PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - With the elvers season drawing near, Maine officials and the Passamaquoddy tribe moved closer Wednesday to an agreement on how to meet conservation goals for the lucrative fishery.
An agreement announced during a Marine Resources Committee meeting in Augusta called for Passamaquoddies to limit their elvers catch to 1,650 pounds and to limit fishermen to dip nets instead of funnel-shaped nets. Tribal fishermen would be required to use electronic swipe cards when they sell their catch.
Both sides heralded the deal as a step forward, but it was ultimately tabled because of constitutionality concerns raised by the attorney general’s office.
“I think we can work it out. It’s just going to take some time,” said Clayton Sockabasin, vice chief of the Passamaquoddies at Indian Township. “There’s more work to do.”
The proposal aimed to amend a bill that raised concerns about tribal sovereignty. The original proposal would have invalidated tribal elver fishing licenses unless they’re approved by the state.
Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher said an agreement with the tribe must be reached before the season opens in March to avoid emergency action by federal regulators.
“That ultimately is the final goal that we’ve got to achieve if we’re not going to lose a $40 million fishery,” he told lawmakers.
The value of elvers last year was second only to lobster, and the state is being required to reduce the catch to avoid emergency action by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
The problem with the agreement, according to the attorney general’s office, was that allowing the state to set individual quotas and penalties while allowing Passamaquoddies to set a tribal quota with different penalties could run afoul of the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Michael-Corey Francis Hinton, a tribal member at Pleasant Point and a lawyer who has been working on the fishery issue, said that the equal protection clause doesn’t apply because the tribe, as a federally recognized sovereign government, represents a different political class that can negotiate its own agreements with the state.
Before the meeting, the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission urged the state and tribes to work together to meet fishery conservation goals without harming tribal rights.
Commission Chairwoman Jamie Bissonette Lewey said the state should have been negotiating in the first place instead of submitting emergency legislation to deal with the problem.
“These saltwater fishing rights can’t be extinguished by state legislation, so there needs to be dedicated negotiation and consultation with the tribes on co-management issues,” she said.
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