Coastal Voices Team goes to Alaska

We just returned from an incredible journey to south-central Alaska to visit two amazing Sugpiaq communities – Port Graham and Nanwalek. We went to hear some different perspectives from people who have been living with sea otters in their territory for 60+ years and to share the stories and data Coastal Voices had amassed from our 2014 workshop, book chapter and field research.

Again we were fortunate to have great local people co-host the workshop with us! Tim Malchoff (below) from Port Graham is working on developing education content around traditional hunting practices, and he helped us develop the workshop content and arrange many of the local logistics. He was pleased that we were doing this in the community as it gave him an opportunity to acquire some information and content for the toolkits he is developing.

After talking and meeting with many people in the community, the days of our workshops arrived. Here is the great turn out we had in Port Graham. In the photo below, Chief Pat Norman welcomes the BC Chiefs and the Coastal Voices team to his community and thanks the community for coming.

After a wonderful workshop in Port Graham and conducting a bunch of surveys and interviews, we made our way over to the nearby community of Nanwalek. Here we hosted another workshop the following day, with an equally great turn out, wonderful stories, great discussion, DELICIOUS traditional food, and an amazing performance by the local youth dancers!

Following the workshop in Nanwalek, we did a bunch more survey interviews with community members and once again, were fortunate to be toured around and invited to many people’s homes to share tea, stories, knowledge and laughs! Time flew and it was soon time to go. We returned to Homer where we gave a public talk at the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The next day we made our way back to Vancouver, full of good stories and information. We look forward to sharing this information, along with photos and videos we documented, back with the community in the coming years! Thanks again!

Coastal Voices Team goes to Kyuquot

The Coastal Voices team just returned from an amazing trip to the community of Kyuquot – home to the Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Chek’tles7et’h’ First Nation.

We were invited there to co-host a community workshop – Adapting to Sea Otters and Changing Access to Shellfish and Fish – and talk to the community members about their experiences living alongside sea otters, which were re-introduced into the territory in 1969. Travelling with us were Heredity Chiefs from other First Nations in B.C. who have not yet experienced sea otters returning to their territory. They joined this Coastal Voices ‘road trip’ to learn from the Kyuquot community about the impacts that otters have had in the area and what actions facilitate people’s ability to co-existence with sea otters.

From left to right: Tony Hanson (KCFN Fisheries Manager), Anne Salomon (SFU Professor), Jenn Burt (SFU researcher), Evelyn Pinkerton (SFU Professor), Git Kinjuaas Ron Wilson (Haida Laana AwGa, Hereditary Chief), Laurie Wood (team organizer), Wii-tsts-koom Anne Mack (Toquaht Ha with, Hereditary Chief), Skill-Hillans Allan Davidson (Haida Laana AwGa, Hereditary  Chief), Ilja Herb (our film maker)

We had a chance to get out on the water and see some otters! This was the first time that the Haida and Toquaht Chiefs have seen a real otter. It was a beautiful day and a breathtaking seascape!

After being inspired by the local seascape, our team got to work planning the workshop with local stewardship managers. After lots of discussion, the evening of our workshop finally arrived. We had a great turn out (~40-50 people), lots of delicious food, and really good dialogue. We appreciated greatly the discussion and stories that the Kyuquot people were willing to share. We wrote notes on flip chart, recorded ideas on our laptops, conducted a survey, watched several video clips (including the coastal voices short film) and gave away some exciting door prizes!

After the workshop was over we stayed a few more days to continue talking and interviewing local people. Jenn stayed on beyond this and enjoyed some great experiences with wonderful people in the community sharing food, sharing stories, and doing lots of surveys! Overall, the team is deeply grateful for everything and looks forward to reporting back to the community as progress on the project continues. Kleco kleco Thank you!

Planning Community Visits to Share Workshop Outputs and Exchange Knowledge

We’re busy planning the next stage of the Coastal Voices journey. This summer we are going to visit three communities that have experienced the return of sea otters in their territories for multiple decades. Our first stop will be in Kyuquot, where sea otters were introduced over 40 years ago on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. We have been invited by Tony Hanson, the fisheries manager for the Kyuquot-Cheklesaht First Nation, to host a community meeting in Kyuquot where we can share our short documentary film and engage in dialogue about how the community has experienced living with otters.

Our second visit will be in the communities of Port Graham and Nanwalek, Alaska, who have been living with sea otters for the past 60 years since they recovered in the area. We have been invited by Chiefs Pat Norman (Port Graham) and John Kvasnikoff (Nanwalek) to host community meetings and talk with people about their experience with sea otters.

We are also using information from the 2014 workshop dialogues to create a survey to examine the factors that enable and constrain people’s ability to adapt and co-exist with otters. Jenn Burt, has been looking through the workshop transcripts and working with Anne and the steering committee to draft the survey. Once we get final approval on the questions and layout, we’ll be excited to engage with people in the community and hear what they have to say.

We’ve Created a Video Story Room on CoastalVoices.net

Over the past year we’ve reviewed and synthesized the main ideas and perspectives shared at the 2014 workshop and produced a video story room on our web page.  Here you can find a wealth of information from Indigenous knowledge holders and scientists about the ancient use and management of sea otters, traditional governance principles and practices, the cascading effects of sea otters, and potential solutions - like integrating traditional stewardship and contemporary management.

Coastal Voices Film and Web Site Launched!

