Herring egg gardens of the northwest coast

By Anne Salomon, Dana Lepofsky, Heather Earle, and Melissa Poe

Ancestral Connections & Geographic Extent Temporal Extent Biophysical Manipulations Target Species Ceremony & Stewardship Current Status

Coastal Indigenous People of the Northwest Coast collect the eggs of spawning herring (Clupea pallasii) in the late winter and spring by submerging kelp fronds, cedar mats, and hemlock, redcedar, and spruce boughs near the shore prior to herring spawning events. This innovation is practiced by the Ainu, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haida, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Wuikinuxv, Kwakwala, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Coast Salish Nations (Brown and Brown 2009, McKechnie et al. 2014, Gauvreau et al. 2017, Keeling et al. 2017, Thornton and Moss 2020). 

The oral historical and archaeological records demonstrate unequivocally that Pacific herring and its roe played a crucial role in Indigenous livelihoods as an important source of food; as well as bait for other important sources of foods such as halibut, salmon and black cod; a source of oil; a trade commodity; and as a key component of ceremonial and social traditions (Brown and Brown 2009, McKechnie et al. 2014, Jones et al. 2021).

While herring egg gardens themselves cannot be dated directly, the longevity of this practice is reflected in origin stories (Jones et al. 2021), oral histories (Swanton 1905), archaeological records (McKechnie et al. 2014), place names (Waterman 1922) and the fact that the practice is widespread throughout the northwest coast of North America.

While coastal peoples collect herring eggs that are deposited on unmanipulated marine vegetation such as eelgrass (Zostera marina), seaweeds, and kelp fronds, many Indigenous communities also enhance harvests by placing vegetation in the ocean as a spawning substrate (Turner 1995).  Among northern and central coastal peoples, the fronds of kelps such as giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and feather boa kelp (Egregia menziesii) are selectively harvested from wave exposed rocky reefs (Krumhansl et al. 2017, Kobluk et al. 2021) and transported into more sheltered locations where they are attached to lines and submerged with weights, such as small rocks or lead weights. Carefully strung lines of kelp are attached to lines suspended from a float or shore used to guide and attract herring (“open ponds”). Among some communities, lines of kelp may be enclosed in ponds (“closed ponds”) formed by floating logs with netting used to briefly impound herring before spawning. Some communities practice both closed and open ponds simultaneously (Jones et al. 2021). In other cases, boughs or even entire small trees of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), and redcedar (Thuja plicata) are placed in sheltered bays and attached to a float, such as a log, where herring are anticipated to spawn (Kennedy and Bouchard 1974, 1976, 1983).  Fishers use visual cues such as seabird, eagle, seal, and sea lion aggregations to identify bays where adult herring are congregating and likely to spawn. Many people recall a particular smell of the ocean that signaled spawning time (Gauvreau et al. 2017). 

Submerged vegetation, upon which herring eggs have been deposited, is collected about three days after the spawning event. This period of time is considered respectful to herring and is an example of the Haida principle of Yahguudang (Xaayda kil Skidegate Haida Dialect) or Yakguudang (Xaad kil Massett Haida Dialect) which translates as respect, and constitutes Indigenous management practices. Collecting within a few days also ensures that impounded herring are released healthy, and that eggs are not deposited on kelp too thickly (Jones et al. 2021). Thick layers of eggs can spoil or not dry properly. Some egg laden fronds and boughs are then dried on rocks or racks and broken into small pieces before storing. Other techniques to process spawn on kelp fronds are brining or smoking for storage. Dried roe was rehydrated before eating, although some people also eat the roe fresh (Kennedy and Bouchard 1974, Turner 1995). Traded roe was, and remains to be, a central part of the coastal Indigenous economy (Turner 1995).

By introducing additional substrates, spawning grounds are enhanced, extended, and more likely to attract returning herring (Thornton and Moss 2020). By collecting herring eggs and allowing iteroparous adults to spawn again the following spring, herring populations are more likely to persist compared to the industrial-scale commercial practice of harvesting and killing female adults to remove their egg sacs (Shelton et al. 2014b). Other cultivation techniques include habitat conservation, selective harvesting of eggs in areas where they are unlikely to hatch, predator control, and transplantation of eggs into new habitats (Thornton et al. 2010, Thornton and Moss 2020). Indigenous oral histories across the Northeast Pacific recount transplant methods involving towing branches or kelp laden with eggs to areas where herring were not currently spawning (Gauvreau et al. 2017; Thornton 2015; Thornton and Moss 2020). Transplantation has been used in recent decades to enhance spawning areas in Tlingit territory in Southeast Alaska (Thornton and Moss 2020). In cultivating herring spawning areas with a diversity of techniques, Indigenous harvesters not only enhanced the nearshore ecosystem, but were able to ensure predictable access to an abundant source of food in particular places and at a time when other resources may be scarce. 

