Cooperation…Not Confrontation Craig Sandell © 2012 Every Musky season we are once again bombarded with claims of impending fishery destruction due to the spearing activities of Native Peoples as they exercise their contractual treaty rights. Some perspective is needed in order to truly and accurately assess any impact that spearing might have on our Musky fisheries. Well before the incursion of the non-native peoples, the traditional spearing harvest was conducted by Native Peoples each year as a celebration of the passing of winter, a right of passage for tribal youth, a communal harvest in preparation for the next winter and as a spiritual sharing of the "gifts" of the land. It must be noted that the Native Peoples of Wisconsin have been practicing seasonal spearing harvests for hundreds of years and during that time have functioned as responsible caretakers of the fishery resource. During the 1800’s, the non-native population began to increase. The Native Peoples of Wisconsin, through negotiation and not conflict, established an agreement with the non-native peoples wherein shared stewardship of the land was accomplished. Unfortunately, the Native Peoples and the non-native peoples embraced very different concepts of stewardship. While the Native Peoples held that no one should take more from the land than one could
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