Skip to main content

Fishing-Traditional Fisheries Management Practices

Fishing-Traditional Fisheries

 

Sustaining a viable fishery was crucial to the survival and wealth of the people. Traditional knowledge pertaining to fishing would have been passed down to the younger generations. For some, the responsibility of managing family fishing sites may have been passed on to them by a relative. Individuals also could have been chosen to become a Salmon Chief at a specific fishing sites and/or areas, such as Kettle Falls.

There are key differences among generalized hunter-gatherers and complex hunter-gatherers. Peoples of the western Plateau, including the Sinixt Nation, are classified as complex hunter-gatherers that controlled access to optimal fishing and hunting locations and participated in elite trade. Such evolution and organization among Sinixt People were essential in order to manage a sustainable fishery for themselves and other Nations, including generations to come.

Some management practices were simple, yet effective. For example, only fish that we not able to clear the falls were open to the fishery. In this way, strength of the genetic stock was maintained as only the fittest passed on to spawn. Other traditional management practices were more complex, such as Salmon Chiefs.

Traditionally, people became Salmon Chiefs through their lineage and certain fishing sites were owned by the eldest families. Vance Robert Campbell, Sinixt Headman, explains how both the Salmon Chief and family fishing sites were highly respected by the people. It was the Salmon Chief who made all of the important decisions involving fisheries.

One responsibility of the Salmon Chief was to decide how many fish were caught in order to maintain a sustainable food source for generations yet to come. It was the Sinixt who managed Kettle Falls and made decisions about how the fishery was utilized by their own people and 6 other tribes. They decided exactly who fished where and how much they could catch. Paul Kane wrote in his journal that one Salmon Chief’s basket at Kettle Falls was said to contain on average 400 salmon per day during 1847 and could catch up to 1700 during the peak of the salmon run (Russell Harper 1971).

Dave Jane and his brother Herman are also remembered by Campbell as being one of the last Sinixt salmon distributors for the Sinixt. Certain people were chosen to transport the fresh salmon from the fishing sites to different villages and distribute the salmon to the People. From this point, people could prepare the fish any way they wanted but drying the fish was a common method as it would last throughout the winter.

Lawney Reyes, in his book entitled 'The Legacy of White Grizzly Bear: Learning to Be Indian', shared the following about Salmon Chiefs:

During the salmon harvest, the head authority at the falls [Kettle Falls] was the appointed Salmon Chief. Before any nets or traps were set or fishermen were positioned, he stood near the lower Falls, facing downriver, and prayed. The Salmon Chief welcomed the arrival of the chinook. He apologized and thanked those salmon that would be speared or taken in the traps. He assured the chinook that most would be allowed to go upriver to spawn and bring forth their young. The Salmon Chief spoke the traditional greeting to the chinook every year in June when the great runs began. It was the responsibility of the Salmon Chief to see that the closely related tribes shared equally in all salmon that were caught. Other tribes that came to fish at the falls were also treated fairly by the Salmon Chief, and they were always welcome.

According to the Sin- Aikst [Sinixt] tradition, the first Salmon Chief was chosen by coyote. Coyote made beaver the Salmon Chief. You will become chief over all of them. You must share the salmon with everybody who comes. There will always be enough for everyone. You must never be greedy and you must see to it that no one else is greedy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Catch and Prepare Eels

Catch and Prepare Eels To most anglers, eels are bait. To others, they are a damn good fighting fish and prime table fare Eels aren’t glamorous. In fact, among fishermen, eels generally fall under the classification of undesirable—unless you’re using them to catch stripers and cobia, but that’s an entirely different story. But here’s a quick story about eels—at least, one of my earliest remembrances of them—that may make you appreciate their virtues. It was a sweltering summer weekend in Hunterdon County, N.J. I was just out of high school, and after cutting the grass for Mrs. Scheier, our former high school health teacher, Chris “River Rat” Lido and I had big plans. We “borrowed” a half-empty bottle of Jameson whiskey from the Scheier’s liquor cabinet and set up tent stakes on the muddy banks of the South Branch of the Raritan River for an overnighter. There, we rigged up and cast out nightcrawlers, gently laying our rods down on V-sticks broken from the nearest oak tree. It didn’t ta...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Beginner’s Guide to Fishing - Catching Your First Fish

How to pick the right bait and the right tactics for 6 species of freshwater fish   For most serious fishermen, it was their family and friends who showed them the basics of the sport. But not everyone was lucky enough to have been mentored to a lifetime of outdoor fun pursuing and catching fish.   The good news is, learning to fish isn’t difficult. And it offers never-ending challenges in the outdoors. Even old hands at the game can learn about new types of tackle, baits, and lures. What’s more, there’s an infinite variety of subtle nuances that can make fishing challenging enough for a lifetime. Fishing can be done virtually anywhere there’s water, and for little cost. United States is blessed with great fishing from coast to coast—in thousands of lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and sprawling reservoirs. The following fish species are common to many of America’s freshwaters. Each has its own habits, habitats, preferred baits, lures, and methods for catching th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fishing-Fish Species - Take Me Fishing

Fishing-Fish Species Both resident fish populations and massive runs of anadromous fish, particularly salmon, were crucial to Sinixt People and all western Plateau populations. According to 'Complex Hunter-Gatherers' by Prentiss and Kujit, "salmon provided an accessible, high-density, storable protein and fat source, crucial for winter survival on the Plateau." Early Chinook salmon runs and late steelhead trout runs occurred during spring. A variety of salmon species were abundant by mid-summer, including chinook, sockeye, pink, and Coho. In terms of resident fish species, white sturgeon, bull trout, rainbow trout (including Gerrard rainbow trout) and mountain white fish were all important fresh food sources. Once spring arrived, Sinixt people living all over their vast traditional territory would travel down the Columbia to gather at Kettle Falls. AS Sinixt descendent Lawney Reyes wrote," The great harvest of salmon began in June, when mature salmon returned fro...
Post a Comment
Read more