THE start of the fishing season across North America is often marked by another springtime ritual: grumbling by sport fishers over the special fishing rights of Native Americans. Complaints that this leads to fish populations being harmed by 鈥渦nethical鈥� practices may be unfounded, however. The two groups鈥� values turn out to be closer than most sport fishers realise.
Psychologist Douglas Medin at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and colleagues surveyed the attitudes of 15 fishers from the Menominee tribe in central Wisconsin, and 17 fishers of European descent. The researchers asked all the fishers to rate the ethical acceptability of 17 fishing practices, and also to guess how members of the opposite group would answer.
The values of the Menominee turned out to be much closer to those of the sport fishers than the latter expected (Human Ecology, vol 35, p 315). For example, the European-Americans thought the Menominee would approve of practices such as keeping undersized fish and fishing on spawning beds, whereas both groups disapproved of them.
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鈥淭he values of the Menominee turned out to be close to those of the sport fishers鈥�
