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the United States, the State of Michigan and the Province 

 of Ontario, and represents COTFMA on such bodies as the 

 Great Lakes Fish Commission and its Lake Committees. The 

 Grand Traverse Band employs biological expertise for 

 management of the fishery resource contained in Grand 

 Traverse Bay, pursuant to a separate P.L. 93-638 contract. 

 Access site identification, acquisition and development is 

 conducted by staff employed by COTFMA under its master 

 contract. 



COTFMA 's master contract also includes central staff to 

 coordinate and facilitate the conduct of the self- 

 regulation functions described above. The contract also 

 provides financial support for Board members, who meet 

 monthly to conduct business. 



An integral element of the fishery management task for the 

 COTFMA member tribes is their participation in the 

 Executive Council, established by the 1985 federal court 

 order to facilitate resolution of disputes concerning 

 fisheries enhancement, fishing access, user competition 

 for available resources, and fishing regulation. That 

 body is composed of the tribal chairs of the member 

 tribes, along with a representative of the Michigan DNR 

 and of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Council 

 is required to undertake all actions unanimously, and must 

 meet quarterly. The Council has no budget of its own, and 

 receives administrative support from COTFMA staff. The 

 Council's effectiveness is primarily as an information- 

 sharing opportunity, as the unanimity requirement hinders 

 it from taking any stand regarding controversial matters — 

 and most matters confronting the Great Lakes fisheries 

 resources are controversial. 



Treaty Fishery Management 



At first glance, it would appear that management of the 

 tribal fishery is completely a matter of fisheries 

 science, relating to the assessment of fish stocks over 

 time and designing regulations to ensure harvestable 

 surpluses over time. Any fishery manager would add the 

 other elements of management which are not biological, 

 meaning the politics of resource management are integral 

 and sometimes obstructive of good policy implementation. 



Off-Reservation treaty natural resources are generally 

 shared with other users. No court has ever indicated that 

 the tribes' rights to resources are exclusive (although 

 there has been dicta to that effect) . In practice this 

 has meant that allocation of harvest opportunity has been 

 the biggest element of day-to-day management — who fishes 

 where, when, and with what amount of gear. Such 

 management decisions are only effective in the absence of 



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