When the European settlers came here this land was seen as ownerless. The settlers set out to clear the land of people/animals, and trees. I don’t think there was much of a distinction between the two.
After many one-sided wars and massacres, treaties were written and broken with impunity. As soon as more land was needed, treaties were broken and rewritten. Eventually, indigenous people were relocated and forced onto reservations with rights for future generations. Well, fishing rights was one of those treaty agreements.
So, whether it is gill net or spear those rights are parts of the treaty. I do see the conflict as lake owners claim that the fishing is devastating to their recreation and hotel business etc. To me, this is on par with people who build houses by airports and complain about the noise.
Yes, we are not in the conquer and destroy era of hundreds of years ago. We live in a modern world of respecting rights, having a code of moral and ethical conduct, etc. I would hope we respect the remaining fragments of the treaty and let the indigenous people harvest fish from the lake. The bad part is over fishing may occur and lakeside businesses may suffer. I see this as a natural outcome of building your house next to a pig farm and complaining about the odor, or building your house next to an airport and complain about the noise.
Now, we can say the hell with the treaty and rewrite it and strip all fishing rights away. This question then becomes, is this who we are?
We can’t raise our children and tell them about respect when we find ways to violate and disrespect others.