Salmon, Science, and Reciprocity on the Northwest Coast

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Severe depletion of many genetically distinct Pacific salmon populations has spawned a contentious debate over causation and the efficacy of proposed solutions. No doubt the precipitating factor was overharvesting of the commons beginning along the Northwest Coast around 1860. Yet, for millenia before that, a relatively dense population of Indian tribes managed salmon stocks that have since been characterized as "superabundant." This study investigates how they avoided a tragedy of the commons, where in recent history, commercial ocean fishers guided by scientifically informed regulators, have repeatedly failed. Unlike commercial fishers, the tribes enjoyed exclusive rights to terminal fisheries enforced through rigorous reciprocity relations. The available evidence is compelling that they actively husbanded their salmon stocks for sustained abundance.

Culturally significant fisheries: keystones for management of freshwater social-ecological systems

“…Like eels and lampreys, salmon provide a key link between freshwaters and the ocean and a food source for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Willson andHalupka 1995, Cederholm et al 1999). Although Native American tribes have managed salmon species with a deep understanding of how to sustain healthy populations (Landeen and Pinkham 1999, Haggen et al 2006, Johnsen 2009), severe declines since European settlement have created an urgency to restore salmon populations in freshwater ecosystems for both their cultural and ecological importance.…”

“…Historically used by settlers for salmonid fishmeal and livestock feed (Close et al 2002, CRITFC 2011 (Landeen and Pinkham 1999, Haggen et al 2006, Johnsen 2009, Cozzetto et al 2013, Dittmer 2013, CRITFC 2014, Galbreath et al 2014). …”

Ecologically sustainable but unjust? Negotiating equity and authority in common-pool marine resource management

“…BC's central coast fisheries fall under the jurisdiction of the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), which has the responsibility to regulate and monitor access and allocation of fisheries and aquaculture. However, central coast First Nations (CCFN) have parallel orders of laws and practices that embody knowledge gained from thousands of years of inhabiting this land and seascape (Johnsen 2009). …”

Intergroup cooperation prevents resource exhaustion but undermines intra-group cooperation in the common-pool resource experiment

“…For instance, in the past, the sharing of harvests by Native Americans on the Pacific Northwest coast has been an important strategy to prevent conflicts among them (Johnsen 2009). Another example, in Kenya, shows that groups suffering a dry period send some of their cattle to graze on the lands of other groups that have better weather conditions (McAllister et al 2006).…”