A one-month postponement in the trial of 13 Passamaquoddy Indians for saltwater fishing without state licenses is a necessary and wise move, but it is unlikely to solve the riddle of jurisdiction. An issue that has festered for 17 years probably won’t be settled in 30 days in Calais District Court.

Whether the Maine tribes surrendered any rights not specifically reserved in the 1980 land claims settlement must be determined somewhere, but whatever decision Judge John Romei makes surely will be fodder for appeals.

The greater, more immediate, value of Romei’s postponement is that it gives the state and tribe another month to negotiate, to finish what they started two years ago and inexplicably stopped early this summer. It also gives the state time to do what must be done if those negotiations are to bear fruit — drop the charges against the 13.

The state’s position that the tribes forfeited any rights not guaranteed in 1980 ignores the best recollections of those involved in writing and negotiating the federal and state acts. The land claims settlement was just that — a settlement of land claims and nothing more. The Maine implementing act addressed the issues of inland fisheries and wildlife because they were germane to the land claims. Saltwater fishing was to be resolved later and never was. More fundamentally, the notion that any rights not specifically given to the people, any people, are assumed to be the state’s is repugnant.

According to state officials, tribal leaders and legislators involved in the recent saltwater talks, peace was at hand this summer. The tribe proposed a model based upon the inland fisheries settlement in which the tribe would issue its own licenses and would adopt and enforce conservation regulations on seasons, take and size limits and gear no less stringent than the state’s. While agreeing to work within state guidelines, the Passamaquoddy insisted on issuing its own licenses for a very good reason — the “spearers of pollock” could not let its very identity become subject to the whims of Augusta.

It was a fair and rational proposal that balanced conservation concerns with those of sovereignty and heritage. Why it did not go forward is anybody’s guess, but the state’s decision last year to begin bringing charges against Passamaquoddys for doing what Passamaquoddys always have done undoubtably poisoned the process.

Two days before the trial was put on hold last Thursday, Gov. Angus King offered to restart the talks with the state picking up the tab for a facilitator. It’s a good-faith gesture that the tribe should accept, but trust is a two-way street. The violations, if they in fact are violations, by the 13 are minor, the few hundred dollars in fines are chump change compared with what is at stake, the use of court summonses during negotiations is a gun to the head that anyone would find objectionable. Drop the charges and get this settled.