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* The Defense Department also impacts the treaty 

 fishery through its regulation of shoreline development 

 and underwater dredging in the Army Corps of Engineers. 

 Both activities have an immediate impact on fishery 

 habitats and the ability of tribal fishers to gain access 

 to the resource through marinas and boat ramps. The 

 Corps's regulation of wetland management and development, 

 in particular, significantly and directly impacts tribal 

 lands. 



* The Department of Agriculture contains the US Forest 

 Service, which directly affects inland fish and game 

 resources, but also affects the Great Lakes treaty fishery 

 through its boat access ramp policies. More 

 significantly, the Department establishes toxin levels for 

 fish sold for human consumption and has enforcement powers 

 to prohibit the sale of contaminated fish. 



* The Environmental Protection Agency regulates both 

 directly and indirectly the air and water pollutants which 

 impact on the Great Lakes fishery. Although discharge 

 permits are generally handled by state agencies under 

 approved plans, the EPA sets the standards. 



* The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licenses 

 power plants which, when sited on the Great Lakes 

 shoreline or tributary streams, adversely impact fishery 

 habitat. 



Recommendation No. 2 . It is essential for adequate protection 

 by the United States of the trust resources that all 

 federal agencies and departments have that mandate and 

 responsibility expressly declared in federal law. 



Tribes have fought long and hard to establish their right 

 to manage, preserve and enhance their natural resources. 

 Limiting COTFMA's comments to of f -Reservation trust 

 resources, tribal self -regulatory capacity has been a 

 legal precondition for excluding States from regulating 

 tribal member harvesting activities. That capacity is in 

 the areas of biological assessment and monitoring, harvest 

 regulations, and enforcement systems. These systems are 

 not self-supporting, and have required financial support 

 from the Congress in order to function; the annual 

 appropriations process includes funds earmarked for 

 inter-tribal natural resource management programs. COTFMA 

 itself receives its base budget from Congress to carry out 

 its functions. 



What Congress gives, however. Congress can also take away. 

 Tribal self-regulation (to the exclusion of State 

 regulation) is hostage to the federal budget process. It 

 is within Congress's power to end tribal self-regulatory 

 capacity simply by reducing the funds necessary for 



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