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

Abstract

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.

Archaeology demonstrates sustainable ancestral Coast Salish salmon stewardship over thousands of years

“…Level Group 9 in Fig 3 includes a longer range in time, and so more samples, than any of the other Level Group (43 versus 29 or fewer). These results, although obtained from only two excavation units, are supplemented by the larger zooarchaeological record at təmtəmíxʷtən [ 10 , 12 , 17 ] and nearby sites [ 17 ] which attests to a consistent and sustainable exploitation of salmon over millennia. Pierson’s zooarchaeological analysis of auger samples from təmtəmíxʷtən demonstrate the ubiquity of salmon (in addition to herring and anchovy) within all the tested levels, with salmon bones representing 30–43% of the total NISP in the three auger samples [ 17 ].…”

“…Some of the most recent archaeological efforts at təmtəmíxʷtən also focus on salmon remains [ 10 , 12 ]. Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of salmon remains from a number of sites within the Inlet, including təmtəmíxʷtən, demonstrates that chum salmon ( Oncorhynchus keta ) were the most commonly harvested salmon species [ 10 , 12 ], and that the inhabitants of təmtəmíxʷtən selectively harvested male chum (74.5% of salmon harvested) [ 10 ]. While much less common than chum, pink ( O .…”

“…After European contact and throughout the colonization of Vancouver, dynamite fishing, overfishing, ecological damage, and pollution have caused devastating collapses in herring, smelt, and eulachon populations in the order of 99% [ 37 ]. Colonial salmon canneries imposed industrial fishing pressure on the salmon populations in the Inlet and elsewhere, reducing populations that once provided a cultural and dietary pillar for Tsleil-Waututh communities [ 12 , 37 ].…”

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

“…Instead, the lack of significant inter‐zone differences in haplotype frequencies and dominance of Clade 1 throughout the site's occupation suggest a high degree of population continuity over the last four millennia. The sustainability of the Yuquot Mowachaht short‐tailed albatross harvest as evinced by zooarchaeological, isotopic, and genetic data contributes to the growing body of evidence for the sustainable exploitation of marine resources by Indigenous peoples in Northwestern North America over centuries to millennia (e.g., McKechnie et al, 2014 ; Morin, Royle, et al, 2021 ; Morin, Zhang, et al, 2021 ).…”

People need freshwater biodiversity

“…Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. have been harvested by Indigenous Peoples of the Northern Pacific Rim for subsistence and livelihoods for over 1000 years (Morin et al, 2021). Sophisticated, sustainable harvest management practices, developed through generations of interdependence with salmon, are based on cultural and spiritual beliefs and stewardship building the centerpiece of these social-ecological systems (Atlas et al, 2021).…”