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Somass sockeye return doubles
In a race to beat Alaskan fi sheries to the market, First Nation boats sold 90,000 through an economic agreement
By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Port Alberni, BC - This year’s sockeye salmon return in the Somass River came in around double what the pre-season run size estimate was. While the Somass River pre-season forecast hovered around 400,000, it was re-forecasted to 950,000 as of July 28. It’s a trend that is being observed coastwide – from Bristol Bay to the Fraser River, according to Tseshaht First Nation Fisheries Manager Dave Rolston. “I think all the fi sheries benefi ted from increased numbers,” he said. Uu-a-thluk Deputy Program Manager Jim Lane said the bulk of the returning fi sh are four years old, meaning that ocean conditions were “favourable for their growth and survival” when they entered the ocean as juveniles in 2020. Forecast models that predict run sizes are made based on the assumed ocean survival at the time juvenile salmon enter the sea, he said. “And that’s unknown until they come back and you can see what their survival is,” Lane said. A management forecast is used to dictate the amount of allowable catch open to fi sheries, he added. It’s designed to be “precautionary” so that early returning fi sh are protected, Lane said. The management model is adjusted during the fi shing season as more information on the size of the run is gathered as the fi sh enter the system. This year’s wet spring and the high snowpack in B.C.’s higher mountain elevations contributed to high water levels that were cool in temperature at the beginning of the run. Because of these “favourable” conditions, Lane said the sockeye salmon quickly migrated up the river.
Photo by Eric Plummer Tseshaht member Ed Ross steers his boat on the Somass River in late July during the sockeye salmon run. The pre-season forecast hovered around 400,000, but it was re-forecasted to 950,000 as of July 28.
The challenge with this is that it’s diffi cult to gauge whether the salmon are simply migrating quickly, or if it’s a really big run, Lane said. “It’s confounding,” he said. All of these considerations go into the decision-making process, Lane said. The Somass River sockeye production originates in Great Central and Sproat Lakes. While the increased run size meant there were greater opportunities for fi shermen to generate revenue, Rolston said the fi shery was “constrained by the initial run-size estimate.” By the time the run-size was re-forecasted, Lane said a lot of the fi sh had already swam up the river. It’s a balancing act between being “very cautious” about how the run is regulated, while also trying to “provide an opportunity for people to earn a living,” Rolston said. “It [was] kind of a scratch fi shery,” he said. “People put hours and hours in and only got small amounts of fi sh.” Towards the end of the sockeye run, Rolston said there were “quite a number of tired fi shermen who spent many, many hours fi shing for not a lot of fi sh.” Les Sam was among the fi rst fi shermen on the Somass River at the beginning of the season in June. Because the water was so high and fast, many didn’t risk it and waited until the middle of the run, he said. “The fi shing was pretty treacherous in the early part of the run,” he said. “I lost a little bit of gear. I ripped up nets on snags and stuff . If the fast water pushes you onto something, it’s hard to pull it off .” Sam keeps a knife at the front and the back of the boat in case he needs to cut himself free. “You have to have caution and fear and understanding of what can happen if things go wrong,” he said. The 65-year-old has been fi shing since he was taught by his father when he was only fi ve years old. For Sam, the risk of losing gear is worth being out on the water early. “I’m a fi sherman,” he said. “I have to catch fi sh to make a living.” Around 28,000 sockeye salmon were given to Tseshaht members through the community distribution, Rolston said. Meanwhile, the total catch between Tseshaht and Hupačasath First Nations’ economic opportunity fi shery was just over 90,000, he said. French Creek Fresh Seafood and Hub City Fish Market are two of the economic opportunity fi shery’s largest buyers, while smaller brokers and roadside sales make up the rest, Rolston said. If the fi shery is able to get sockeye to the market before Bristol Bay or any other Alaskan fi shery opens, Rolston said they’re usually able to charge around $4.50 per pound. But as soon as Bristol Bay opens, Rolston said “they just fl ood the market with sockeye.” This can cause the market value to drop to around $2.50 per pound, he added. “At that point, there’s more incentive for our members to get more money for their fi sh by selling roadside or to specialty buyers,” Rolston said. Now that the sockeye run has mostly passed, fi shermen are preparing for the Chinook. “It’s kind of the money fi sh,” Rolston said. Although the openings are shorter, chinook are typically more valuable because they’re the largest of the Pacifi c salmon. The 2022 forecast return of the Stamp River and the Robertson Creek Hatchery adult chinook to Barkley Sound and the Alberni Inlet is 135,000. After a period of a modest increase among wild populations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) wrote that chinook salmon escapements have been decreasing over the last four years for many wild stocks. Fewer than 100 spawning salmon have been observed in some rivers in the South West Vancouver Island in recent years. “Wild West Coast of Vancouver Island chinook therefore remains a stock of concern,” the DFO wrote. While Rolston said it’s easy to “get caught in depression” around changes to the ocean environment, “there’s always hope.” “Every fi sherman has to be optimistic,” he said. “You also need to be realistic – especially if you’re trying to earn a living.”
