| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
In the past few decades, concerns have mounted about the future fate of various runs of salmon and in particular the declining strength of certain runs. The reason for the concern is obvious. Each run of salmon is unique, highly adapted to the particular waters the adult fish spawn in, the same waters that the next generation of fish will be born in. While there are only a handful of salmon species, there are numerous distinct populations within each. This is what makes a chum salmon born in the fresh water of Vancouver Island different from the chum salmon born in the cold northern waters of the Nass River watershed. Each run of chum is uniquely adapted to the waters it emerged from—a reality that explains the tremendous biological diversity in salmon throughout British Columbia. As a result of a host of factors, some salmon populations have become dangerously depleted. While certain runs retain their vigor, others are clearly in trouble. In the last decade, this reality led to significant advances in the idea of “conservation-based” fisheries management. The most pronounced changes occurred as a result of dwindling populations of coho salmon, which gave rise to concerns about fishing methods. The so-called “coho crisis” of the 1990s also coincided with changing ocean regimes which may have affected salmon survival rates. It triggered fisheries closures and, in many cases resulted in new fisheries management regimes, often centred around selective fishing initiatives that sought to ensure that coho salmon were not caught and killed as bycatch when other salmon species, such as sockeye, were targeted for harvest. Fisheries conservation issues are, to say the least, an ongoing concern and pose big challenges for all involved. Both for those who are active participants in salmon fisheries—the commercial, First Nation and recreational or sport sectors—as well as fisheries managers. This short document is one of three commissioned by the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. Each is devoted to one of the three main participants in salmon fisheries. The first report, published in December 2004, looked at the commercial sector, salmon fisheries and conservation challenges. This report examines First Nations, and various challenges concerning salmon fisheries and related conservation issues. A third will focus on the recreational sector. An obvious and ongoing challenge relating to present-day conservation issues is how it impacts fisheries resources but also people who have been directly involved in fisheries for long periods of time. In the latter respect, no one in present-day British Columbia can lay claim to having fished salmon resources for as long as First Nations have. First Nations communities in the province have literally co-evolved with salmon and have a long documented history of fishing particular runs of salmon in particular places at particular times of the year, that go back, literally, thousands of years. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges confronting modern-day fisheries managers is that as concerns for salmon conservation became heightened in the 1990s, so did public recognition that First Nations’ people had constitutionally protected rights to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes, rights that court rulings tell us are superceded only by conservation. It is no understatement to say that the dovetailing of these two realities pose significant challenges and, it is hoped, opportunities in the years ahead as fisheries managers and the main participants in the fishery learn to both conserve salmon, ensure that First Nations rights and interests are respected, and that when wider fisheries are prosecuted they are done so in an equitable manner. One of the promising things noted throughout this report is that there are indeed numerous examples of conservation-based initiatives underway. These initiatives include efforts to protect specific salmon populations that are being driven by: Partnerships between First Nations and federal fisheries officials in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as well as between First Nations and other sectors in the salmon fishery including the recreational and commercial sectors; First Nation umbrella organizations such as the Skeena Fisheries Commission; Partnership initiatives involving individual First Nations and elements within the commercial fishing sector; and Individual First Nations. In addition, mechanisms to more effectively “co-manage” fisheries resources are becoming a reality. Co-management can and will be interpreted differently by different people. In this report, however, we define it as a management regime consisting of a partnership at varying levels between DFO and other interests such as First Nations. Later, we profile three different comanagement models—one on the Nass River, the second on the Skeena, the third on the waters off the West Coast of Vancouver Island. While much work remains to be done on co-management and new governance structures, it is safe to say that we will see more of these management structures in the years ahead. For one thing, conservation of specific runs of salmon in specific places would seem to demand some fairly significant involvement of local people in various aspects of the management regime. Working in cooperation with regional fisheries officials and other players in salmon fisheries, First Nations people and communities would seem among the prime candidates to do such work given that their communities have, historically, been very close to where populations of salmon spawned. Over time, this proximity has given First Nation communities a tremendous body of knowledge about what is happening to particular populations of fish in particular places. Knowledge that is best shared with others and used to inform conservation based initiatives. No one, least of all First Nations themselves, would argue with the proposition that adequate numbers of salmon must make it to the spawning grounds in order to perpetuate future generations of fish. Therefore, improperly conducted and timed harvesting—no matter who conducts it—can have tremendously negative consequences for all involved. For that reason, all who are involved need to do so in a matter of cooperation and respect, never losing sight of the fact that the resource itself is what matters most. The following report is divided into three major sections with accompanying side stories. The first deals with First Nations and their historic connection to salmon fisheries. The second briefly enumerates the changes that occurred with the evolution of salmon fisheries into commercial ventures. The third looks at present-day conservation issues and the challenges they pose for First Nations. It is hoped that when this report is viewed with the other two sectoral reports, it will help to enliven discussion on ongoing conservation-focused initiatives as they regard what is arguably our most important fisheries resource. |
