A recent review of Indigenous systems of fisheries management—co-authored by members of the Salmon Watersheds Lab alongside Indigenous leaders and conservation scientists—argues that a return to the use of these technologies, harvest strategies and governance systems may hold hope for restoring the resilience of declining Pacific Northwest salmon fisheries.

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The study explains how, from southeastern Alaska to California, for thousands of years Indigenous Peoples managed their salmon fisheries in close, reciprocal relationships with salmon.

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Then, in the mid-19th century, the selective harvest technologies that supported these place-based management systems were, in many places, suppressed, outlawed, or destroyed, and replaced with colonial fishing systems; namely, centrally managed, mixed-stock marine fisheries harvesting salmon from hundreds of populations of often unknown origin and conservation status.

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The paper reviews case studies of recent revivals of Indigenous harvest technologies, such as weirs, fish traps, reef nets and dip nets, as examples of what a return to Indigenous systems of management could look like.

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One such example is the Koeye weir, near Bella Bella on the Central Coast of British Columbia. The weir, a fence spanning the Koeye River with a central trap for capturing and counting fish, was reconstructed in 2013 to monitor and manage the largest sockeye run in Haíłzaqv (Heiltsuk) territory.

 

The Salmon Watersheds Lab played a key role in assisting Heiltsuk leaders in fisheries management to revive this technology, which is now the cornerstone of the Lab's Koeye Salmon Ecosystem Study. 

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Media: The Narwhal, Wild Salmon Center.