Tribal Fishery

Certain areas in the U.S. waters of lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are designated for fishing by federally recognized Native American tribes through treaties negotiated in the early 1800s. In addition, members of First Nations in Ontario are involved in fishing operations. Five tribes in Michigan form the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, which provides management for their treaty waters and fisheries under a 20-year consent decree issued in 2000. Thirteen sovereign tribes of Ojibwa (Anishinabeg) Indians — six in Wisconsin, four in Minnesota, and three in Michigan — participate in the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).

GLIFWC was organized to coordinate the implementation of treaty rights to fish, hunt and gather in their treaty-ceded territories and to represent tribal interests in natural resources management. Species targeted by tribal fishing operations in U.S. waters include lake whitefish, late trout, siscowet (fat lake trout), chubs, chinook salmon and round whitefish.