orders of this Court. The defendant shall furnish to this Court and to the United States Attorney a transcript of the daily hot-line messages. 8 In Puget Sound Gillnetters Association v. United States District Court, 9 Cir., 1978, 573 F.2d 1123, the Gillnetters Association, by petition for a writ of mandamus, and the State of Washington, by appeal, attacked this injunction. We upheld it against all of the attacks there presented to us. 9 The cases now at bar arise from the attempts of the United States to enforce the injunction by means of criminal contempt proceedings. In each case, the appellant, a commercial fisherman, was found fishing for salmon by the use of a gill net, in an area which, at the time, had been declared to be closed on the hot-line mentioned in the injunction. Each appellant had been previously found in an area similarly declared to be closed and had then been personally served with a copy of the injunction and told that he must comply with paragraph 2. Each was charged, in an order to show cause procured by the United States attorney and signed by the judge, with violating 18 U.S.C. § 401(3), found guilty in a trial to the court, and sentenced to 60 days in jail. Each is free on personal recognizance. 10 With the foregoing as background, we proceed to consider the appeals that are before us. We consider the appeals in the chronological order in which the convictions occurred. 11