grand camp
ALASKA NATIVE BROTHERHOOD
TO THE PRESIDENT;—
We the representatives of the Alaska Native Brotherhood who are authorized to speak for the
aboriginal people of South eastern Alaska who are entirely dependent upon the fisheries for their liveli
hood respectfully present to you the following facts bearing on the administration of the salmon fishery.
1. Upon the advent of the white men in the Alaskan Salmon fishery our people claimed ancestral
rights of fishery which were recognized by many whites and this recognition was based upon a clause
in the Act of Congress of 1884 extending the mineral land laws to Alaska which provided that “the
Indians or other persons in said district shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands
actually in their use or occupation or now claimed by them, but the terms under which such may ac
quire title to such lands is reserved for future legislation by Congress. ”
v 2. In 1900 a white seining crew while exercising an Indian ancestral right of fishery in the vicinity
o$ Ketchikan was interfered with by other white fishermen which resulted in adjudication before the
District Court. The court held that “THE RIGHT TO TAKE FISH IN THE SEA OR TIDAL
WATERS OF ALASKA IS ONE COMMON TO ALL PERSONS AND NO EXCLUSIVE GRANT
WILL BE PRESUMED” This decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 119 Fed
eral Reporter, page 83.
3. Although the court held that there can be no exclusive rights of fishery in Alaskan waters, non
resident cannery men have usurped exclusive rights throughout all our waters and are today with the
assistance of the United States Bureau of Fisheries attempting to convince the President, and Congress
that the preservation of the Alaskan salmon fishery is entirely dependent upon granting title to the
exclusive rights which they now hold by force or strategy.
4. Under the system of exclusive rights now hel d by traps or weirs, the aboriginal people as well as
the white independent fishermen are being driven f rom their calling and must seek other means of ob
taining support for their families. The salmon fishery is a branch of fishing to which the aboriginee is
peculiarly adapted and there is no other line of endeavor to which ^e can turn. The trapping of fur
animals is no longer profitable to him as the white trappers have virtually destroyed his trapping
grounds.
5- When the native people catch salmon during the “run” they cannot sell their catch to the can
neries because the traps catch more than are required and thus in a land where our ancestors lived we
are unable to support our families. Our ancestral rights must be set aside to make room for exclusive
monopolistic privelege.
6. Inasmuch as our ancestral rights of fishery were denied us by the courts we insist that it is unfair
and unjust to us to grant exclusive, monopolistic rights to the cannerymen through their trap system.
7. We do not ask for preferential rights nor for any privelege in the fisheries that may not be en
joyed by all other classes but we do appeal to the President and to Congress to abolish all exclusive
priveleges which includes traps or weirs, and to enact such restrictive measures as shall apply equally
to all fishermen.
8. We do not feel that in asking for the abolishment of? all exclusive fishing privileges we are mak
ing an unreasonable request. We are only asking Congress to affirm the decisions of our courts and to
enact into statute our constitutional rights of equality, including the common right of fishery which
was established by Magna Charta.
Respectfully submitted;
Andrew Hope, Grand President.
William L. Paul, Grand Secretary.
S. G. Davis, Secretary, Kassan Camp.
Peter Simpson, Secretary, Sitka Camp.
Henry Denny, Municipal Judge of Saxman.
Joseph Starr, Chairman, Ketchikan Camp.