Editor's note, 5/5/2014: Billy Frank Jr., who led the "Fish Wars" of the 1960s and '70s, has died. He was 83. Below is an interview with Frank, conducted in March by KUOW's Steve Scher and Arwen Nicks. We also featured Frank in a series on tribal fishing.

Billy Frank Jr. helped secure Indian fishing rights through protest and legal action in the 1960s and '70s. The 83-year-old Nisqually tribe member has been arrested about 50 times over the years; the first time was in 1945 when he was 14, for fishing.

The dispute stemmed from Native Americans who wished to fish on their traditional tribal grounds, a right established in treaties with the U.S. government in the 1850s. However, when these rights were exercised, state games officials arrested fishermen and confiscated their catch and equipment.

In protest, tribal members hosted fish-ins. In 1968, Frank was once again arrested and put in jail. At the time he was working on a power line in Shelton, Wash. The response he got from his boss was surprising.

“Tuesday or Wednesday I got out of jail, the general foreman had my pictures hanging up – he was just so proud of me!” Frank said with a laugh as he described the foreman’s reaction. “'You went to jail for your right' – that’s how the union created us. They supported what we were doing.”