Fish Wars, Court Wars, and the Myth of the “Perfect Steward”

Clallam County Watchdog · May 14, 2026 · 58m

For years, the public has been told that tribal control automatically means better environmental stewardship. But court records, treaty disputes, commercial export operations, and decades of intertribal lawsuits tell a far more complicated story. From oyster farms inside wildlife refuges to fights over fishing territories, shellfish allocations, and commercial harvests headed overseas, the reality appears less spiritual and more economic. Now, as Protect the Peninsula’s Future continues its lawsuit over commercial oyster operations in the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, residents are…