Passamaquoddy tribal members have filed two lawsuits over the elver fishery, stemming from disputes over late filings of landing reports from last year. The Joint Tribal Council had decided last month to impose a penalty on those who filed their reports past the deadline, but one of the lawsuits maintains that the council cannot impose a punishment after the fact.
      Chris Sepsa Altvater has filed a suit in tribal court over the joint council's decision on February 21 to retroactively impose a penalty on tribal members who did not turn in elver landing reports on time for the 2016 season. Those penalties include a $50 fine, a quota reduction by half for each person and a restriction to using dip nets only. Since the penalty was made retroactive to the 2016 season, the suit maintains that the penalty is an "ex post facto" law, in violation of tribal, state and federal constitutions. The joint council's decision affects at least 178 tribal members, including Altvater, the suit states. Altvater's suit requests that "all full fishing quotas be restored to all tribal members" for the 2017 season.
      Since the tribal court had not acted on his suit as of March 20, Altvater requested a temporary restraining order so that a decision would be made before the elver season begins.
      Passamaquoddy Chief Ralph Dana of Sipayik does not anticipate that the joint council will be meeting to reconsider its February decision before this year's elver fishery begins. Although it was rumored that the joint council might adopt an individual quota system for tribal members, Dana is not aware that is being considered.
      The statewide elver fishery began this year on March 22, but the tribal fishery will not begin until next week. Tribal elver licenses are being issued on Friday, March 24, with the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) swipe cards expected to be issued on the morning of Monday, March 27, so that tribal members can begin fishing that day.
      Chief Dana believes that tribal government has "to do a better job" of resolving elver fishery issues so that it is not "scrambling at the last minute" to issue licenses. He notes that swipe cards are not being issued to tribal fishermen until after the season opened on March 22 and that the DMR reached out to the tribe in November about the fishery for this year. "There needs to be a more efficient way to get this done, hopefully without any lawsuit or contentious political issues." He proposes that the issues be worked on as soon as this season ends. "That's not too early."
      While the tribe will be issuing over 700 elver licenses for this year, with the number about evenly split between Pleasant Point and Indian Township, Chief Dana notes that not all license holders will end up fishing. All tribal members will have to stop fishing once the tribe's quota for this year, 1,284.3 pounds, is reached. Last year there was an overage of 71.7 pounds by tribal fishermen, which was deducted from the tribe's overall quota, which had been 1,356 pounds.
      According to Jeff Nichols, spokesman for the DMR, 731 tribal members have applied for licenses, but those who still have outstanding landing reports, pecuniary gains, state or Department of Health and Human Services fees due will not be able to fish this year. The pecuniary gains stem from 2014 and 2015 when tribal fishermen had individual fishing quotas. If a fisherman exceeded his quota he then owed an amount to the state. Last year the tribe and the DMR reached an agreement so that tribal fishermen can fish without individual quotas, unlike other fishermen in the state, since the tribe has favored open access to the fishery with a total allowable catch.
      However, according to tribal fishermen a 10-pound quota has been set for individual fishermen, with those who submitted late landing reports having only a five-pound quota. They argue that fishermen are being misled into believing they are entitled to get 10 pounds, when actually the fishery will be shut off for tribal members once the tribe's overall quota is reached.

Violation of privacy alleged
     A second lawsuit concerning the elver fishery is being brought in U.S. District Court by Charles Neptune, a tribal member who lives in Lee, against Indian Township Passamaquoddy Chief William Nicholas for violating the federal Privacy Act of 1974 by posting on his personal Facebook page permission for the public to view Neptune's elver fishing landing reports. The suit states that the actions have deprived him "of potential future earnings by him exposing fishing locations, which are many years worth of knowledge." Neptune is seeking $250,000 in damages, since he has a lifetime fishing license and has been averaging 10 pounds per year and the elver price may be $2,000 a pound.
      Chief Nicholas has no comment on the lawsuit. In April 2016 the Indian Township Tribal Council did adopt a resolution setting a June 7 deadline for reporting elver landings. Any licensed holders who did not submit their reports by then would be ineligible for a license in 2017, the resolution states. Neptune didn't file his landings report until June 18. Also, any fishermen who exceeded a 25-pound catch limit would be ineligible for a 2017 license. The resolution also states that landing information will be available for viewing at the tribal clerk's office, as long as the information is not copied or removed from the clerk's office and only the name of license holder and the amount caught are released.
      Neptune, though, says that fishermen who either went over the 25-pound limit or submitted their reports late are being allowed to fish this year. He also maintains that the Indian Township Tribal Council did not follow the proper process for adopting the resolution, since a public hearing should have been held and due process was not followed. In addition, Neptune argues that the fishery quota is jointly held by the entire tribe and that one reservation cannot make laws concerning the fishery but rather any rules must be adopted by the joint tribal council.
      Following the joint council's decision in February to impose a penalty on those who filed their reports late, Neptune did pay the $50 fine, and he notes that the tribe may have made $15,000 from perhaps 300 fishermen who did not submit reports on time. He also notes that the Pleasant Point tribal government is collecting the $50 fines, too, even though it did not adopt a resolution like the Indian Township one. "I should ask for my money back," says Neptune, since he maintains that not only was the resolution adopted improperly but the Indian Township tribal government is now ignoring it, by allowing late-filing fishermen who pay the fine to still obtain a license this year.