Issue # 8, April 2017
We published the eighth issue of The Common Voice in April of 2017…
Issue #8
The Common Voice newsletter issue number 8 was published in April of 2017.
Rockfish research linked to indigenous rights
Fifty years ago Charlie Mason could hop in a boat, travel a short distance from his home in Klemtu, catch enough rockfish for a meal or two, and then head back to town. “Today it is not that easy,” he says.
Rockfish research: key results and potential management actions
Over the past 50 years the central coast has seen a significant increase in recreational and commercial rockfish fishing. Our Nations are concerned about the impact these fisheries are having on this important food resource. In response CCIRA launched a rockfish research project in 2013. Here, we present a summary of results from a recent rockfish study in our territories.
Nuxalk ancestral governance project
150 years ago western governments imposed a system of governance on our people that does not recognize our values, traditions or laws. Since then, our Nations have effectively been cut out of decisions that affect our people. The Indigenous Law Project has been one way that our Nations have been working to shift the conversation towards one that integrates our culture and makes us decision-makers in our territories.
Trust: A fundamental step towards collaborative fisheries management
Last year our Nations had some major challenges with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) with respect to the management of crab and herring. This is nothing new. In our attempts to protect the resources in our territories, our Nations have often gone head-to-head with DFO. We’ve had to.
Progress with DFO on collaborative crab management
After a recent meeting with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), our Nations have some new hope for central coast crab. Working together, we agreed on necessary steps that will take us closer to a collaborative decision-making framework for managing this resource.
Science and our fishers agree: crab populations in trouble
As fishing pressure has increased in recent years and our Nations’ catches of Dungeness crab have declined, our people have become concerned about the state of this food resource in our territories. Our Watchmen have assembled the most comprehensive scientific dataset available on central coast crab…
Kitasoo/Xai’xais Heritage Database: bringing wisdom and stories home
Over the last two years an information-gathering project has taken place in Kitasoo/Xai’xais territory. As part of the Indigenous Law Project, community researchers unearthed over 2000 items of cultural and scientific significance to the Kitasoo/Xai’xais people, including historic photographs…