Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1-1-2011 Event Ecology: An Analysis of Discourses Surrounding the Disappearance of the Kah Shakes Cove Herring (Clupea pallasi) Jamie Sue Hebert Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Hebert, Jamie Sue, "Event Ecology: An Analysis of Discourses Surrounding the Disappearance of the Kah Shakes Cove Herring (Clupea pallasi)" (2011). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 5. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Event Ecology: An Ecological Analysis of Discourses Surrounding the Disappearance of the Kah Shakes Cove Herring (Clupea pallasi) by Jamie Sue Hebert A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of the Arts in Anthropology Thesis Committee: Michele Gamburd, Chair Virginia Butler Jeremy Spoon Thomas Thornton Portland State University ©2011 ABSTRACT The conflict over the herring run at Kah Shakes is complicated. In 1991, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) expanded the commercial herring sac roe fishing boundary in the Revillagigedo Channel to include Cat and Dog Islands. Native and non-Native local residents of Ketchikan protested the boundary expansion, as did managers of the neighboring Annette Island Fishery managed by the local reservation. Using cultural anthropological research methods that include ethnographic data, semi- structured, qualitative interviews gathered in southeast Alaska in 2008, and a comprehensive literature review of historic data culled from newspapers and other texts, I examine the many political factors that contribute to this conflict, including the contest between anecdotal and scientific data, the construction of fisheries management boundaries, and issues of collective memory. Using Vayda and Walters’ event ecology methodology, bolstered by discourse analysis, I identify three discourses (local ecological knowledge, management and environmental). I use these discourses as comparative units to show that little coincident data can be identified between these discourses. I examine two areas of dissident data, stock definition and measures of abundance, and recommend that local ecological knowledge (LEK) be used to expand the scientific database on which current management techniques depend, to question the accuracy of current ADFG management boundaries and stock identification, and to recalibrate guideline harvest levels by exposing the effects of shifting baselines. I then outline how Geographic Information i Systems (GIS) may assist in the validation and integration of LEK into the current fisheries management paradigm to create a more holistic narrative of ecological change. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people assisted in the completion of this thesis. First, I would like to thank the members of my thesis committee, Tom Thornton, Michele Gamburd, Jeremy Spoon and Virginia Butler for their thoughtful critiques of my thesis defense draft. I would like to extend special thanks to Tom for giving me the opportunity to expand upon the information we gathered as part of the Herring Synthesis Project and also to Michele who not only picked up the advising role halfway through this process and ran with it, but who also became the audience to my many, many frustrations during the thesis revision process and who helped push me onward when I thought I could go no further. I would also like to thank Connie Cash who kept track of me on paper, but who also acted as personal support when difficulties arose. Not to be forgotten, I would like to thank the many participants who offered their time and expertise as part of the interview process. I would especially like to thank Andy and Peggy Rauwolf for their continued interest in the completion of this thesis as well as their assistance during my fieldwork in Ketchikan in 2008. Also included in this category is Priscilla Schulte. I would also like to thank Scott Walker, Hap Leon, Dustin Winters and Gary Frietag for walking me through the management processes and providing additional resources that assisted in my understanding of commercial herring sac roe fishing in southeast Alaska. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my husband and my son whom I said good-bye to each weekend to spend endless hours in front of a computer and folded into a book. I could not have accomplished this enormous task without the unending iii support of my husband who helped me regain perspective again, and again. To this list I also add my parents, who have always cheered my accomplishments and without whom I would never have arrived at this juncture in my education. Thank you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1 Methodology ............................................................................................................13 Limitations of the Data .............................................................................................22 Overview of the Analysis .........................................................................................25 CHAPTER TWO: THE EVENT AND CONTEXT ....................................................29 CHAPTER THREE: EVENT ECOLOGY AND DISCOURSE THEORY ................57 The Analytical Tools ................................................................................................58 Practicing Event Ecology: Identification of Discourse ............................................63 The Management Discourse .....................................................................................68 Management Techniques ......................................................................................73 The Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) Discourse ................................................81 The Environmental Discourse ..................................................................................91 CHAPTER FOUR: INTEGRATION OF DISCOURSES .........................................101 Coincident Data ......................................................................................................102 Participatory Management Structures in Alaska ....................................................110 Using GIS to Integrate LEK ...................................................................................116 Validating LEK...................................................................................................118 Modeling Interrelated Ecological and Environmental Processes .......................124 CHAPTER FIVE: RECONCILIATION OF DISCOURSES ....................................129 Dissident Data: Identification of the Kah Shakes/ Revillagigedo/Annette Island Herring Stock(s) .....................................................................................................131 Using GIS to Question Stock Definition ............................................................142 Dissident Data: Shifting Baselines and Measures of Decline ................................146 Using LEK to Recalibrate Shifting Baselines ....................................................149 Using GIS to Integrate LEK and Account for Shifting Baselines ......................161 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION ..............................................................................169 Conclusions and Reccomendations ....................................................................170 REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................181 APPENDICES A: Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) Discourse: Herring Coalition Affidavits ........................................................................................................210 B: Interview Participants Identified by Discourse ..............................................212 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The Study Region Overview: Marine Waters in Southeast Alaska ...............2 Figure 2: The Study Region: Revillagigedo Channel ....................................................7 Figure 3: Herring Spawn at Crab Bay Flats on Annette Island ...................................39 Figure 4: To Catch a Herring ......................................................................................40 Figure 5: ADFG Management Boundary Changes (1976 - Present) ..........................45 Figure 6: SE Alaska Herring Catch by Fishery for 1961 to 2002 Seasons ..................70 Figure 7: LEK Point Locations of Herring Spawning and Massing Areas..................90 Figure 8: The Average Length of Pacific Herring in Millimeters at each Year of Life in Sitka Sound .........................................................................................................93