195 



Testimony of Faith McGruther, Executive Director 

 Chippewa-Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority 



COTFMA Organization and Functions 



The Chippewa-Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority 

 (COTFMA) is an inter-tribal entity formed by its member 

 tribes as a result of many years of litigation with the 

 State of Michigan over the scope and extent of the right 

 to fish in Michigan waters of the Great Lakes. 



Created in 1981 by inter-tribal agreement by the Bay Mills 

 Indian Community, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa 

 Indians, and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa /Chippewa, 

 COTFMA was delegated the responsibility of "regulating the 

 fishing activity by members of the Tribes". 



Fishing in the Great Lakes waters is guaranteed to the 

 constituent Tribes by the Treaty of March 28, 1836 (7 

 Stat. 491) . Litigation with the State concerning the 

 continued existence of this right, and the State's ability 

 to regulate member fishing, proceeded simultaneously in 

 State and federal courts in the 1970 's. The first 

 decision on these issues was announced by the Michigan 

 Supreme Court in People v. LeBlanc , 399 Mich. 31, 248 

 N.W.2d 199 (1976). The Court recognized the paramount 

 status of the treaty right, and established standards for 

 permissible State regulation of treaty-protected fishing. 



Back in 1976, two Tribes were recognized as governments by 

 the United States — the Bay Mills Indian Community and the 

 Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Both Tribes 

 had instituted conservation regulations applicable to 

 their members' fishing activities in ceded waters. [See, 

 for example. Conservation Code of the Bay Mills Indian 

 Community (1973)]. Only tribal regulations applied to 

 treaty fishers, as the State's regulations could not meet 

 the standard required in LeBlanc. 



In 1979, the federal court affirmed the LeBlanc holdings 

 regarding the viability of the 1836 Treaty's usufructuary 

 rights and went so far as to find State regulation of any 

 kind to be invalid as a matter of law. United States v. 

 Michigan, 471 F. Supp. 192 (W.D. Mich. 1979) Federal 

 regulations were promulgated in 1979 under then 25 C.F.R. 

 Part 256 (now Part 249) , which were withdrawn the 

 following year. State efforts to regulate tribal 

 commercial fishing activities were rejected by the Sixth 

 Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Michigan, 653 

 F.2d 277 (6th Cir. 1981), cert, denied, 454 U.S. 1124 

 (1981) in favor of the tribal fishing regulations enacted 

 by the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Sault Ste. Marie 

 Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and the newly-f ederally 

 recognized Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa/Chippewa. 



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