BETHEL, Alaska — May 21, 2013 — A Bethel judge has ruled against some of nearly two dozen Yup'ik Eskimo fishermen cited for illegally fishing king salmon in the Kuskokwim River during a poor run last year.
Several of the fishermen were found guilty Monday after their trials by judge resumed. Magistrate Bruce Ward adjourned the cases last month until he could determine whether the fishermen have a spiritual right to fish for king salmon when restrictions are in place, as they claim.
Ward found the state's need to restrict kings supersedes the fishermen's religious rights, according to KYUK.
"The court wants all parties to know that this was a very difficult decision to make," Ward said. "This was not easy."
Fishermen are being fined $250 and placed on probation for a year. The trials for the remaining fishermen continue.
The trials began in April with specialists on Yup'ik culture testifying for the fishermen, who say bans on their subsistence lifestyle violate their religious freedoms.
The fishermen's defense is based on a free exercise clause of the Alaska Constitution. Defendants argued that subsistence fishing is a spiritual practice.
Ward said he did a lot of research, including reviewing the Frank vs. the State case decided by the Alaska Supreme Court in 1979. The case shows that the free exercise clause may work when religion is involved, the conduct is religiously based and the person is sincere.
Ward said the fishermen met the first two requirements, and that the sincerity question would be addressed in individual trials.
The judge, however, decided that there is a compelling need to restrict the Kuskokwim king run based on recent data. The Frank case was about taking one moose for a ceremonial potlatch, which wouldn't have affected the population of moose. In the fishermen's case, harvesting kings could have had an adverse effect.
Read the full article by the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle