18-04-2025
Harassment against Ojibwe spearers continues more than 30 years after the 'Walleye Wars'
Gary Belille Jr., 33, a Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe tribal member, thought he'd be safe from harassment while spearfishing on his tribe's reservation in northern Wisconsin.
He, his cousin, and another group of tribal members set out from a boat landing near Anchor Bay on the reservation to spear for walleye on Lac Courte Oreilles Lake the night of April 7.
Coming back to shore about 10 p.m., they found the tires of their pickup trucks had been slashed.
'They (the vandals) were definitely non-tribal people because this happened last year to other spearers near the same area,' Belille said. 'But I never expected this to happen on the reservation. Being a victim of this, I'm at a loss for words. We're not bugging anyone.'
He said they reported the incident to tribal police, who are implementing a plan to try to catch the perpetrators.
Earlier that day, Gov. Tony Evers released a statement warning against this kind of harassment.
'It's our responsibility to help uphold agreements and honor treaty rights, protect against harvesting harassment and to call out anti-Native hate and racism when we hear it,' Evers said in a video message on social media.
Other officials released similar statements.
'The (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) agency fully supports legally protected Ojibwe treaty rights and tribal sovereignty,' said DNR Secretary Karen Hyun. 'We will swiftly act on incidents of violence and harassment against tribal citizens.'
The state's top prosecutor weighed in, as well.
'Tribal members must be able to safely exercise their right to hunt, fish and gather in the Ceded Territories without unlawful interference,' said Attorney General Josh Kaul.
Despite these warnings, incidents of harassment against Ojibwe spearers still occur annually more than 30 years after the 'Walleye Wars.'
Many of these incidents go unreported, but when perpetrators are caught in incidents that do get reported, they often face little to no penalty from non-tribal courts.
In 2021, a hate crime charge was dropped against a St. Germain man who the previous year had fired his gun as Ojibwe spearfishers boated on the lake near his home.
James Kelsey, then 62, pleaded no contest to using a gun while intoxicated and had to pay a $343.50 fine and serve no jail time, a Vilas County judge had ruled, to the ire and frustration of tribal members and their supporters.
'It's basically 300 and something dollars to shoot at us as we practice our treaty rights to fish,' Greg (Biskakone) Johnson told the Green Bay Press-Gazette at the time of the ruling.
Ojibwe tribal members have the treaty rights to hunt and fish off-reservation and off the state-designated harvest season. These treaty rights were made with the federal government in the mid-1850s in exchange for the government taking millions of acres of Ojibwe land in northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula — collectively known as the Ceded Territories.
State governments had ignored these treaty rights until federal courts affirmed them in the 1970s. This eventually led to Ojibwe spearers harvesting in the early spring in Wisconsin lakes, which drew large angry protests from many non-tribal members around the country.
Some of these protests grew violent during a period known as the 'Walleye Wars' in the 1980s. Rocks were hurled at tribal members; boats were rammed into their boats; racial slurs were yelled at them.
The memories and effects of that time linger in the Northwoods. Many non-Indigenous residents unfairly blame tribal members for declining walleye populations, despite tribal fish hatcheries stocking many more walleye into Wisconsin lakes than tribal members harvest.
More: Critics contend Ojibwe overfish walleye. Thanks to tribal fish hatcheries, it's not even close.
In addition, ecologists with the DNR set safe walleye harvest limits for tribal members for each lake. The harvests are then counted by creel clerks waiting on shore.
Also, there are about 500 tribal spearers in Wisconsin compared to about 2 million non-tribal anglers, according to DNR officials.
The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which helps manage natural resources in the Ceded Territories, encourages tribal members to remember the 'four Cs' if being harassed while harvesting.
These are to create distance between the perpetrators, confirm their location for authorities, call 911 and check in with the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission.
Belille said the incident won't deter him from practicing his treaty right to feed his family and his tribe.
'We're getting tired of it throughout the years of this happening to us,' he said. 'It's all hate is what it is.'
More: Tribal spearfishers continue practice for food sovereignty, culture despite claims of harassment in northern Wisconsin
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Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@ or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Harassment against Ojibwe spearfishing continues in northern Wisconsin