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) eggs are the target species. If collected on kelp, the substrate is consumed with the eggs, whereas eggs were removed from hemlock, spruce, and cedar boughs before being eaten. Eggs are eaten fresh, or they are smoked, dried or brined to be consumed later.

A series of intertwined beliefs and actions ensure sustainable harvests of herring and its eggs (Gauvreau et al. 2017, Thornton and Moss 2020).  For instance, sustainable harvests of herring eggs were encouraged by leaving some egg-covered fronds and/or tree boughs in the ocean to hatch rather than harvesting all intentionally submerged vegetation (McKechnie et al. 2014, Gauvreau et al. 2017). Protocols around minimizing noise during spawn events were strictly adhered to in the past by using specialized paddles that minimized water drips and avoiding spawning aggregations altogether.  In the past, when herring failed to spawn, certain rituals were performed to ensure their return (Kennedy and Bouchard 1974).  These actions and beliefs are embedded in an elaborate system of clan- and family-based rights, responsibilities, and rules of reciprocity that regulated herring use and distribution (Trosper 2002, Trosper 2009, Powell 2012).

For some groups, exclusive rights to ocean spaces were held by Chiefs and proprietorship was contingent on management that sustained productive resources within the titleholders’ territory. Systems of reciprocity defined economic exchange among individuals and groups, incentivizing sustainable use and providing insurance within a titleholder’s territory. Leaders were made accountable to uphold these rules of reciprocity and proprietorship (Trosper 2002, Trosper 2009). For the Heiltsuk Nation, for example, these principles are embodied within Gvi’las, the body of traditional knowledge and system of rules, beliefs and practices governing resource use and stewardship within their territory (Powell 2012, Housty et al. 2014, HeiltsukTribalCouncil 2018).

Along the northwest coast of North America, declining trajectories of Pacific herring have triggered fisheries flashpoints among coastal Indigenous rights holders, the industrial-scale commercial sac roe fishery, and federal fisheries agencies. These declines and fisheries conflicts have prompted multiple transdisciplinary research initiatives aimed at improving our understanding of Pacific herring population and community dynamics (Shelton et al. 2014a, Siple and Francis 2016, Keeling et al. 2017, Rogers et al. 2018, Okamoto et al. 2020a, Stier et al. 2020), social-ecological system characteristics (Levin et al. 2016, Salomon et al. 2019), fisheries management trade-offs (Okamoto et al. 2020b) and equitable governance arrangements (von der Porten et al. 2016, Jones et al. 2017, Armitage et al. 2019). 

Since colonization, Indigenous access to and trade of herring have been controlled by a centralized colonial government. In Canada, First Nations were granted the right to fish for food “but not for sale, barter or traffic” and the reserve system displaced Indigenous fishers from many traditional harvesting areas (Harris 2000, Harris 2008). By excluding Indigenous people from commercial fisheries and limiting their cultural, political and economic practices related to herring (Turner et al. 2008), these rules created a space into which the state could insert its own management authority. Canada’s federal department of fisheries has asserted its authority over all fisheries in Canada under the Fisheries Act, even though most coastal Indigenous communities in BC have not signed treaties relinquishing ownership or control of their lands and sea. 

In the late 1800s, new fishing technologies enabled industrial herring fisheries, including a bait and dry-salted fishery, and a large reduction fishery (Jones et al. 2017). Overfishing led to the first coast-wide herring stock collapse in 1967 and the closure of all herring fisheries in BC from 1968 to 1972 (Jones et al. 2017). Shortly after, herring fisheries were reopened targeting new international markets for herring eggs. Today, large-scale regional fisheries management assessments and local spatial variation in herring population structure, obscures local collapses and drives asymmetry in who bears the risk of herring declines (Okamoto et al. 2020a). Coastal First Nations continue to challenge how herring fisheries are governed and managed and are reasserting their traditional governance systems (von der Porten et al. 2016, Jones et al. 2017). Increased willingness to consider Indigenous knowledge and share scientific resources signal that this fishery exhibits the preconditions for more equitable and sustainable governance transformation (Salomon et al. 2019).

More Information:

www.pacificherring.org

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