If the state would get the word out that tribe members aren’t subject to state or local fishing regulations, there wouldn’t be any ugly scenes like the one last fall between a Mashpee Wampanoag clam digger and a Town of Mattapoisett shellfish warden challenging him for using an outsized quahog basket. The confrontation between tribe member David Greene and the town official ended in shouting and pushing, with Greene saying in a suit filed last month that the official and the town had violated his right to fish as he pleased.
Greene would know. Twelve years ago, state courts overturned his previous conviction for a shellfishing violation in Bourne. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed that tribe members had a right to fish predating the arrival of European settlers.
Letting Native Americans follow tribal fishing rituals does not put a crimp on others. Tribes have agreed to limit their catch of some species, and most of the time their fishing makes only a dent in the overall catch. It’s also the law, whether local wardens like it or not. The state Department of Fish and Game should make this clear in an official notification to all state and local wildlife wardens.
