This week in history

February 12, 1974, Federal Judge George Boldt, issues a historic ruling reaffirming the rights of Western Washington’s Indian tribes to fish in accustomed places. The ruling allocated 50 percent of annual catch to treaty tribes. The ruling caused outrage among non-Indian fishermen.

Western Washington tribes had been assured the right to fish at “usual and accustomed grounds and stations” by Federal treaties signed in 1854 and 1855. Over several decades the ever-growing numbers of Euro-American fishermen heavily fished those “accustomed area” and had regulatory muscle of the state behind them. Tribes had been displaced, that changed with the Boldt decision.

Source(s): Washington State Courts

Compiled by Bob Valen