US Court Rejects Alaska Natives’ Effort to End Fishing Dispute

An effort by Native Alaskan tribes to end a neighboring community’s dispute with the state over fishing in off-reservation waters has been denied by a federal judge.

The tribes haven’t shown their sovereign interests are related to the Metlakatla Indian Community‘s litigation over a state permitting requirement for fishing in the waters off Alaska’s Annette Island, where its reservation is located, Judge Sharon L. Gleason said in an 18-page order issued Monday for the US District Court for the District of Alaska.

“The Court is not determining aboriginal rights to fish in Southeast Alaska; nor is this Court determining ...