October 2001
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A
Look Around the Islands
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Base map by John Broadhead
Illustrations by Lynn Lee
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Welcome
by Lynn Lee
WELCOME to the first issue of Marine Matters, a
periodical for Haida Gwaii communities about happenings in and on the
waters around the islands.
The funny thing about the ocean is that it always
looks about the same on the surface ~ whether or not the fish swim, the
dolphins play and or the abalone merrily graze away. On calm days the
sea appears smooth and glassy, and on stormy days the sea looks angry
with pounding surf and crashing waves. Twice each day, low tides offer
us fleeting glimpses into the lives of our marine neighbours. If we go
out at very low tides, we get an even better sense of the kaleidoscope
of life beneath the waves and, if we’re in luck, a taste of
the living treasures that spend all their lives in the saltwater. Put a
fishing lure in the water and you may bring up a rockfish, halibut,
salmon, greenling, sole, blackcod, dogfish, ratfish, skate –
maybe even a sea cucumber, sandlance or jingle shell (all possible
based on personal experience!). If you’re a SCUBA diver, you
are truly blessed with a window into the world of kelp forests and
eelgrass beds, and all the creatures that call those places home.
Marine Matters is about appreciating what lives,
swims, crawls, floats and breathes in the ocean. It’s about
how human activities and industries affect it all. And it’s
about how we as an island community can work together using our
collective wisdom to leave a legacy of respect and wise use of the land
and sea around us. We hope that as you read and talk about it,
you’ll decide that ~ yes indeed ~ marine matters! And trust
just as we care for ourselves, we need to care for the marine
environment and life that support us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Your
feedback is appreciated ~ comments, issues or information that you
would like to know about, short articles, upcoming related marine
events. Please drop me a line to help make this a truly community-based
journal of marine matters on Haida Gwaii!
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Metamorphosis
by Lynn Lee
Haida Gwaii, Island of the People, is an
archipelago of islands and ocean intimately woven into the collective
consciousness of those who call it home. The Haida have lived along
these shores for well over 12,000 years. Haida villages have punctuated
the coastline, prospering upon gifts of fish, shellfish and seaweed,
cedar, spruceroots, berries and other vegetation for earthly,
spiritual, and cultural nourishment. Still today, many of us who live
here live with the seasons. The returning salmon herald the Fall
harvest including fish, berries and mushrooms. Trout fishing and
shellfish gathering happen through the Winter. Seaweed, nettles, cedar
bark and halibut are collected in the Spring. Harvesting of fish and
shellfish and gathering of roots and berries take us through the Summer.
The ability to live with the land and sea remains
here in spite of the modern, fast-paced industrial world which
surrounds us. This choice is a legacy that we would be wise to protect
for future generations who will certainly be challenged by a future far
different from the world we know today.
Change is the story of Haida Gwaii, the story of
nature. Geologic history tells us of transitions from the great last
ice age, transforming coastlines and shifting plants and animals from
ice-free areas to the valleys and shores we see today. Haida history
speaks from the time of ice woman to the first cedar tree to
transitions from once many self-sufficient coastal villages to a few
large “modern” communities, where families moved to
survive smallpox epidemics and other introduced diseases. European
traders and settlers drove the rise and fall of homestead lands, clam
canneries, abalone drying stations, whaling stations, fish processing
plants, salmon canneries, mining townsites and logging camps. Although
people’s diets have radically changed, gathering food and
plant materials from the land and sea are an important part of life for
people in every island community, and are critical to the Haida way of
life.
Today, modern industry and consumer society
coexist with traditional ways of life. But modern industry and global
markets have taken a clear toll on the islands and the oceans. Wild
fish and shellfish populations are declining and disappearing
coast-wide, and the aquaculture industry is pressing to fill the gap in
market demand. Overfishing, logging, siltation and pollution, changing
climate and ocean conditions – it’s no wonder that
what we once though was “renewable resource
management” has devolved into political and biological crisis
control and collapsing coastal economies.
Past fisheries and land management practices have
clearly failed many marine species. Salmon populations have declined,
with local extinctions and reduction in numbers throughout the coast.
