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Between October 8, 2001 and February 22, 2002, panelists representing different perspectives from Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington were available to answer students' questions related to salmon biology on the Salmon Summit Web site. In selecting participants for the Salmon Summit panel, we tried to choose panelists with different opinions and different backgrounds. The opinions expressed by the panelists were their own. They may not agree with those of other panelists, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of 7th Floor Media.
The panelists are not currently online. However, you will find the questions submitted by the students and the responses received from the panelists, below.
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| Q - How has the salmon fishery contributed to the culture(s) in your community? | | Q - How have declining salmon stocks and changes in the salmon fishery affected the culture(s) in your community. | | Q - I read that the First Nations people used every part of the salmon and didn't waste a bit. I'm wondering why the non-Native settlers didn't have the same attitude towards the salmon. | | Q - What kinds of salmon ceremonies were developed in Alaska prior to Russian occupation? | | Q - Please explain the importance of rural subsistence preference to the Native cultures of Alaska. | | Q - What are the Canadian First Nations' concerns involving the Pacific Salmon Treaty? | | Q - What are the concerns about salmon of the aboriginal peoples of washington state? | | | Q - How has the salmon fishery contributed to the culture(s) in your community? | |
A - Prior to 1995 the Bamfield harbour and other West Coast Harbours were at various times of year home to approximately 700 fishing vessels. These boats mostly Gillnetters or small Trollers used Ports like Bamfield as a home base. In Bamfield, McMillans fish camp bought their fish, Ostroms machine shop repaired their boats at a fair price and the Coast Guard rescued them when they were in distress. These small vessel owners some who lived here year round in turn bought their provisions fuel and others when storm bound. This helped with community projects. All in all everyone benefited. Today we have 7 vessels that work out of our community, 4 are First Nations 3 are not, none of them fish salmon exclusively.
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Jim Levis
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A - Because of the large amounts of salmon and other foods from the sea available, the culture developed and it is visible today with the totem poles and other art item such as baskets, masks, wall hangings, etc.
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Mary and Willard Jones
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A - The salmon fishery has shaped life in and around Steveston, British Columbia from pre-European time to the present. It has been a culture itself (a particular way of life and way of looking at the world), as well as drawn people of many cultures together within the culture of salmon fishing.
The Steveston area (occupying the southwest corner of Lulu Island, better known as the municipality of Richmond) was the site of First Nations fish camps before the commercial fishery began. Lulu and adjacent Sea Island (where the Vancouver airport is now) are bounded by the mighty Fraser River the biggest river contained in BC, and (once?) the worlds largest salmon producing river. The area was first settled by Europeans as a promising agricultural area, but soon the most prolific natural resource of the area drew attention: the salmon.
In the 1800s, there were 3 operating canneries in Steveston; by 1899, there were 15 operating canneries in Steveston alone and more than 40 along the lower Fraser. Canning salmon was big business (it has been referred to as BCs second gold rush) and many people came to work in the canneries. First Nation men and women, who had previously fished for personal use, now fished for and worked in the Canneries. Chinese labourers who had worked on completing the Canadian National Railway became the backbone of the cannery working force. The first Japanese fisherman is said to have arrived from a small Japanese fishing village in 1887; by 1900, over 1600 Japanese fishermen were licensed to fish salmon on the Fraser River! Many of these men had wives who also worked in the Canneries. So at the turn of the last century, the culture of salmon fishing was a diverse one: Chinese, First Nations and Japanese, as well as western Europeans, walked along the boardwalks of Steveston, drawn by what seemed then like a limitless bounty of salmon.
Over the decades, the face of the fishery on the lower Fraser, Steveston in particular, has changed. People immigrating to Canada from fishing villages all over the world gravitated to the west coast to fish the fabled salmon. Besides the Chinese, Japanese, First Nations and western Europeans, Greeks, Fins, Eastern Europeans, and in the 1980s, the Vietnamese, have shaped the culture of west coast salmon fishing. The village of Steveston reflects this multicultural heritage in its shops, businesses, and heritage.
But the times are changing, salmon fishing is closely monitored and the heyday of limitless fishing is over. There is now only one operating cannery on the South Arm of the Fraser (Steveston area); other fish processing (reduction) no longer operates out of Steveston. Steveston is slowly changing from a resource-based town, to a residential and tourist town. The last of the old canneries is now a museum (the Gulf of Georgia), and the once bustling Japanese boat yard is a Historic Site (Britannia). Condominiums are filling the spaces where the old canneries and reduction plants stood. The restaurants that once catered solely to the fishermen are changing their look and their menus to appeal to the non-fishing residents and tourists. Fish boats are still predominant along the docks, but many of them havent moved in a number of seasons. Gift shops, ice cream parlours, and fish and chip shops line the street and the piers.
