197 



management functions they choose to undertake by contract. 

 This determination is made by a six-member Board of 

 Directors, comprised of the Chairpersons of the member 

 Tribes and the Conservation Committee Chairpersons of each 

 of the member Tribes, Serving ex officio on the Board are 

 a representative of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a 

 representative of the Fish and Wildlife Service. 



Before turning to the description of the components of the 

 COTFMA areas of responsibility, it is important to outline 

 the scope of the rights reserved under the Treaty of 1836. 

 The signatory Tribes not only reserved the right to catch 

 the fish found in the Treaty-ceded waters, but also 

 reserved the right to regulate the manner and means by 

 which their members would undertake that harvest. United 

 States V. Michigan, supra, 471 F. Supp. at 273-274. This 

 component is termed "effective Indian tribal self- 

 regulation" by the appellate court in United States v. 

 Michigan, supra, 653 F.2d at 279. Effective 



self-regulation is not limited to the legislative function 

 of rule promulgation; it also includes the enforcement of 

 those regulations through the detection of violations of 

 the Tribes' regulations (conservation wardens) and the 

 adjudication of the resultant citations (conservation 

 court) . United States v. Michigan, supra, 471 F. Supp. at 

 273. 



The rights guaranteed by treaty are meaningless, however, 

 in the absence of a viable fishery. Whether termed an 

 element of the treaty right, itself, or as an 

 implementation of court orders regarding the treaty 

 fishery, the Tribes must conduct fishery assessment and 

 enhancement activities in order to protect the resource 

 from irreversible harm. This is the element of tribal 

 self -regulation termed "management." For the COTFMA- 

 member tribes, management functions have been shared with 

 the State of Michigan and the United States by the 1985 

 court decree. Further, as the court recognized in its 

 decree, access to the resource is essential in order to 

 harvest its bounty; significant amounts of money and 

 personnel have been expended in locating and developing 

 docking sites and ramps for tribal fishing boats. 



Effective tribal self-regulation in the United States v. 

 Michigan case area consists of the following elements: 



1. Enactment of conservation-based regulations 

 governing the manner and means by which tribal members may 

 exercise the right to fish in ceded waters; 



2. Staffing of conservation enforcement departments; 



3. Establishment of adjudicatory bodies to determine 

 the existence of violations of the fishing regulations; 



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