Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Logan

OPINION

ALAN E. NORRIS, Circuit Judge.

In this action for a declaratory judgment, the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma (“the Tribe”) seeks to establish that, under various treaties, it retains the right to fish in Lake Erie, and that the state of Ohio, through the Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, defendant Sean Logan (“the State”), lacks the authority to regulate this activity. We hold that, because the Tribe, under these treaties, retained at most a right of occupancy to the lands in Ohio, and this right was extinguished upon abandonment, any related fishing rights it may have…