Salmon Food Webs: SAANICH First Nation Peoples' Intrinsic Interconnectedness to Salmon Fishing and Conservation on Southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

The Saanich (Coast Salish) are an Indigenous people of southern Vancouver Island on the southwest coast of Canada who for many centuries have relied heavily on anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) as a major food source. Over time, Saanich fishers have become experts on many aspects of these salmon, including knowledge of the different species, their life cycles, feeding ecology, migration routes, and population dynamics. Much of this knowledge is centered at Saanich Inlet and Goldstream River, a major salmon spawning stream flowing into this inlet. Some Saanich and other Coast Salish people still fish for salmon at Goldstream using traditional gaff hooks and spears, but they have also adopted more modern gear in recent times. Pacific coho (O. kisutch) and chum (O. keta) salmon stocks in particular have fluctuated over the decades, evidently due to impacts of commercial fishing, pollution from oil leakage and domestic sewage in Saanich Inlet. Saanich fishers have practiced their own conservation protocols, as described in this chapter, and co-management opportunities have provided them with a broader voice in salmon conservation.