Salmon is still the theme in Steveston, but now primarily as a line of souvenirs and a topic of historic commemoration.
General reference: Yesaki, M. and Steves, H. & K., Steveston, Cannery Row: An Illustrated History; Lulu Island Printing, 1998.
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Kathi Lees
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A - The salmon fishery contributes to the culture of my community by forming a work ethic in which people are very independent and self motivated and resourceful. Because the men were away so much the women became very self reliant and were not forced so much into traditional women's roles.
Because we rely on the environment to produce our livelihood we are environmentally aware but more in a stewardship/user sense than a spiritual sense.
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Bruce Burrows
| | |  | | Q - How have declining salmon stocks and changes in the salmon fishery affected the culture(s) in your community. | |
A - Today 68% or more of the salmon catch is controlled by Canfisco (a Jimmy Pattison Company). Their fleet of large Seine Boats are fueled and outfitted in the Richmond/Delta area. One of the area's 3 Members of Parliament is Herb Dhaliwal our Federal Fisheries Minister [ed: Dhaliwal is the MP for Vancouver South-Burnaby]. This company also controls 95% of the Herring catch. Herring is the base of the food chain. Barkley sound (Between Bamfield and Ucluelet) was a major spawning area for Herring. These fish are a major part of most salmon species' diet. These fish have been Seined to below sustainable levels. Our Fish plant is gone, our boat repair facility is gone and the people who contributed to our community well being are also gone.
Sport Fishing (Less than 5% of the overall Salmon catch), catering to Canadian and American consumers had been growing at a healthy rate due to an abundant supply and our continuing Low Dollar. The Department of Fisheries and Ocean's inability over the last 5 years to help us build a sound Conservation approach and a sustainable marketing plan has created serious problems within the Sportfishery. These ongoing issues and problems combined with the Forestry sector have crippled the West Coast Vancouver Island economy. Ecotourism up until September 11 had been a bright light, time will tell.
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Jim Levis
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A - Our community, and the area near here, has not been affected because there has been no decline in the salmon runs. The change has been because of moving from the smaller communities to larger towns. State regulations have limited the amount that we as Natives are allowed to catch for food. Salmon runs have declined greatly in Northern Alaska along the Yukon River and hatcheries in Prince William Sound have sent fish by airplane to their area so the dogs for the dog teams would have food.
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Mary and Willard Jones
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A - The decline in salmon stocks is not as great as everyone thinks. More important changes that affect my community are government policies that reduce employment in the fisheries, halibut and herring as well as salmon, and the dramatic decline in salmon prices that has reduced everyone's income. Because we are suffering economically there has been a conscious attempt to lighten our lives through various festivals and artistic events.
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Bruce Burrows
| | | | | Q - I read that the First Nations people used every part of the salmon and didn't waste a bit. I'm wondering why the non-Native settlers didn't have the same attitude towards the salmon. | |
A - Sometimes how a resource is used depends on your cultural training. Most Euro-Americans do not see the value of the salmon head or backbone, for example, as a good source of food. In fact, the salmon head and back are some of the most nutritious parts of the fish to eat. The head is where a lot of good fat is stored (to keep what brain the fish has (which is not much!) warm) and the back bone also has some very good fat too, since the spinal cord is fat rich. So fishheads and backs are often boiled in a "soup" or stew with vegetables and the plates of the skull (the fish skull is made up of a series of plates — so are yours', but they fuse when you get older) begin to come apart when boiled or baked and the meat and oil is sucked off. This is actually VERY tasty and good for you. The eyes (after discarding the lenses) is also very fat rich (and tasty) since it is mostly nerve cells which are very fatty.
The back bones are also sucked and broken off one by one. A Makah Indian Elder once told me "I bet you do not find the backbones together in your archaeological digs" — she was right, and the reason the vertebra are always found separately is because they bite off each one to get the fat out as a nutritional and tasty meal. So, in fact, most of the Euro-American cultures just do not realize the full potential of the fish, probably because they mainly come out of an agricultural background in making a living.
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Dale Croes
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A - The only part of the salmon that we don't eat is the head and guts and we often use that for crab bait or fertilizer.
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Bruce Burrows
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A - When a new people come into an area they bring their own foods that they are familiar with and because of the time needed to prepare our foods they preferred to import their own. The local people would move to camps for an extended time such as a month at a time. Each part of the salmon and the different varieties has its own flavor in how it is prepared and it is an acquired taste.
Today fish processors learn different ways of preparing salmon for their customers.