Over 40 streams on Haida Gwaii have been identified as barren of
once-significant salmon runs. Northern abalone populations remain
critically low despite ten years of a ban on fishing. Pacific cod
populations in Hecate Strait are at historic lows. Haida Gwaii herring
spawning populations have been reduced to less than 20 percent of
historic levels – a loss surely felt by the entire web of
marine life.
Two or three generations ago, we thought there was
no end to our vast natural resources of wild lands and wild animals. So
we “used” them as such. Now in the world the
buffalo herds are gone, as are the passenger pigeon, great auk, dodo
bird, sea cow, and many more. Today, the list of plants, animals and
habitat threatened by human industry continues to grow. In living
memory we have witnessed the local extirpation of sea otters, near
extinction of whale species, periodic collapses of dogfish, pilchard,
herring and lingcod populations, and local collapses of rockfish and
abalone populations.
So where does that leave us on Haida Gwaii? At a
crossroads, or in a cross-current. Modern resource extraction
industries are clearly not sustainable. The appetite of modern global
markets and fishing technology overwhelm the ability of marine life to
renew and replenish itself. Food gathering and commercial activity is
necessary for us to survive as healthy communities, but we obviously
need to find a way to weigh short-term dollar values against the risks
and benefits of a more sustainable approach to fisheries management.
It is time to take the road less traveled
– to learn from the past and take responsibility for the
future. Optimists say that it is not too late for the North Pacific,
the fish and the people who live here. There are good news stories. It
is possible to reverse the damage caused by bad management. Since the
halt of industrial whaling on this side of the Pacific, grey whale
populations have successfully recovered and humpback whales are growing
in numbers. Localized sea otter populations, once extinct in coastal
BC, are rebuilding and expanding their home range. Pilchard have
returned to our coast since their virtual disappearance since they were
fished out in the early to mid-1900s “reduced” into
fertilizer. The most important change of all is that coastal people
clearly recognize that there is a problem in our oceans and that we are
responsible for fixing it.
On the East Coast, lobster fishermen have devised
“radical” management strategies that protect
significant areas of good lobster habitat from fishing.
They’ve been rewarded with sustained and, in some places,
increased harvest rates in waters outside the protected areas. Inshore
rockfish fishermen have recognized the need for areas in which
commercial rockfish fishing is not allowed to help ensure the long-term
viability of their fishery. Rockfish Protection Areas are now being
designated throughout the coast. In fact, all over the world, different
forms of “marine protected areas” and other
fisheries management tools are being used by First Nations, local
communities and fishing groups who are taking responsibility for the
well being of the marine life they depend on for their own.
As an Island community, Haida Gwaii has always
recognized that we need to cooperate in order to survive, to make
things better. Within our communities, the Haida maintain a living
legacy of names and stories about our rich marine heritage; fisher men
and women have accumulated generations of experience on the waters
around Haida Gwaii in work and recreation. We have a rich collective
knowledge that only needs to join with our collective sense of
responsibility for community well-being to create a strong voice and
meaningful role in managing and restoring marine life in Haida Gwaii.
Despite our occasionally differing
views, we share common passion for life on Haida Gwaii. For no other
reason than making this a better place for our children and theirs, it
is time to learn about the issues, engage in informed debate, make our
voices heard, and take thoughtful united action.
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The
Search for Solutions...
by Lynn Lee
The challenge is this: If things were different,
what would they look like?
We are beginning to talk with Haida elders, fisher
men and women, fish plant operators, tour operators, scientists, and
knowledgeable people in the communities who are willing to share their
thoughts and experiences on marine matters in Haida Gwaii. From these
individual and small group discussions, we hope to sift out some of our
collective wisdom – local solutions to local concerns about
the use of marine resources. We hope that this information about marine
life cycles, ecological roles and past management results will inform
and inspire the next step: a community dialogue about an Island vision
of responsible, sustainable management of marine resource industries on
Haida Gwaii.
- Why is the ocean important to you?
- What is your view of the health of our ocean?
- What do you know about how our ocean and marine
resources are being managed now?
- How were they managed in the past?
- How would you like to see them managed in the
future?
- What did fishing and harvesting used to be like?
- What are your concerns for today and the future?
- What are your solutions to those concerns?
HOWA and THANK YOU ~ We look forward to talking
with you!
If you would like to contact us to talk about you
concerns, we would be happy to hear from you.
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Rain
Drops
cartoon by Berry Wijdeven

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