Fish-WIKS News

The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, a Fish-WIKS partner, is at the center of two legal developments with major implications for fisheries governance and for the research agenda of the Fish-WIKS project.

On January 30, 2014 the Supreme Court of Canada upheld an earlier decision that affirmed the aboriginal rights of the Ahousaht, Ehattersaht/Chinekint, Hesquiaht,Mowachaht/Muchalaht, and the Tla-o-qui-aht (all of which are Nuu-chah-nulth communities) to fish in their traditional territories and sell that fish commercially.

According to John Rich of Ratcliff & Company, a member of the Nation’s legal team, “This decision represents the broadest aboriginal rights success in Canadian history.  No other First Nation has established an aboriginal right to commercially fish a full range (or almost full range) of fisheries resources available in your territories.  The decision that was confirmed today recognizes the long history of Nuu-chah-nulth as a fishing people and affirms that your fishing culture has a proper and prioritized placed in Canada’s modern fishing community.”

For more information, please follow these links:

http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2014-01-30/nuu-chah-nulth-fishing-rights-upheld-supreme-court

Video

Herring –  Known to Nuu-chah-nulth speakers as tla-usmit, pacific herring has become the most recent fish at the intersection of a prolonged resource management conflict between the Government of Canada and First Nations in British Columbia.

The commercial roe herring fishery has been closed for conservation reasons in Haida Gwaii since 2003, on the west coast of Vancouver Island since 2006, and on the central coast of BC since 2008.  Leading up to the 2014 herring season, the leadership of the Council of Haida Nation, the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, and the Nuu-chah-nulh Tribal Council united to express their opposition to proposed commercial roe herring fisheries in their territories of Haida Gwaii, the central coast, and the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea proceeded to open a commercial herring fishery against the advice received from DFO scientists.  The Minister’s decision was opposed by First Nations and the Ahousaht, Ehattesaht/Chinenkint, Hesquiaht, Mowachaht/Muchalaht, and the Tla-o-qui-aht filed an injunction against DFO.  The Federal Court subsequently accepted the injunction and the fisheries were abandoned on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii and on the central coast.  The most recent media reports indicate that the Government of Canada will appeal the injunction.

For more information please follow these links:

http://www.uuathluk.ca/Web_HSS_HerringFishery.pdf

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2014/02/26/Herring_Overrules/

 Implications for Fish-WIKS – The fascinating aspect of the herring case going forward will be how the Courts deal with Ministerial authority.  Currently, fisheries management decisions are officially made by the Minister through their ‘unfettered authority’ to make decisions.  Any alteration in law or in practice will open up significant opportunities to change the governance of fisheries and make local decisions.  Likewise, the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Ahousaht, et al case includes reference to the need to develop ‘a new fisheries regime’, implying Canada and the Nuu-chah-nulth will need to make changes to current fisheries governance and decision-making practices at different geographical scales.

Together these cases reflect an evolving legal landscape wherein the structures and processes of decision-making, i.e. governance, will be likely to change in favour of increased indigenous power, authority, and responsibility.  With its overarching goal of ‘improving fisheries governance and management in Canada by understanding how indigenous knowledge systems can enhance the current regime for decision-making’, it is an exciting time for Fish-WIKS on the West Coast!