Indigenous peoples and salmon stewardship: a critical relationship

Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability

article

Courtney Carothers¹  Jessica Black¹  Stephen J. Langdon²  Rachel Donkersloot³  Danielle Ringer¹  Jesse Coleman⁴  Erika R. Gavenus⁵  Wilson Justin⁶  Mike Williams⁸  Freddie Christiansen^1,10  Jonathan Samuelson⁹  Carrie Stevens¹  Brooke Woods¹  S. Jeanette Clark^1,13  Patricia M. Clay^1,14  Liza Mack^1,15  Julie Raymond-Yakoubian^1,16  Andrea Akall'eq Sanders^1,17  Benjamin L. Stevens^1,18  Alex Whiting^1,19 

[1]University of Alaska Fairbanks

[2]University of Alaska Anchorage

[3]Coastal Cultures Research

[4]Wildlife Conservation Society Arctic Beringia Program

[5]University of British Columbia

[6]Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium

[7]Chistochina Enterprises

[8]Akiak Native Community

[9]Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

[10]Old Harbor Native Corporation

[11]Native Village of Georgetown

[12]Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

[13]National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara

[14]NOAA Fisheries

[15]Aleut International Association

[16]Kawerak, Inc.

[17]With Real People

[18]Tanana Chiefs Conference

[19]Native Village of Kotzebue

关键词: Alaska;    Alaska Native;    Indigenous Peoples;    salmon;    stewardship;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ES-11972-260116

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

Indigenous Peoples and salmon in the lands now called Alaska have been closely entwined for at least 12,000 years. Salmon continue to be central to the ways of life of Alaska Natives, contributing to physical, social, economic, cultural, spiritual, psychological, and emotional well-being. Salmon have also become important to Alaskan settlers. Our research and advisory team conducted a synthesis of what is known about these diverse human–salmon relationships, drawing on 865 published scientific studies; Indigenous knowledge; state, federal, and tribal data; archival materials; oral histories; and cross-cultural dialogs at working group meetings. Two important socio-cultural dimensions of salmon–people systems emerged from this synthesis as fundamentally important but largely invisible outside of Indigenous communities and the social science disciplines that work closely with these communities: (1) the deep relationships between Indigenous Peoples and salmon and (2) the pronounced inequities that threaten these relationships and stewardship systems. These deep relationships are evident in the spiritual, cultural, social, and economic centrality of salmon across time and cultures in Alaska. We describe Indigenous salmon stewardship systems for the Tlingit, Ahtna, and Central Yup'ik. The inequities in Alaska's salmon systems are evident in the criminalization and limitation of traditional fishing ways of life and the dramatic alienation of Indigenous fishing rights. The loss of fish camps and legal battles over traditional hunting and fishing rights through time has caused deep hardship and stress. Statewide, the commodification and marketization of commercial fishing rights has dispossessed Indigenous communities from their human and cultural rights to fishing ways of life; as a result, many rural and Indigenous youth struggle to gain access to fishing livelihoods, leaving many fishing communities in a precarious state. These deep relationships and relatively recent fractures have motivated a concerted effort by a group of committed Indigenous and western scholars to better understand the root causes and opportunities for redress, as well as to document the breadth of research that has already been conducted, in an effort to improve the visibility of these often-overlooked dimensions of our salmon systems.

【 授权许可】

Others