Coalition appeals Consent Decree entrance

An indiscriminate gill net is not a tool that conservationists want to expand in Michigan waterways.

The Coalition to Protect Michigan’s Resources (CPMR) filed an appeal opposing entrance of the 2023 Great Lakes Consent Decree in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The order to accept the decree, given in August by Judge Paul Maloney, entered the five sovereign Michigan Tribes, United States and the State of Michigan into the decree…

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Consent Decree: Recreational Anglers Will Not Support New Great Lakes Fishing Deal

Gill net

Conservationists and recreational anglers presented objections to a proposed Consent Decree that would significantly affect Great Lakes fisheries including the sport fishery.  Six of the seven parties had submitted a proposed Great Lakes Consent Decree to the court on December 11, 2022. The Coalition to Protect Michigan Resources (CPMR) sought intervention months earlier when it…

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MDNR Consent Decree Facts Wrong, Grossly Misleading

Recreational fishers may have received an email from the MDNR suggesting that all is well with a new proposed agreement between the State and four out of five tribes with Treaty preserved fishing rights in the northern Great Lakes. These FAQs are either false or grossly misleading. The issues involve how the Great Lakes fishery…

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Possible consequences of proposed Great Lakes Consent Decree

The proposed consent decree fails to address resource limitations and proposes actions that would increase fishing pressure.  Such actions at this time of resource crisis constitute the State of Michigan’s abdication of its Public Trust responsibility to protect fishery resources on behalf of the Citizens of Michigan. They also constitute an abdication of the Tribes’…

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New Consent Decree Jeopardizes Sustainability of Great Lakes Fishery Resources and the Fishers that Depend on Them

Introduction The recently released draft Consent Decree between the State of Michigan, the United States, and four of the five tribes with fishing rights under the Treaty of 1836 represents a huge step backward in the protection and stewardship of Michigan’s fragile Great Lakes fisheries. The State of Michigan, in negotiating this proposed Decree, abandoned…

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