
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 30, 1993                   TAG: 9305300139
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KING WILLIAM                                LENGTH: Short

TRIBE CITES 1677 TREATY TO FIGHT FISHING BAN

The Mattaponi tribe hope their 1677 treaty with the British will once again guarantee them rights at a time when Virginia is preparing to ban shad fishing.

During the 1950s, the Mattaponi Indians used the treaty to win exemption from the state's sport fishing regulations. The treaty was also cited by the state when it exempted the tribe from a 1989 ban on the harvesting of striped bass.

When the Mattaponi signed the pact, they became subjects of the British crown and were granted hunting and fishing rights.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission, citing a need to replenish the shad stock, plans to ban fishing next year in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, including the Mattaponi River.

The commission already cut this year's shad season by two-thirds to a 45-day season that ended in April. The 1991 catch was less than 51,000 pounds, down from 3 million pounds harvested from Virginia waters during the 1980s.

Development, pollution and overfishing are blamed for the decline of the fishery.

The fish was a mainstay of the Mattaponi diet before the first European settlers came to America.

"We don't believe that we destroy enough shad to cause a problem. If everyone would just take what they need rather than enough to get rich there wouldn't be a problem," said Curtis Warhorse Custalow, 77, retired chief of the 75-member tribe.

by CNB