The Heiltsuk today,
like many Coastal First Nations, are fighting for the right to manage the fish in our territory – as we have done for millennia. Our knowledge of how to manage fish stocks comes from centuries of daily observations about fish ecology and the effects of harvesting. It also comes from years of on-the-ground trial and error. Proof of our ability to manage the fish in our territory was its past abundance in our oceans, as well as the density of fish bones in our archaeological sites.
Top-down government policies have stood in the way of us enacting our knowledge of and rights to manage our local fisheries. In contrast to Heiltsuk place-specific
fisheries knowledge,
such policies are often constructed remotely by people with little local ecological knowledge. One such policy was the banning of the use of fish traps in 1894 – that is, banning a technique that we have used for millennia.
Don Vickers, who grew up in Húy̓at in the 1930’s talks of his dismay at the fisheries officer destroying their stone fish trap in Húy̓at:
"[The fish traps] were quite high. You know, there was still water in there when they were stuck... but that’s when that old fisheries officer went and kicked them down an escapement route out of there. A lot of time, well, he said they were catching too many fish... He just kicked the, he made holes in the trap... he he, kicked them down two or three places to make much more room for fish to escape. That’s what he did. I seen him! I still remember. I was that was ah, food for us. Well, ah, at that time, I know my Dad and Máǧaǧa, had to listen to what the white people said..."
- Don Vickers, in conversation with Gíƛa Elroy White, 2004
Eviction by Department of Fisheries
