Alaska Supreme Court September 11, 1998, S-7892 (Mesiar v. Heckman)

OPINION

BRYNER, Justice.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Art Heckman, Fred Lamont, and Martin Kelley (collectively Heckman) engage in commercial or subsistence fishing on the Yukon River drainage; on behalf of themselves and similarly situated resource users, they sued David Mesiar and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (collectively ADF & G) for negligent operation of a sonar fish counter that ADF & G