West Coast Herring Fisheries Need Sustainable Management in Order to Survive

New research from the Herring School at Simon Fraser University corroborates a long-held belief of the North American West Coast's indigenous people: Herring have long played a central role in the lives of coastal communities, and better fisheries management strategies are needed now if the fish is to continue to be part of life.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Iain McKechnie, Dana Lepofsky and Ken Lertzman of the Herring School, along with colleagues from other parts of Canada and the US, report that archaeological data indicate that herring management needs to learn from the past in order to survive in the future.

More than 500,000 fish bones at 171 archaeological sites across Alaska, British Colombia and Washington state were included in the researchers' analysis of herring stocks over time.

The majority of the fish bones - which were as many as 10,000 years old - belonged to Pacific herring, and they came from a time when indigenous fisheries reigned. The analysis indicated that for thousands of years, herring populations were consistently abundant - a sharp contrast from today's dwindling numbers and erratic status.

"By compiling the largest dataset of archaeological fish bones in the Pacific Northwest Coast, we demonstrate the value of using such data to establish an ecological baseline for modern fisheries," said McKechnie, the study's lead author.

Lepofsky, a study co-author, added: "Our archaeological findings fit well with what First Nations have been telling us. Herring have always played a central role in the social and economic lives of coastal communities. Archaeology, combined with oral traditions, is a powerful tool for understanding coastal ecology prior to industrial development."

Co-author Ken Lertzman emphasized the importance of using their data for more sustainable fisheries management.

"This kind of ecological baseline extends into the past well beyond the era of industrial fisheries. It is critical for understanding the ecological and cultural basis of coastal fisheries and designing sustainable management systems today," he said.