The Spearfishing Issue

I've just returned home from a two-week vacation in Spain, which is why Spearback Saturday falls on a Sunday this week. It also explains why my last two cartoons were curiously divorced from current events: they were drawn back when only moderate amounts of political shit were hitting the fan.

So anyway. In commemoration of Indigenous Americans Day this week, here are some of my cartoons about a local controversy coming to a head thirty years ago: spear fishing by members of the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Nation.

in the Journal Times, Racine, Wisconsin, May 1989

When the Ojibwe signed treaties with the United States federal government ceding away their land in 1837 and 1842, those treaties guaranteed the Ojibwes' continued right to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice and maple sap on those lands. In 1854, however, the state of Wisconsin began regulating hunting and fishing by both immigrant and Native Americans here. Ignoring federal precedent, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided in 1908 that since those treaties signed before Wisconsin became a state in 1848, Wisconsin was not bound by either one.

in Journal Times, Racine, Wis., March 18, 1988. Note: The Ojibwe did not wear such headdresses.

In 1940, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the Ojibwe were free to fish and hunt as they pleased, but only on their reservation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that Wisconsin had to abide by U.S. treaties with the Ojibwe and could not regulate their hunting and fishing rights on or off the reservation.

in NorthCountry Journal, Poynette, Wis., August, 1987

Groups calling themselves Protect Americans' Rights and Resources (PARR) and the more militant Stop Treaty Abuse (STA), fancying that the Ojibwe weren't leaving any fish for paleface sportsmen, protested against the Ojibwe practice of springtime spearfishing at night. Traditionally, the Ojibwe had used torches to attract walleye and other fish; the modern-day Ojibwe used flashlights.

Large crowds gathered at boat landings to shout obscenities and ethnic slurs, and to hurl rocks and bottles at Ojibwe fishermen. In some cases, shots were fired; some whites used large motor boats to capsize Ojibwe boats in their wake. 1989 would be the peak year for violent incidents.

in UW-M Post, Milwaukee, Wis., October 3, 1989

Republican Tommy Thompson had campaigned for Governor of Wisconsin in 1986 promising to abrogate Ojibwe Treaty rights; Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI; just announced his retirement this year) introduced legislation in Congress toward the same end. Neither the courts, congressional leadership, nor the Bush administration were open to the idea.

in Journal Times, Racine, Wis., November 8, 1989

Thirty years later, Ojibwe spearfishing continues. Leaders of the anti-spearfishing groups grouse that the opening day of hook-and-line season ain't what it used to be, but overall, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources finds PARR-STA fears not to be supported by the facts.

“What we have seen over the last 20 years is that angler-catch rates, the number of walleye caught per hour fishing, have been stable,” said Joseph Hennessy, the DNR’s treaty fishing coordinator. “People have been as successful as they ever have been. Walleye populations remain strong in lakes with good natural reproduction.”