Ancient DNA analysis of Indigenous rockfish use on the Pacific Coast: Implications for marine conservation areas and fisheries management

Abstract

Rockfish (Sebastes spp.) are a common marine fish in nearshore and continental shelf environments in the North Pacific Ocean. They are frequently identified in coastal archaeological sites in western North America; however, the morphological similarity of rockfish species limits conventional zooarchaeological identifications to the genus level. This study applies ancient DNA analysis to 96 archaeological rockfish specimens from four sites on separate islands in an archipelago on western Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Two of the archaeological sites are located within a marine protected area specifically designed to facilitate the recovery of inshore rockfish populations; two sites are located outside this boundary and remain subject to considerable fishing pressure. Using mitochondrial 16S and control region DNA sequences, we identify at least twelve different rockfish species utilized during the past 2,500 years. Identification of rockfish at closely spaced and contemporaneously occupied sites confirms that a variety of Sebastes species were consistently exploited at each site, with more exposed areas having a higher number of species present. Identification results indicate that four of the twelve species did not occur within the conservation area boundary and, instead, were found in sites where commercial and recreational fishing continues to be permitted. This study demonstrates that ancient DNA identifications of archaeological assemblages can complement and expand perspective on modern day fisheries conservation and management in this National Park Reserve and First Nations ancestral territory.

Hotspots for rockfishes, structural corals, and large-bodied sponges along the central coast of Pacific Canada

“…They include sedentary, long-lived species (maximum lifespans > 100 years) 38 that occupy high trophic positions 9 , are large-bodied and evolutionarily distinctive 14 . Some rockfishes have been harvested sustainably by coastal peoples for over 2500 years 39 , 40 . The genus also includes smaller, shorter-lived species that are planktivorous and important prey to larger predators (e.g., S .…”

Indigenous sex-selective salmon harvesting demonstrates pre-contact marine resource management in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada

“…1800-250 BP), McKechnie 70 observed inter-household differences in fisheries management strategies, specifically the size-selectivity of their rockfish fisheries. A range of studies has also highlighted how the species targeted by Indigenous fisheries in Northwest Coast varied between sites [e.g., [71][72][73][74] ]. This reflects the fact that Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge is not universal but rooted in specific places, the cumulative multi-generational product of many individuals' entwined lived experiences of the ecological and cultural realties of a particular time and locale 75 .…”

ZooArchNet: Connecting zooarchaeological specimens to the biodiversity and archaeology data networks

“…In addition to the advancement of open data bio- and archaeoinformatics, ZooArchNet is meant to be catalytic in meeting existing and future research needs focused on examinations of human impact on, and responses to, animal biodiversity over long time-scales [48,49,50]. To that end, while we expect focused data-oriented research projects in the future, simply exposing the wealth of physical zooarchaeological material and cultural data available across a diversity of data repositories has real benefit for the greater biodiversity and archaeological research communities.…”