Occupying the Land - Digital Library Of The Commons

The burgeoning field of traditional environmental/ecological knowledge study hascertainly shown that the world’s indigenous peoples have long-term knowledge abouttheir own territories that often exceeds scientific data in both detail and understanding. Assurvival was the driving force that shaped systems of interaction with the natural world,we suggest that it was also the catalyst for developing the ethics and practice ofstewardship. In order for the effort expended on encouraging resource abundance orexpansion to be attractive, a system of proprietary control to ensure exclusive harvestrights is required.Control and exclusion of others from harvesting sites and areas may well be the primaryunderpinning for any concept of resource ownership. As our documented examples anddiscussion demonstrate, by the time of European contact in the late 1700s, First Nations’territorial systems of ownership reflected a high level of complexity and diversity, as didtheir languages and cultures. Equally complex systems of traditional resourcemanagement that must have co-developed with these ownership principles are alsoclearly suggested in the examples. In the case of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Hereditary ChiefEarl Maquinna George, quoted earlier in his explanation of their Hahuulhi system,highlights the extent to which culture, ownership and resource management areinterwoven (pers comm. to NT, May 10 1996)....And they talked about it at the potlatch because big name hereditary chiefs wererespected. And they talked about how the system would work. That they wereallowed to fish in the territory that had a good seasonal salmon run.... There werespecial people that looked after the creek, not the chief. They had people thatworked to do the cultural work of the stream.Salmon makes a good example for examining the magnitude of First Nations’ harvestingin traditional times, since anthropologist Gordon Hewes (1973:136) has calculated theper-capita average annual salmon requirements at 230 kg (500 lbs). A population of100,000 would have consumed 23,000,000 kg; 200,000 -> 46, 000,000: and 400,000 ->92,000,000 kg (or 100,000 tons) annually. Yet, for some time after European contact,reports and anecdotal accounts describing prodigious salmon abundance are frequentlyfound in the archival records. It is not likely that such abundance could have endured thisharvest pressure without strictly controlled systems of territorial and fishing siteownership coupled with effective stewardship practices.Heiltsuk hereditary chief Edwin Newman eloquently captures the essence of thisrelationship between survival, exclusive ownership and stewardship in a videodocumentary which examines aboriginal fisheries: Laxwesa Wa, The Strength of a River:Survival of Heiltsuk people is totally dependent on the resources of the sea. Wehave nothing else . . .Every family owned fishing sites in the old days, [you]know. You got areas where people dried herring eggs. Certain families ownedcertain areas. Not everybody went to the same place; you had to have a right togo there. We looked after all the salmon streams. We even had our own halibutgrounds, our own black cod grounds and our salmon streams; we looked afterthem. We made sure that nothing was going to happen to the runs that came back.We never abused it in any way. So we are natural conservationists. We’ve been20