Today, we launched our film: Coastal Voices; Navigating the Return of Sea Otters on our new project web site: CoastalVoices.net

About the Film

With a shared passion for our oceans, Indigenous leaders, scientists, and artists discuss the conflicts and profound transformations triggered by the recovery of sea otters along the Pacific coast of North America. This mini documentary captures the voices of prominent Indigenous Leaders on the value of sea otters in maintaining kelp forest ecosystems, the role of humans in ecosystems, and the pillars of Indigenous governance. Elders share their knowledge of the hunting and management practices of their ancestors while anthropologists describe evidence revealed from thousand year old archaeological sites that mirrors this knowledge. Marine ecologists discuss the cascading effects and resource conflicts caused by sea otters today and social scientists and Indigenous stewardship managers reflect on possible solutions, the governance of ocean spaces, and the reassertion of territorial rights by coastal First Nations in British Columbia, Canada.

Workshop Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science

Wow – what an amazing workshop!

We hosted 41 people in Bella Bella and at the Hakai Institute on B.C.’s central coast to participate in our workshop - ‘Visioning the Future of Kelp Forest, Sea Otter & Human Interactions’. Over 5 days (June 16-20th), participants exchanged scientific information and traditional knowledge and began to co-develop strategies to navigate the profound transformations that occur with the recovery of sea otters.

Following traditional protocol, this workshop started by a welcome from Heiltsuk Hereditary Chief Wigvilhba Wakas’ who gave us permission to convene in Heiltsuk territory and generously shared his family’s songs, dances, and masks. The Nuu-chah-nulth and Haida Hereditary Chiefs, stewardship managers and scientists accepted his invitation.

This workshop was attended by Hereditary and elected First Nations Chiefs, Elders, stewardship managers, artists, natural and social scientists, print media journalists, and a videography team.

Through a series of catalyzing speed talks, small group dialogues, 3 framing keynote talks and field trips to local kelp forests, sea otter rafts and ancient clam gardens, we discussed;

1) ancient Indigenous use and management of coastal resources including sea otters, clams, sea urchins, abalone and kelp forest resources broadly,

2) sea otter impacts on coupled-human ocean systems today, and

3) how to navigate these profound social-ecological changes via community-based co-management of coastal marine resources, integrating knowledge systems, and reconciling divergent worldviews.

View some of the presentations here.

To see more workshop photos, click here.

This workshop has served as a learning platform by which scientist and Indigenous leaders and managers have begun to exchange knowledge, worldviews, viewpoints and values, identifying points of convergence and divergence, with the goal of learning from each other.

 “What impressed me the most was how compatible First Nations traditional knowledge of sea otters, their ecological role and cultural significance was with university-based studies of otter dynamics. This meeting identified a common ground based in mutual respect and understanding. The tribal leaders' pride and deep knowledge of their traditions, often expressed with humor, was important. One word summarizes my take-away message: inspirational.”                                                                                      - Dr. Bob Paine, University of Washington 2014

“The depth and scope of both traditional and scientific knowledge present was staggering. But perhaps even more impressive was the cross cultural sharing — and acceptance — of these diverse epistemologies.”                                                                                                 - Ilja Herb, videographer 2014

“I now see the connection between sea otter recovery, the return of kelp forests and the role of these underwater forests in drawing down carbon pollution from our atmosphere. Who would have thought that predators, like sea otters, can indirectly reduce the effects of climate change.”                                                                                                    - Kii’iljuus, Haida Gwaii

Designing a Transdisciplinary Workshop

Right now the Coastal Voices research team, the steering committee and the cultural advisors are working hard to design a transdiciplinary workshop that will be held this summer! The goal of this workshop will be to examine the socio-ecological challenges triggered by the recovery of sea otters through the lens of traditional knowledge and western science to better equip coastal communities with shared knowledge and ecosystem-based strategies to navigate the profound transformations that occur with the recovery of this keystone predator.

We’re talking with elected tribal councils, First Nations marine stewardship managers, and other academics to involve various regional governing bodies and researchers in the design and implementation of this workshop.

The workshop will be focused around specific research questions, methods, and desired project outcomes that have all be discussed over multiple conference calls and in person meetings with the steering committee and cultural advisors:

“The concept we are trying to spread is the idea of preparing for the arrival of sea otters by protecting and sharing our food sources. Our goal is to figure out what role humans played in the past and what role are we going to play in the future in protecting our coastal ecosystems. How do we adapt to and prepare for the arrival of sea otters?”

- Hup-in-Yook, Coastal Voices Steering Committee

 “The recovery of sea otters and their impacts need to be considered in the marine management plans that our nations and the government are currently working on. We need ideas to get ready. The transition can happen when people are well informed.”

- Kii’iljuus, Coastal Voices Cultural Advisor

Book Chapter Co-Produced

During the summer, fall and winter of 2013, Pew project members Anne, Kii’iljuus, Geetla, Nick Tanape Sr., and Hup-in- yook have been co-writing a book chapter! The title is “First Nations Perspectives on Sea Otter Conservation in British Columbia and Alaska: Insights into Coupled Human-Ocean Systems.” Read the book chapter here!

The chapter will be published in the book “Sea Otter Conservation” and it focuses on the gaps and opportunities in our knowledge of the relationships between humans, sea otters and kelp ecosystems. It synthesizes pre-existing archaeological evidence, historical records, traditional knowledge and contemporary ecological data illuminating how human and sea otter relationships were managed in the past, prior to colonial settlement, economies and laws, and how they might be managed again today.