Design unveiled with pledge for a ‘working forest’
Huu-ay-aht and Western Forest Products introduce logo as part of their plan for a more sustainable industry
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
Port Alberni, BC - The Huu-ay-aht First Nation and Western Forest Products unveiled a design this week to be placed throughout their partnership company, with attention to a more holistic approach to using natural resources than what has been practiced in the past. On Tuesday, Aug. 2 C̕awak ʔqin Forestry presented the new logo at its Franklin River Road offi ce south of Port Alberni, with dozens of representatives present from the local Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations, as well as municipal and provincial governments. Translating as ‘we are one’ in the Nuu-chah-nulth language, C̕awak ʔqin is a partnership between Western and the Huu-ay-aht’s Huumiis Ventures. C̕awak ʔqin Forestry manages Tree Farm Licence 44, a 137-hectare section of Crown forest south of Port Alberni and Great Central Lake. Designed by father and son Huu-ay-aht members Ed Johnson Sr. and Edward R. Johnson, the logo depicts a bear digging its claws into two fi sh, with a tree growing in the centre. During the unveiling event the younger Johnson told a story of how the bear got its claws. “The eagle saw a bear trying to catch a salmon in the river,” he said. “He wasn’t very successful, he didn’t have claws then. The eagle gifted him claws.” C̕awak ʔqin Forestry is using the logo to illustrate how resources will be managed sustainably. “The bear represents the forest, it represents the rivers. The bear hunts, it seeks out the salmon,” said Johnson, who is a Huu-ay-aht elected councillor. “The tree represents our forest. Together it creates a cycle.” The design serves as another indication of the growing role the Huu-ay-aht are taking in the industry through its partnership with Western Forest Products. Forestry now accounts for 60 to 75 per cent of annual revenue generated by the Huu-ay-aht Group of Businesses, and the number of the First Nation’s members employed in the industry has grown from two in 1995 to 44. “It’s time that we showcase to the world that we know how to manage a forest,” said Huu-ay-aht Chief Councillor Robert Dennis Sr. on Aug. 2. “We’re very glad to work with Western because, in actuality when got down to the depth of things, we found that we actually have very similar goals, very similar objectives.” But this wasn’t always the case for the Barkley Sound First Nation and the logging companies that operated in its territory. For generations the Huu-ay-aht were left out of harvesting decisions and profi ts, as found by a Specifi c Claims Tribunal in 2014 with a ruling concerning the management of forest from 1948 to 1969, after the land was sold to MacMillan Bloedel. That ruling brought a $13.8 million settlement for the First Nation, but by 1997 historical damage was evident, as 62 per cent of the Sarita River watershed had been logged, including 97 per cent of the fl ood plain. “I can remember Chief Louie Nookemis telling the logging companies way back in the ‘40s, you shouldn’t log to the rivers, don’t log by the salmon streams, avoid that. Leave some trees on the hillside so there’s runoff ,” recalled Dennis. “These were all things that back then were irrelevant to the managers of the day, but if you look at our history, they were talking about stewardship values long before we started putting them on paper.” But the future will be diff erent in the region, said Shannon Janzen, C̕awak ʔqin Forestry’s board chair and vice-president of Partnerships and Sustainability with Western. “Today is about demonstrating shared values, shared commitment, and the change that we want to see in the world,” she said. “We’re going to see the forest for more than just trees - to manage things sustainably going forward, for fi sh, for wildlife, and to ensure the future is secure for every one who is working here in the working forest.” The need for change in how B.C.’s forests are managed was evident in a 2020 report from the province’s Old Growth Strategic Review Panel, which noted a “paradigm shift” in how the public views the resource’s environmental and cultural importance. Approximately 50,000 people across the province are still employed in forestry, but the government is predicting 4,500 jobs that will be lost as harvests decline by 12 per cent over the next three years, according to the B.C. budget released earlier this year. In a measure to better protect old growth forests, last year the province announced 1.7 million hectares of harvest deferrals across B.C. Workers and people reliant on the forestry industry protested across the West Coast, including hundreds who held up Port Alberni’s main road in December outside of the offi ce of the area’s MLA Josie Osborne. While she addressed the Anacla Old