Informing Pathways to Resilient Indigenous Fisheries and Food Sovereignty Amid Sea Otter Recovery and Climate Change

Indigenous Knowledge, archeological evidence, and ethnographies acknowledge that Indigenous people, sea otters, and shellfish co-existed for at least 10,000 years along Canada’s west coast prior to European contact. During this time, Indigenous People intentionally managed these relationships through stewardship practices that were guided by ancestral laws and governance principles of respect, responsibility, and balance, universally shared among the nuučaanuɫ (Nuu-chah-nulth), Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) and Xaayda (Haida). During the 18th and 19th century, however, sea otters were eliminated by the colonial maritime fur trade along much of the west coast of North America. At the same time, the imposition of colonial settlement, laws, market economies, and disease led to the erosion of diverse Indigenous stewardship practices, complex ancestral marine tenure systems, and vast Indigenous trade networks.

By the early to mid-20^th century, sea otters began to recover along the northwest coast of North America following several key events. Signing of the 1911 fur seal treaty ended the commercial fur trade. In the late 1960s, spurred by US nuclear testing in Alaska, sea otters were translocated from Amchitka Island to various points along the west coast of British Columbia and Washington State without consultation with the Indigenous Nations who had been taking care of these places for millennia. This keystone shellfish predator was then protected by the 1973 US Endangered Species Act and the 2003 Canadian Species-at-Risk-Act.  Indigenous knowledge, values, objectives, and decision-making authority, however, were not equitably included in federal sea otter recovery planning in Canada, despite the profound impacts of sea otters on Indigenous food security and sovereignty.

To address these challenges, in 2013, Simon Fraser University faculty member, Anne Salomon, and Cultural Advisor, Dr. Kii’iljuus Barbara Wilson, asked the Hereditary Chiefs’ Councils of the nuučaanuɫ, Haíɫzaqv and Xaayda, representing 17 coastal First Nations across British Columbia’s coast, what research they could do to inform the situation and uphold Indigenous governance authority of the Ha’wiih, Hemas, and Kilslaay (Hereditary Leaders of the nuučaanuɫ, Haíɫzaqv and Xaayda). The Chief’s Councils passed motions to work together to steward the relationships between people, sea otters, shellfish, and kelp forests. Following this, Coastal Voices was formed as a research co-production and knowledge mobilization initiative, guided by a Steering Committee of Hereditary Leaders. Together, Indigenous knowledge holders and university scholars weave Indigenous, archaeological, and social-ecological knowledge to inform governance practices that better reflect Indigenous knowledge systems, values, and decision-making authority brought forward by the Ha’wiih, Hemas, and Kilslaay.

With guidance from its Steering Committee of Hereditary Leaders, the project team aims to inform and uphold the ancient laws and authority of the Ha’wiih, Hemas, and Kilslaay to restore resilient, respectful, and reciprocal relationships between people, sea otters, and shellfish. To do this, they will: 1) conduct interviews with Indigenous leaders,  decision makers, resource managers, and stewardship staff on envisioned pathways to resilient fisheries and food security, 2) co-design a spatial thinking tool  that weave Indigenous and western Knowledge of sea otter-people-fisheries relationships, 3) host an Indigenous Knowledge and cultural exchange among coastal Nations to support the creation of a clam garden and revitalize sea otter stewardship, and 4) maintain close coordination and communication with Hereditary Chiefs’ Councils and their technical staff to mobilize the knowledge gleaned from the project to coastal First Nations up and down the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Project Team

• Dr. Kii’iljuus Barbara Wilson - Haida k’uuljaad (Boss Lady) of the Sta’waas XaaydaGaay (Saw-whet owl People) of the Cumshewa Eagle clan on Haida Gwaii
• Dr. Anne Salomon - Simon Fraser University, Professor at the School of Resource and Environmental Management
• Hannah Kobluk - Simon Fraser University, PhD Candidate in the School of Resource and Environmental Management
• ḥapinyuuk Dr. Tommy Happynook - nuučaanuɫ from the Huu-ay-aht Nations; House of čaačaaciias; Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria’s department of Anthropology
• Dr. Tim Tinker - Dalhousie University and Simon Fraser University, Adjunct faculty member; Nhyra Ecological Research, consulting biologist
• Michèle Grenier - Simon Fraser University, MRM Candidate in the School of Resource and Environmental Management

Steering Committee of Hereditary Leaders

• Wigvilhba Wakas, Hemas (Hereditary Chief), Haíɫzaqv Nation
• wiicuckum Anne Mack, Tyee Ha’wilth (Head Hereditary Chief), ‘tuk^waa?ath Nation
• ḥapinyuuk Dr. Tommy Happynook, Ha’wilth (Hereditary Chief), Huu-ay-aht Nation
• Hyuuštulth Francis Gillette, Tyee Ha’wilth (Head Hereditary Chief), Che:k:tles7et'h' Nation
• n’yasim, Ha’wilth (Hereditary Chief) Ka:'yu:'k't'h' Nation
• Skil Hiilans Allan Davidson Kilslaay (Hereditary Chief) Xaayda Nation
• Git Kinjuaas Kilslaay (Hereditary Chief) Xaayda Nation

Cultural Advisors

• Wickaninnish Cliff Atleo Sr., nuučaanuɫ from the ʕaaḥuusʔatḥ Nation
• Dr. Kii’iljuus Barbara Wilson k’uuljaad (Boss Lady), Xaayda Nation
• Dianna Dragon, Che:k:tles7et'h' Nation