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Than Fish: Political Knowledge in the Commercial Fisheries of British Columbia

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Than Fish: Political Knowledge in the Commercial Fisheries of British Columbia MORE THAN FISH: POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE IN THE COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA by CAROLINE F. BUTLER B.A. McGill University, 1996 M.A. University of British Columbia, 1998 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES ANTHROPOLOGY THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA JUNE 2005 ' Caroline F. Butler, 2005 Abstract Through ethnographic research based primarily in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, this dissertation explores the ecological and social significance of commercial fishers' political knowledge. Moving beyond the ecological thrust of local knowledge research, this ethnography emphasizes the material and political basis of fishers' perceptions and understandings. The study focuses on the politicized experience of commercial fishers in resource management contexts and the way in which their knowledge is constructed and positioned by power relations, resource competition, and economics. Analyzing a series of local knowledge encounters in the fishing industry of British Columbia - moments of conflict between competing knowledges over issues of conservation, co-management, and research - this dissertation reveals the significance of fishers' political knowledge in determining their fishing behaviour and their reactions to fisheries policy and to fisheries research. Fisheries regulation is explored as the defining force impacting livelihoods of fishers and shaping their knowledge, by structuring fishers' interaction with the environment, and with each other. This dissertation historicizes, problematizes, and differentiates local knowledge, emphasizing the entanglement of ecological and political knowledge as forms of knowledge that are implicated in the construction of each other. This dissertation argues for a more holistic approach to fisheries knowledge research, which does not focus only upon the ecological knowledge of resource users. Rather than only asking fishers what they know about fish, researchers must ask them about fisheries in order to explore and resolve the structural problems of human resource use. Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents Hi List of Maps and Figures v List of Acronyms vi List of Terms vii Timeline of Key Events viii Preface ix Acknowledgements and Dedication xv Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge 1 Alternative Knowledges 8 Local Political Knowledge 14 Chapter 2: Community Context and Research Methods 35 Prince Rupert and development dreams lost at sea 36 The Intricacies of the Fishing Industry 43 1. License Limitation 44 2. Area and Single-gear licensing in Salmon 46 5. Quota-based management 47 4. Biological Diversity and Risk Averse Management 48 7. Aboriginal Rights and Claims 50 Collaborators and Contributors: 52 A Week in the Life: Research in Practice 55 Research Methods 58 1. Formal Interviews 59 2. Text-based Research 61 3. Participant Observation 62 4. Informal interviews and conversation 63 Chapter 3: The Coho Crisis: conservation, allocation and the perceptions of a divided fleet 65 Biological concerns and risk averse management 66 Responses to the Coho Crisis 71 The Context of Competition 74 Perceptions of allocation 77 Fig. 3-1 Fishers' perceptions of reallocation 81 The Distribution and Differentiation of Fisheries Knowledge 83 Fig. 3-2 Knowledge differentiation 83 Conclusion 91 Chapter 4: The Rockfish Crisis: new types of fishing knowledge 95 A night out at the Crest 96 Local Knowledge and Biological Knowledge 100 The Rockfish Crisis and the development of an integrated groundfish fishery 106 The halibut fishery and the shift to quota 110 Transferability and the shift to "sharecropping" 113 Social and Economic Impacts of Quota 120 Practical and Ecological Impacts of Quota 123 in Creation of new knowledge 126 A case study of new fishing knowledge at work 129 Conclusion 135 Chapter 5: Broken Rulers and Pieces of String: Academic Models and Fishers' Realities 140 Back to the Future 141 Workshop Day 1: Conceptual Issues 144 TEK Interviews: Methodological Issues 148 The Workshop Day 2: Political Issues 157 What future do you want? The Restriction of Choices 162 Conclusions: The Politics of TEK Research 166 Chapter 6: Sockeye 2002: Political Knowledge and Scientific Management 177 Dire predictions and surprising returns 180 Fig. 6-1 2002 Pre-season estimates and escapement goals for Fraser Sockeye 181 In-season conflicts 183 Fig. 6-2 Commercial allocations of Fraser Sockeye 187 The View from the Grounds 188 Crisis management 190 Co-management Limitations 194 From Abundance to Allocation: The Shifting Focus of the Sockeye Conflict 198 From scientific models to moral authority 205 Chapter 7: