Court Opinion

ID: 9856001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:36:06.065284+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:24.860378
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in all of the majority opinion except the latter part thereof wherein the majority opinion makes the fishing regulation inapplicable to Indians. That regulation prohibited the taking of salmon from the spawning beds in the upper reaches of the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. The majority opinion argues that the state should have offered a justification or explanation of the regulation. Numerous cases are cited for that proposition. I do not believe those cases are controlling in the case at bar.
The late case of Puyallup Tribe v. Department of Game of Washington, 391 U.S. 392, 88 S.Ct. 1725, 20 L.Ed.2d 689 (1968) affirmed the ability of the state to regulate fishing consistent with the interests of conservation although the Indian Tribe therein had been granted a Treaty right to fish at all “usual and accustomed places.” In that case the state had prohibited the netting of fish at the mouths of fresh water streams. The reason stated therefor by the Court was that the salmon are milling and delaying, and especially in times of low water or early arrival of the run or for any number of reasons the delay may be considerable. The entire run is funneled into a small area and is very vulnerable. The *771court in Puyallup left unanswered the question whether the prohibition of the use of set nets in fresh waters was a reasonable and necessary conservation measure.
In Tulee v. Washington, 315 U.S. 681, 62 S.Ct. 862, 86 L.Ed. 1115, the defendant was convicted only of failure to obtain a fishing license. Therein the court held that there was no necessary relation between conservation and the ability of the state to require an Indian, otherwise privileged to fish because of Treaty rights, to pay a fishing license fee. The court therein said:
“We think the state’s construction of the treaty is too narrow and the appellant’s too broad; that while the treaty leaves the state wth power to impose on Indians equally with others such restrictions of a purely regulatory nature concerning the time and manner of fishing outside the reservation as are necessary for the conservation of fish, it forecloses the state from charging the Indians a fee of the kind in question here.”
In Sohappy v. Smith, 302 F.Supp. 899 (1969) it is stated:
“It is clear that the state has the full and complete power to regulate all kinds of fishing, including the Indian fishery, to the end that the resource is preserved.”
In Maison v. Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation, 314 F.2d 169 (1963) the life cycle of the salmon and steelhead fish is explained. The court stated:
“In traveling upstream to spawn many debilitating hardships are encountered, including natural predators, disease and water pollution. By the time they reach the spawning ground, the body oils of the fish are practically used up, and they are often cut, bruised, diseased, and afflicted with fungus growths.”
The court noted that fish on the spawning grounds have the highest value as seed stock but the lowest value for food. The court further stated:
“Thompson’s testimony, to the effect that unrestricted fishing of sufficient industry could exhaust the spawning beds, is a proposition about which there can be no quarrel.”
The court then went on to note, however, that the regulation contested therein which prohibited all fishing on tributaries of the Columbia and Snake Rivers during a certain part of the year did not reasonably relate to a protection of the spawning grounds.
I think this court may further take judicial notice of the laws of nature regarding the habits and life cycle of the anadromous fish. Such fish are spawned in the upper reaches of fresh water streams. They thereafter migrate downstream and spend the majority of their remaining life in the ocean. Just before death they return to the place where they were spawned and themselves carry out the spawning process wherein the eggs are deposited by the female and fertilized by the male. They thereafter do not return to the sea but die on or near their spawning grounds. Following spawning they rapidly deteriorate, becoming foul, diseased and much emaciated. See: Encyclopedia Britannica (1947 Ed.); The Encyclopedia Americana (1940 Ed.). Absent this spawning process, the migration of anadromous fish of a particular stream will cease.
I, therefore, in light of all of the above, disagree with the position of the majority opinion that state fishing regulations prohibiting the taking of fish on the spawning beds is void when applied to an Indian in the absence of “justification” or explanation.” I believe that the need and policy enunciated by our statutes toward the preservation of our fishery resource is clearly carried out by the regulation questioned herein. While I agree that because of Treaty rights certain Indians possess broader authority to take fish and game than do non-Indians, nevertheless as enunciated by the United States Supreme Court the state possesses authority to regulate its fish and game resources for the purpose of reasonable conservation of that resource to the end that those who follow after us may *772similarly enjoy those resources. The facts enunciated in this case and a desirable conservation policy clearly demonstrate to me the error contained in the latter part of the majority opinion.
In my judgment, allowing the unrestricted taking of salmon at the spawning beds will tend to eliminate the species. Such a result is harmful to all, Indian and non-Indian. As above stated the fish at that time are highly necessary for seed but of the poorest food value. The fact that they will die in any event does not change the absolute necessity of their spawning during their last days of life if the species is to be continued.