Abstract
First published advance online December 16, 2019Thunder Bay is the largest city in Northwestern Ontario and is located on the northern shore of Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake. While fishing and fish consumption are significant parts of the Thunder Bay area’s food systems, the ability to purchase fish that are caught and processed in the region is extremely limited. While the lake once had an abundance of commercial fishing activity, today there are only a handful of commercial fishers left on the Canadian side and most of the catch is sold in the United States. In recent years, there have been growing efforts among community groups, local entrepreneurs, citizens, and Indigenous communities to enhance the sustainability of local food systems and ensure they can provide accessible, healthy, and culturally-appropriate foods, including fish. This article uses a “fish as food” framework to explore how policies and governance impact small-scale commercial fisheries in the Thunder Bay area’s food systems. Based on twenty-five interviews with a diverse range of actors involved in fisheries, as well as a review of policies in the interrelated areas of fisheries management and food systems, we look at the barriers and potential opportunities for reintegrating small-scale commercial fisheries into food systems in the Thunder Bay area. Our findings indicate that fisheries governance is dominated by top-down approaches to resource management, to the detriment of equity, livelihoods, and access to local fish for consumption.
Highlights
Small-scale fisheries play a vital role in supporting food access and nutrition, as well as in maintaining traditional foodways and local economies for populations living in the world’s rural and remote regions (Bell et al, 2015; Dey, Gosh, Valmonte-Santos, & Rosegrant, 2016; Loring, Gerlach, & Harrison, 2013). This is especially true in places where there is a historical and cultural connection to fishing and limited access to fresh vegetables and other domesticated meats (Islam and Berkes, 2016; Lowitt, 2013).This has been true for the Thunder Bay area, Northwestern Ontario’s largest city, located on the north shore of Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area. and it is rich in biodiversity supporting over thirty native species of fish and many species of birds, amphibians, and mammals along its expansive coastline and on over 2,500 islands (Lake Superior Partnership, 2016; Minnesota Sea Grant, 2014)
Drawing on our interviews with fisheries actors across the Lake Superior region, background information, and a review of relevant policy documents, we address each of these elements in turn
Summary
Small-scale fisheries play a vital role in supporting food access and nutrition, as well as in maintaining traditional foodways and local economies for populations living in the world’s rural and remote regions (Bell et al, 2015; Dey, Gosh, Valmonte-Santos, & Rosegrant, 2016; Loring, Gerlach, & Harrison, 2013) This is especially true in places where there is a historical and cultural connection to fishing and limited access to fresh vegetables and other domesticated meats (Islam and Berkes, 2016; Lowitt, 2013).This has been true for the Thunder Bay area, Northwestern Ontario’s largest city, located on the north shore of Lake Superior. The majority of the settler population are of European and Scandinavian descent while Indigenous people make up almost 13% of the city’s population, the highest proportion of urban Indigenous population in southern Canada (Statistics Canada, 2016). Many people are unable to access healthy and preferred foods, with new Canadians, lone-parent families, youth, Indigenous peoples, seniors, women, and racialized peoples vulnerable (Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy, 2015)
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