COSEWIC and Knowledge Politics 211 COSEWIC and ecological knowledge 214 The politicization of ecological knowledge 221 The political limitations of ATK 229 The political implications of ATK 233 Conclusion 235 Chapter 8: Conclusion 238 Researching Knowledge 241 Understanding ecological and political knowledge 245 Knowledge and Regulation 250 The impacts of political knowledge 253 Interpreting Knowledge Encounters 259 More than Fish: Expanding Local Knowledge 262 Bibliography 268 Appendix 1 290 1. Species 290 2. Gear and Boat Size 291 3. Salmon Fishing Areas 292 iv List of Maps and Figures Figure 3-1 Fishers' Perceptions of Allocation 81 Figure 3-2 Knowledge Differentiation 84 Figure 6-1 2002 Preseason estimates and escapement goals Fraser Sockeye 181 Figure 6-2 Commercial Allocations of Fraser Sockeye 187 Map of Salmon Seine License Areas 293 Map of Salmon Gillnet License Areas 294 Map of Salmon Troll License Areas 295 Map of Research Area 296 v List of Acronyms AFS Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy ATK Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge BttF Back to the Future project COSEWIC Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada CPUE Catch Per Unit Effort DFO Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Canadian Federal Ministry) EI Employment Insurance FEK Fisher's Ecological Knowledge HBC Hudson Bay Company HRDC Human Resources Department of Canada FSC Fisheries Survival Coalition IFMP Integrated Fisheries Management Plan IK Indigenous Knowledge ITQ Individual Transferable Quota IVQ Individual Vessel Quota LEK Local Ecological Knowledge NB Native Brotherhood of British Columbia PK Practical Knowledge PHMA Pacific Halibut Management Association PRFCA Prince Rupert Fishermen's Cooperative Association PSC Pacific Salmon Commission QCI Queen Charlotte Islands RPA Rockfish Protection Area SARA Species At Risk Act SEK Social Ecological Knowledge TAC Total Allowable Catch - approved harvest for a fishery TED Turtle Excluder Device TEK Traditional Ecological Knowledge UFAWU United Fishermen and Allied Worker's Union List of Terms By-catch Non-target species caught incidentally during a fishery. Discards Fish discarded overboard during a fishery. Escapement Salmon which are allowed to escape harvest in order to spawn. Groundfish Fisheries category indicating bottom-feeding fish, including halibut, rockfish, and blackcod. Caught by hook and line, trap (blackcod), or trawl. By-catch Estimates of by-catch which die after discard. Used to determine mortality impacts of fisheries on non-target species. Rockfish Commonly called snappers, canaries, greenies, rock salmon or rockcod. In the waters of British Columbia there are 36 known species of rockfish belonging to the family Scorpanenidae. They are bottom-feeding fish and are distinguished by a stout, heavy build, large broad heads, usually bearing spines and strong ridges, and heavily-spined fins. Soak-time Length of time a gillnet or halibut longline is set in the water during fishing. For descriptions of fishing gear, please see appendix. vii Timeline of Key Events 1876 First cannery on the Skeena River. 1888 Commercial Halibut fishery begins in British Columbia. 1908 Prince Rupert is incorporated. 1923 International Pacific Halibut Commission established. 1931 Prince Rupert Fishermen's Co-operative Association established. 1969 Davis Plan: license limitation in salmon fisheries. 1977 Law of the Sea, 200 mile national fisheries jurisdiction. Canadian halibut boats out of Alaska. 1979 License limitation in halibut fishery. 1990 R. v. Sparrow establishes priority of Aboriginal food fisheries. 1991 Individual quotas introduced in halibut fishery. 1991/2 License limitation in rockfish fishery. 1994 Prince Rupert Fishermen's Cooperative Association dissolved. 1996 Mifflin Plan: Area licensing and gear-based licensing in salmon. Salmon license buyback. 1998 Coho conservation measures. Salmon license buyback. 2002 February: Rockfish conservation measures. 2002 August: Protest fisheries regarding salmon abundance. 2002 October: COSEWIC Emergency designation of Cultus Lake and Sakinaw Sockeye. 2003 R. v. Anderson: dismissal of charges against Area H protest fishers. 2004 R. v. Kapp appeal over-turned re. Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy. 2004 May: Joint Task Force on Post-Treaty Fisheries Report Released (McRae and Pearse) Preface My path to studying local knowledge in Prince Rupert was indirect, much like the highway route from Vancouver which must traverse inland, then north, and finally out to the coast again to reach the most northern coastal community in British Columbia. In 1997 I worked as a research assistant on a project investigating the involvement of the Tsimshian First Nation in the forest industry and thus received my introduction to territory of the Tsimshian and the city of Prince Rupert that lies within it. While asking Tsimshian people about their work in the forest
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