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by the Congress. This presents continuing and numerous 

 incentives for initiating further litigation — as court 

 decisions are subject to differing interpretations as to 

 their application to new factual situations. Litigation 

 is a burden, too often borne by the least able to do so — 

 the Tribes. 



When it is the United States which is asked to file suit 

 on behalf of a tribe for protection of its trust property 

 (fish and game, for example) , there again exists many view 

 points within the various offices in the Departments of 

 the Interior and Justice as to what position the United 

 States should adopt in carrying out its trust 

 responsibility. This places the Tribes at the risk of 

 losing trust property to an inter-agency decision-making 

 process. 



Recommendation No. 1 . Therefore the Congress must enact 

 comprehensive legislation which describes the nature and 

 scope of the trust responsibility of the United States to 

 protect and enhance tribal trust natural resources, 

 wherever such may be located. 



The scope of the federal government's trust responsibility 

 to protect tribal natural resources has usually been 

 limited in practice to the U.S. Department of the 

 Interior. However, many other Departments and agencies 

 have programmatic responsibility to regulate conduct which 

 has direct and substantial impact on tribal trust 

 resources. The list which follows is not intended to be 

 comprehensive, but certainly illustrates the extent to 

 which the federal government as a whole is seriously 

 deficient in protecting tribal trust property: 



* The State Department has a significant role in 

 shaping U.S. participation in international regulatory/ 

 informational/ management entities such as the Great Lakes 

 Fisheries Commission. The responsibility for control of 

 the parasitic sea lamprey, which continues to threaten 

 the Great Lakes fisheries, lies within this Department. 



* The Commerce Department includes the U.S. Coast 

 Guard, which establishes regulations concerning shipping 

 and navigation in the Great Lakes. Such matters as oil 

 spill control, ballast/ bilge discharges of non- 

 indegenous organisms, (SEE, the Non-Indigenous Aguatic 

 Nuisance Control and Prevention Act) and safety regulation 

 of vessels directly affect the health of the treaty 

 fishery and the manner in which tribal fishermen may 

 harvest the resource. NOAA regulations have a similar 

 impact on the Great Lakes treaty fishery. 



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