There was a lot of knowledge gathered around the table when the Aboriginal Aquaculture Association (AAA) held an information exchange workshop in Nanaimo in May.

The day-long session was designed to inform people about a range of topics including:

• Aquaculture license application process;

• Development opportunities;

• Potential funding sources;

• The Pacific North Coast management area; and

• Geoduck policy for wild and aquaculture.

Similar events were held by the AAA in Campbell River and Port Alberni.

“Very knowledgeable participants from throughout the industry were what made the workshops worthwhile,” AAA president Richard Harry said. “Sharing on-the-ground information between communities is certainly one of the main things that the AAA is all about. We can provide support and direction, but local experience and knowledge is always going to be valuable as our communities move forward into developing sustainable aquaculture industries.”

MANY OPPORTUNITIES

A number of species were identified as being ready for commercialization. Some are already being grown on a small scale in BC. They include:

• Finfish – Sablefish (Black cod) and Rockfish; and

• Shellfish – Geoduck, Mussels and Scallops.

A number of other species are currently under study and could open future opportunities for First Nations including:

• Finfish – Hagfish (Slime eel), Sturgeon, Tilapia and Wolf eel;

• Shellfish – Abalone, Cockles and Sea Urchins; and

• Other – Sea Cucumber, Seaweed (Kelp), Marine Algae, and Crayfish.

There was also discussion about things such as the research into growing marine algae for ‘bio-mass’ energy.

New aquaculture ventures are growing along BC’s south coast including harvesting caviar from sturgeon near Sechelt and a shellfish operation in Clayoquot Sound that grows multiple species on a single site.

Subdivision of municipal lands could trigger lawsuits throughout BC. That is the claim of a well-known lands analyst in a recent film.

“There would be an infringement of First Nations rights if the use of the land changed,” said Kathleen Johnnie. The Lyackson woman has spent almost 15 years as a land policy analyst for First Nations around Vancouver Island, particularly for the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group.

She was featured in a recent film about a lands issue in Chemainus that has received substantial support from Halalt and Penelakut Nations.

“The issue comes into play when they actually subdivide the land,” she said. “By selling part of Echo Heights for residential development, the municipality creates a right for people to own those lots. When they do that, First Nations could no longer use those lands.

“There is a very serious potential for one or all of the First Nations affected to launch a court action because their rights have been infringed,” Johnnie said. “Many have done that in the past.”

Her opinions are in a new documentary film about a campaign to save the 52-acre Echo Heights municipal forest lands in Chemainus from development.

Penelakut elder Florence James talks in the film about the traditional use of the forest.

“It is a place to do ceremonies,” she said, explaining that it was a stopping-off point on spiritual journeys “to the mountain, to fresh-running water for bathing. Those places feed us. But we are losing them acre by acre.

“I speak because of that shared concern about what’s happening to the land. If we don’t partner together, we’re in big trouble.”

May 27 is the deadline for submitting summaries of presentations to be considered for the Salish Sea Ecosystem conference scheduled October 25-27 in Vancouver.

The event was formerly called the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem conference. Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council members and other Coast Salish nations have figured prominently at past conferences which are held every two years.

The 2007 event was held at Tsleil-Waututh Nation while the 2009 event was held in Seattle. That most recent conference was significant for the closing ceremony at which an estimated 1,000 scientists, academics and government officials from the USA and Canada declared: “We are all Coast Salish!”

Before that declaration, A Call to Action for the Salish Sea was read. It included these words:

“We call for the creation of a working group tasked with developing, refining, expanding and using indicators of ecosystem health that are meaningful to the entire Salish Sea. These indicators must include human well-being measures that reflect our close connection to the ecosystem – and particularly the ability of aboriginal people to harvest their traditional food supplies.

“We need to paddle together in a way that is intelligent and efficient, and we need to paddle hard.”

Abstracts, or summaries, are being invited from First Nations. There is a wide range of suggested topics that address the science, policy and management of the Salish Sea ecosystem including:

• Watersheds and hydrology;

• Climate change and ocean acidification;

• Aquatic plants and invasive species; and

• Governance and collaboration.

The conference will be held at the Sheraton Wall Centre.

More info at: www.salishseaconference.org

Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council nations were front and centre in February when an alternative energy gathering was held in Vancouver. Over 300 people from First Nations and industry got together to discuss creating energy from non-fossil fuels from wind, sun and the land.

TWN ANNOUNCES WIND POWER PARTNERSHIP

Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) leaders of past and present were in attendance on the first day of the conference for the official launch of TWN Wind Power Inc. And later that day, the nation used the main ballroom to announce things in the traditional way.

Chief Justin George said TWN made the $2 million investment in Surrey-based turbine manufacturers Endurance Wind Power for both today’s and future generations.

The new partnership will become the distributor for Endurance’s 5-kilowatt and 50 kW turbines to Aboriginal communities in Canada and the USA. George said that his nation would become “a catalyst for change” in the way First Nations generate their electricity.”

He also said that Endurance was a good partner because it also shared a desire for “a sustainable future for generations to come”.

Several generations of TWN leaders attended at the announcement including former chiefs Leonard George (Justin’s father), Leah George-Wilson and Maureen Thomas.

George-Wilson said the partnership was “continuing the responsibility to the water and the land that was entrusted to us from the Creator.”

Meanwhile, Thomas said that TWN was “at the beginning of a new relationship that will lead other communities into the future.”

Later on the same day, TWN took over the huge Pavilion ballroom at the One Wall Centre for a traditional blanketing ceremony honouring the new partnership.