Chapter 11 - First Nations Perspectives on Sea Otter Conservation in British Columbia and Alaska: Insights into Coupled Human–Ocean Systems

Abstract

Highly valued, hunted, managed, and traded by indigenous people for at least 12,000 years, sea otters share a deep history of interactions with humans along North America’s northwest coast. Yet the nineteenth century extirpation and subsequent recovery of sea otters triggered profound ecological, cultural, and socio-economic transformations that continue to elicit complex trade-offs that coastal communities grapple with today. To expand our understanding of past baselines, future recovery targets, and the role First Nations in British Columbia and Alaska once played in altering and managing coastal resources, including sea otters, we synthesized evidence from archeological faunal remains, historical records, traditional knowledge, and contemporary ecological research. Archeological evidence suggests that sea otter hunting was a significant and widespread practice among aboriginal people in this area throughout the Holocene, although the magnitude of use varied spatially. Furthermore, isotopic evidence suggests that over the millennia, sea otters may have been reduced in numbers, existing below carrying capacity, and excluded near human settlements. Furthermore, traditional knowledge and historical records reveal that indigenous peoples of the northwest coast developed diverse technologies to conserve and manage coastal marine resources, such as selective harvesting, seasonal restrictions on use or consumption, and proprietorship that was contingent on sustained productivity. Ancient marine tenure systems and governance protocols based on reciprocity were used to conserve and spatially manage most marine species, including sea otters. Current First Nations perspectives on sea otter conservation and management vary among people and through time as sea otter population status changes, as communities adapt to this perturbation, and as new legal frameworks supporting First Nations rights to co-management emerge.