Growth Summit in April, Forestry Minister Katrine Conroy called the deferrals a “temporary measure to prevent irreversible loss”, while noting that a complete ban on old growth logging isn’t reasonable. The Huu-ay-aht have spoken about lowering the annual allowable cut on its treaty settlement land under what would otherwise be permitted on provincial Crown land. But the First Nation has also contended that ceasing all old growth harvesting would be unviable economically and deprive its citizens of a cultural practice that has taken place for thousands of years. A technical analysis released by C̕awak ʔqin Forestry in April found that three quarters of old growth in TFL 44 is either protected or outside of land where timber can be harvested. With current measures in place, the Huu-ay-aht are predicting that the volume of old growth in its territory will actually grow over the next generation, as more stands reach the 250year mark. Alberni Clayoquot Regional District Chair John Jack says that First Nations and businesses that work together can bring a more sustainable future for natural resources. “I’m very interested in the conversations that we’ll have with the contractors and the unions from an Indigenous perspective, because that’s a very important aspect of reconciliation,” said Jack, who is also an elected councillor with the Huu-ay-aht. “This is a solution that will not only serve as an example for the rest of the province and potentially for the rest of the country, but also one that will bring us into the future for generations.”
Photo by Holly Stocking On Aug. 2 a new design for C̕awak ʔqin Forestry was unveiled outside the company’s offi ce on Franklin River Road, south of Port Alberni.
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If you should be getting a copy of the Ha-Shilth-Sa paper delivered to your home and you are not, please contact: Holly Stocking at 250-724-5757 or email holly.stocking@nuuchahnulth.org
Photos by Eric Plummer Freight is loaded to the MV Uchuck III on Aug. 6 in Muchalaht Bay. The Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation plans to build a tourism centre at the site south of Gold River.
Mowachaht/Muchalaht plans a welcome house for tourism in Nootka Sound
By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Gold River, BC - Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation is one step closer to building a new welcome house in Nootka Sound, with funding support from Island Coastal Economic Trust’s Capital (ICET) and Innovation Program. The Ahaminaquus Welcome House will function as a visitor centre, community hub and museum. It will also host ceremonies, workshops and educational sessions focusing on the nation and settler history in the region, including Captain Cook’s fi rst landing in Nootka Sound in 1778. Azar Kamran, Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation CEO and administrator, said the nation’s culture will be highlighted through signage and art. Located 13 kilometers from the village of Gold River, the project represents a key component of the nation’s redevelopment plans for their Ahaminaquus lands. Kamran said the house is a “very small piece of the overall development strategy” the nation is working on. A new RV park and campground, trail network and satellite museum on Nootka Island are also in the planning phase. “The nation believes economic development in its territories is vitally linked to forestry, fi shery and tourism,” said Kamran. “Ahaminaquus Welcome House is a major fi rst step in coordinating [the] tourism industry in the region … further promoting Nootka Sound as an adventure destination on Vancouver Island.” Built with cedar wood planks and Douglas fi r beams, the house’s design will refl ect the traditional style of Nuu-chahnulth architecture, according to ICET. While the trust is contributing $300,000 additional funding is needed to bring the $1,303,000 welcome house to life. Founded by the province in 2016, the Island Coastal Economic Trust has approved over $55 million towards economic development initiatives which have attracted more than $270 in new investment to Vancouver Island and the surrounding region. “This project signifi cantly expands the region’s tourism infrastructure, providing increased capacity to meet existing and future demand for authentic Indigenous and west coast experiences,” said Aaron Stone, ICET board chair. “The welcome house will support the dispersion of visitors from saturated markets to rural, remote and underserved areas.” Kamran said the welcome house will be a place where visitors can stop in to ask questions about the region. “[It’ll be] a launching ground for all the various activities that visitors can do in the region,” he said. Mowachaht/Muchalaht’s welcome house and tourism development plan has been “long awaited,” said Kamran. “This is just the very start,” he said.
