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 “unethical” practices may be unfounded, however. The two groups’ 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…
