DNA-based species identification of ancient salmonid remains provides new insight into pre-contact Coast Salish salmon fisheries in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada

Morin, Jesse; Zhang, Hua; Royle, Thomas C.A.; Speller, Camilla; Alcaide, Miguel; Morin, Ryan D.; Yang, Dongya

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102956

Cited by 7 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The samples were selected from contexts providing geographic and temporal coverage of eastern Burrard Inlet sites and date from about 2300-1000 BP (ca. 400 BCE-CE 1200) [ 31,38 , Supplementary Table 1]. Samples of salmon bone were selected from 17 distinct radiocarbon dated contexts within these four settlements.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The social and economic significance of the Indian River fishery is evident from ancient narratives and from the fact that one of the reserves set aside for the Tsleil-Waututh community in the late nineteenth century was a fishing station near the river's mouth 39 . The majority of the chum harvested by the Tsleil-Waututh in the past century were obtained at the Indian River and we expect that this was the same in the more distant past as there is no evidence for major disruptions (e.g., major landslide) to the river's salmon populations prior to contact 38 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…400 BCE) 32 , until catastrophic population losses in the CE 1780s from a smallpox epidemic 24,33 . Analyses of faunal remains and isotopic studies of human remains obtained from excavations at these settlements have identified a diet focussed on marine resources, especially salmon, forage fish, and shellfish [34][35][36][37][38] . Regional archaeological research has identified intensive use of stored salmon beginning around 1500 BCE 9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…400 BCE-CE 1200) has identified a salmon fishery focussed on chum salmon at all sampled sites and components within sites [ 38 ; Supplementary Table 1]. The overwhelming majority (> 90%) of salmon remains identified through aDNA analysis as chum and pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) would have likely been locally harvested within Burrard Inlet, and especially at the rivers emptying into it 38 . In addition to the abovementioned species, coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) and Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) were also possibly harvested within Burrard Inlet, and likely the lower Fraser River, but were recovered in low quantities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In summary, archaeological evidence indicates that the ancestral Coast Salish inhabitants of eastern Burrard Inlet had a marine based diet focussed on local resources, especially chum salmon, forage fish and shellfish 30,38 . Drawing on archaeological data and oral history, we emphasized the connections between long-term human occupation at spawning channels, sex-selective salmon fisheries, and the moral responsibility to care for salmon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Morin

Royle

Zhang

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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To gain insight into pre-contact Coast Salish fishing practices, we used new palaeogenetic analytical techniques to assign sex identifications to salmonid bones from four archaeological sites in Burrard Inlet (Tsleil-Waut), British Columbia, Canada, dating between about 2300–1000 BP (ca. 400 BCE–CE 1200). Our results indicate that male chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) were preferentially targeted at two of the four sampled archaeological sites. Because a single male salmon can mate with several females, selectively harvesting male salmon can increase a fishery’s maximum sustainable harvest. We suggest such selective harvesting of visually distinctive male spawning chum salmon was a common practice, most effectively undertaken at wooden weirs spanning small salmon rivers and streams. We argue that this selective harvesting of males is indicative of an ancient and probably geographically widespread practice for ensuring sustainable salmon populations. The archaeological data presented here confirms earlier ethnographic accounts describing the selective harvest of male salmon.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Morin

Royle

Zhang

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Documenting the short‐tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) clades historically present in British Columbia, Canada, through ancient DNA analysis of archaeological specimens

Royle

Guiry

Zhang

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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The short‐tailed albatross ( Phoebastria albatrus ) is a threatened seabird whose present‐day range encompasses much of the North Pacific. Within this species, there are two genetic clades (Clades 1 and 2) that have distinctive morphologies and foraging ecologies. Due to a global population collapse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the frequency of these clades among the short‐tailed albatross population that historically foraged off British Columbia, Canada, is unclear. To document the species' historical genetic structure in British Columbia, we applied ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis to 51 archaeological short‐tailed albatross specimens from the Yuquot site (Borden site number: DjSp‐1) that span the past four millennia. We obtained a 141 bp cytochrome b sequence from 43 of the 51 (84.3%) analyzed specimens. Analyses of these sequences indicate 40 of the specimens belong to Clade 1, while 2 belong to Clade 2. We also identified a single specimen with a novel cytochrome b haplotype. Our results indicate that during the past four millennia most of the short‐tailed albatrosses foraging near Yuquot belonged to Clade 1, while individuals from other lineages made more limited use of the area. Comparisons with the results of previous aDNA analyses of archaeological albatrosses from Japanese sites suggest the distribution of Clades 1 and 2 differed. While both albatross clades foraged extensively in the Northwest Pacific, Clade 1 albatrosses appear to have foraged along the west coast of Vancouver Island to a greater extent. Due to their differing distributions, these clades may be exposed to different threats.

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The Rise of Vancouver and the Collapse of Forage Fish: A Story of Urbanization and the Destruction of an Aquatic Ecosystem on the Salish Sea (1885–1920 CE)

Morin

Evans²,

Efford

2023

Hum Ecol

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Since its establishment as a Euro-Canadian settlement in the mid-nineteenth century, the marine ecology surrounding Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, has been negatively impacted by urban development, habitat destruction, poor fisheries practices, and pollution. Focussing on forage fish – herring, smelt, and eulachon – we present the results of an extensive meta-analysis including an archaeological, ethnohistoric, and scientific/regulatory literature review of Indigenous and commercial fisheries’ harvesting records to track the early historic collapse of these fisheries from about 1885–1920 CE. We identify significant reductions in the major forage fish fisheries around Vancouver within decades of the initial Euro-Canadian settlement. These severe negative effects occurred long before scientific description of local ecosystems had begun, and the magnitude of these effects went generally unrecognized and/or are poorly understood. We argue that this is a case of the shifting baseline syndrome (SBS): each generation of researchers mistakenly assumes that modern ecological conditions they encounter approximate their natural pre-contact state.

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DNA-based species identification of ancient salmonid remains provides new insight into pre-contact Coast Salish salmon fisheries in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada

Cited by 7 publications

References 39 publications

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

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

Documenting the short‐tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) clades historically present in British Columbia, Canada, through ancient DNA analysis of archaeological specimens

The Rise of Vancouver and the Collapse of Forage Fish: A Story of Urbanization and the Destruction of an Aquatic Ecosystem on the Salish Sea (1885–1920 CE)

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