Submitted video still Changing Perspectives: What has been the impact of colonization on the people of Yuquot? Is a 15-minute documentary fi lm set for release online in January. Film presents Yuquot to a wider audience
A new documentary aims to educate middle school students about the ancestral home of Mowachaht Nation
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
Yuquot, BC - The 30th anniversary of Yuquot Summerfest included a screening of a recently completed fi lm that introduces the ancestral home of the Mowachaht people to a wider audience. Titled Changing Perspectives: What has been the impact of colonization on the people of Yuquot?, the 15-minute documentary incorporates new footage of the historic village site, interviews with elders, archive photographs and animation to present an overview of Yuquot’s importance. Long considered the centre of the world for Mowachaht/Muchalaht people, by the late 18th century the village site on the southern edge of Nootka Island had become the capital for 17 tribes in Nootka Sound. The West Coast’s fi rst fur trading post was established nearby, after contact occurred with Europeans in the late 1700s. The fi lm is expected to be available for online viewing in January in English and French, as part of a collection of other video pieces to be presented on a website that delves into the eff ects of colonization on certain First Nations. “Ultimately you’ll come to a website, which is about a one-hour experience of short fi lms that look at the Yuquot story, the Heiltsuk story, an introduction to what was it like before the Europeans came here,” said the fi lm’s producer Timothy Bateman. “And then we unpack why were the Europeans coming here, what were they looking for? What was [Captain] Vancouver trying to do? And fi nally, we look at navigation and ship design from the European perspective.” “We even have some fun ones in there that talk about the language, how sailors speak - when people say, ‘Loose the sheets’ and things like that,” added Paul Lowry of Gloo Studios, which produced the fi lm. A target audience is school children in Grades 4 to 8. Worksheets and learning materials will also be provided for teachers. “We’re trying to build a really all-encompassing educational experience for middle school kids,” said Lowry. “The end result is an online experience. It’s a digital museum, a virtual museum.” But Bateman emphases that the fi lm is ultimately for the people of the Mowachaht/ Muchalaht First Nation, as close consultations were conducted since the project began in the spring of 2019. “We really wanted to produce something that was useful from their point of view,” he said. A central source of research became the Yuquot Agenda Paper, a document that the First Nation submitted to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 1997 to gain Yuquot recognition as a National Historic Site. The primary message in this paper was led by the late Tyee Ha’wilth Ambrose Maquinna. “This region has been the homeland of our ancestors since the beginning of time,” reads the document. “It is our home today and will continue to be for future Mowachaht/Muchalaht generations.” But the agenda paper also notes a historical distrust among the First Nation of Parks Canada “as a result of numerous plans to develop Yuquot in the past”. “These plans were consistently resisted by the community as their views and concerns were never seriously considered but were dominated by the process of government bureaucracy,” continues the paper. Historian Dylan Burrows, who is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, worked to ensure the project didn’t veer from the First Nation’s perspective. “Quite often outsiders come to simply to extract information to further their own careers, whether you’re an archaeologist or just a scholar,” cautioned Burrows of dealings with remote First Nations. He conducted interviews with key Mowachaht/Muchalaht members, and the fi lm features footage of Tyee Ha’wilth Michael Maquinna, Margaretta James, president of the Land of Maquinna Cultural Society, and Ray Williams, who has lived in Yuquot for nearly all of his life. “The project itself is also supplemental to the histories that already exist within the community,” explained Burrows. “Elders hold a lot of knowledge of what we’ve already spoken about in the video. We presented it in an easy, accessible format for youth to listen to and, importantly, enable them to recontextualize the present.” The fi lm also uses footage from The Washing of Tears, a 1994 National Film Board documentary that presents life for the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community while living on the Ahaminaquus reserve south of Gold River. Starting in 1966, the First Nation underwent a process of relocating from Yuquot to the 3.6 hectare area on Muchalaht Bay. But the new home proved to be a drastic change from the southern shore of Nootka Island. A new pulp mill was next to the reserve, tormenting the community with noise and pollution for years, according to the late Chief Jerry Jack, who appears in the fi lm. In 1996 the community moved further inland to Tsaxana, where they remain today. Changing Perspectives was funded by Digital Museums Canada, part of the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa.
Gathering returns to First Nation’