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Mary and Willard Jones
| | | | | Q - What kinds of salmon ceremonies were developed in Alaska prior to Russian occupation? | |
A - First Salmon (We don't say Ceremony because First Salmon means ceremony) Here in Washington State several tribes conduct First Salmon every year. Our oral history is as accurate as any written history, and is usually older than written histories. There are several versions of First Salmon, depending on species and area. First Salmon is a celebration and giving thanks to the Creator and Our relative the Salmon. When the first salmon is caught, runners are sent from village to village, everyone is happy, we always show a good heart. Everyone comes together, and First Salmon is brought from the water with honor. We thank First Salmon, and we show that we human relatives will conduct ourselves proper, then First Salmon's remains which carry his spirit is returned to the water, where he will go and encourage his whole family to come home.
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Rhonda Foster
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A - I do not know of any ceremonies is this area that are done with salmon.
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Mary and Willard Jones
| | | | | Q - Please explain the importance of rural subsistence preference to the Native cultures of Alaska. | |
A - Salmon subsistence is critical to many Tribes in Washington State. Please realize that Native Americans have a higher rate of sugar diabetes, heart attacks, and so on. It takes an average of 500 to 1000 years for a culture to adapt to an introduced food. So it makes common sense to continue to eat the traditional foods as much as possible. When whole schools of salmon are extinct in a waterway, we sometimes have to go to another tribe and trade for that species of fish. When we lost our blueback run (sockeye), the elders had me take them to the bay, they would stand there and cry. Then they would send me down to a tribe 80 miles away to trade for blueback. It is up to everyone to protect and manage salmon. Native American cultures depends on it.
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Rhonda Foster
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A - Subsistence - Probably the most important use of the salmon is the diet. The problem is the state constitution calls for every one to have equal assess to fish and game and federal government says that rural people have priority. Also it is a staple in feasting.
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Mary and Willard Jones
| | | | | Q - What are the Canadian First Nations' concerns involving the Pacific Salmon Treaty? | |
A - I should point out to you that I am not a First Nations citizen however as a Coastal Community spokesperson I believe that many if not all of the issues overlap. First Nation people have for centuries lived off the resources of the sea. Access to these resources are being severely restricted by a Government with offices thousands of miles away. The Canadian Federal government has demonstrated time and again that their pockets and political agendas are lined by the greed of the Corporate Canada Fleet.
Canfisco controls 100% of the Herring catch and between 68% and 80% of the salmon catch. In my area we have the Robertson Creek Fish Hatchery with this facility producing hundreds of thousands of Chinook salmon smolts. On their return home 60% of these fish are caught in Alaska leaving the people who produced them constantly worried about sustainability. Alaska, by targeting our fish, opens the door to our pursuing California, Oregon and Washington fish. This is however of little help and comfort to many of the First Nation Communities that live in the interior of British Columbia.
First Nations are looking for an equal opportunity to share in what is called in Canada a "Common Property Resource." Many First Nations' practise "Hishukish Ts'awalk" or "everything is one" as a management philosphy based on the interactive relationships of all the species. This is a hard concept to follow when First Nations and Coastal Communities are being denied access to those resources that have sustained them for decades if not centuries.
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Jim Levis
| | | | | Q - What are the concerns about salmon of the aboriginal peoples of washington state? | |
A - Although I do not know about the salmon treaty, I can speak to the concern of the salmon. Salmon are more then just a food source. Salmon are interwoven into our way of life. Currently most people think of management, how do we manage the salmon? We send our representatives to speak for us at big tables with other groups who are concerned about salmon. Bottom line, everyone wants salmon to keep living. Some want salmon to keep living so they can be caught and sold, some want salmon to live because salmon is a balance in the eco-system, some want salmon to catch on a pole called "sports" fishing, or others call it recreational fishing.
In the beginning of time, the Creator told of how we should conduct ourselves, all animals, all humans, how we should treat one another. We have many stories (legends) of humans and animals who did not follow the right path that keeps us all in balance. We heard what happens when we forget to do what we're supposed to do. Animals got most things right in the beginning, and the Creator makes sure to take care of them. Who do you think forgot how to conduct themselves??? Yes, humans did. Do we thank the Creator for all that He did, and continues to do for us? Do we thank salmon for caring so much about us that he gave his life, and was honored to do so? Now the humans are in fear, salmon could disappear. As for Our People, we thank the Creator for all that He gives us, and we thank Salmon for caring so much for us that he continues to come home. We hear of so many things that Salmon has to put up with, terrible water to breath and swim in, large nets in the ocean that catch everything for miles, not enough food for all of Salmon's big family, water temperature changing and making him sick, and other fish with diseases that salmon catches. What we should be amazed at is that Salmon is still alive, then we smile, The People's story isn't that much different then Salmons story, we too went through very difficult times. If you think out to the farthest star in our universe, and remember the Creator made it All, then we know why The People and Salmon are still alive.
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Rhonda Foster
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