Subsistence News-4/28/95

To   Subsistence 2

From:      Larry Roberts:R10F02A

Postmark:  Apr 28,95  7:36 AM          Delivered: Apr 28,95 10:01 AM

Status:    Previously read

Subject: Subsistence News-4/28/95

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Message:

*The 9th Circuit Court ruling in the Katie John v. U.S. lawsuit found that the federal government can protect rural Alaskans subsistence fishing rights on waters passing through federal land within Alaska.

*The court “rejected” an even broader interpretation by U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland, who declared all navigable waters in Alaska to be under federal protection for the subsistence fishing needs of Alaska’s rural residents.

*The 9th Circuit Court ruling has left some important decisions to be made by federal land managers. An example would be whether to protect entire river systems, like the Yukon and Copper Rivers, because the river mouth contains a federal fish and wildlife refuge.

*Recently the Alaska State Appeals Court ruled that the state criminal trespass laws cannot restrict Alaska Natives who hunt walrus at the southwest Alaska wildlife refuge of Round Island. The Marine Mammal Protection Act expressly exempts Alaska Natives from the law. Hunting of marine mammals by non-Natives is illegal under federal law.

*The precedent setting state court ruling on walrus hunting could clear the way for subsistence harvests beyond the October season recently approved by the state Board of Game.