W̱SÁNEĆ Hereditary Chiefs Protect Herring in Salish Sea
The Narwhal / Words by Stephanie Wood
With B.C.’s commercial herring fishery set to open in the Strait of Georgia on Sunday, Nov. 24, W̱SÁNEĆ hereditary chiefs are urgently trying to get a meeting with the federal government to get a moratorium in place.
Last week, the hereditary chiefs signed a declaration calling for a 20-year closure in the Strait of Georgia to allow herring to recover. They are asserting their Treaty Rights to fish as they did before contact, as protected in the Douglas Treaty. They are maintaining W̱SÁNEĆ Title and do not plan to back down, he says.
Before contact, First Nations had access to herring year round, he says. Herring provided a big feast in the spring, while smoked and dried fish lasted through the winter and served as a trade item.
Even in his own youth, WIĆKINEM recalls, fish were plentiful in the area. Right into the 1970s, herring was still a reliable food source. Then, the decline began. “Every year the spawning got worse until there was nothing,” he says.
“We were screaming for a closure.”
