Stz'uminus
Victory at Kulleet Bay, but a long fight predicted
When Stz’uminus First Nation faced down the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Underwater Harvesters Association on the waters of Kulleet Bay in early August, it was only one victorious round in a long and bitter battle over the high-value resources in First Nations waters.
Stz’uminus Chief John Elliott celebrated with his community the victory at Kulleet Bay in early August.
But he is mindful that a long hard road lies ahead before Stz’uminus gets control of its resources.
DFO eventually closed Kulleet Bay to commercial geoduck harvesting.
“They told me that harvesters had harvested their quota from other areas,” he said. “But this closure is only temporary and there are many other issues on the table that DFO must address before Stz’uminus is satisfied.
“We want serious discussions and want the people at DFO who get paid to make decisions to start making them. DFO must know now that our community is united and undivided in wanting their leaders to fight for our right to resources, especially the ones right on our doorsteps in Kulleet Bay.
“The way forward will not be easy,” Elliott said in early September as he outlined some of the demands that were on the table:
- A commitment from DFO to permanently end the geoduck and other fisheries in Kulleet Bay along with a definite timeline for making that happen;
- A commitment and timeline regarding an application by Stz’uminus for an aquaculture tenure and license so that it is part of DFO’s management plan for 2011;
- A written commitment that the geoduck pre-harvest policy of ‘purging’ existing stocks will not happen;
- A commitment that other existing commercial harvesting policies (for example, harvesting of wild stock) will be addressed by DFO to the satisfaction of Stz’uminus;
- An immediate end to the federal court action brought by the Underwater Harvesters Association (UHA) against Stz’uminus, Chief Elliot and others in the community.
“These are very reasonable demands and can be acted upon by DFO quickly if it is so motivated,” Elliott said. “For the past 20 years or so, the motivation for DFO’s policies on geoduck and other fisheries has come from rich and powerful people.
“But this is 2010. Stz’uminus and other First Nations are tired of seeing our resources going to others. We are also tired of governments not understanding what the simple word ‘consultation’ means. Hopefully we will be able to help them understand.
How the battle began
Stz’uminus approached DFO in the spring to discuss a tenure application and other aspects of its plan to become involved in aquaculture in its traditional territory.
In August, Stz’uminus learned that DFO was going to allow a commercial geoduck harvest in Kulleet Bay in front of the most-populated part of reserve lands. The exact date of the fishery was not then known. Plans were made to hold a peaceful protest and on August 6, those plans were made public.
About 90 minutes later, an official announcement of a geoduck ‘opening’ went up on the DFO web site. But the opening was limited to precisely the waters of Kulleet Bay.
The community took it as an insult to have the fishery on its doorstep while its own tenure talks were still taking place. More than 50 community members attended the emergency meeting called on a Sunday afternoon by chief and council.
There was unanimous consent to hold a non-confrontation blockade. Boats and crews gathered on the early morning of August 9 and the first of four harvesting vessels were confronted about 8 a.m. Several DFO and RCMP craft were also in attendance. The fishery was closed peacefully within two hours for what DFO said were safety concerns for the geoduck divers.
Geoduck fight a symptom of DFO Disease
Other Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council chiefs came forward to support Stz’uminus during the dispute. They told similar stories of years trying to deal with a ‘dysfunctional’ DFO and that agency’s friendly relationship with the UHA.
Sliammon First Nation won a significant victory in court (see related article) after DFO awarded UHA tenure in traditional waters. This took place in 2007, two years after those same waters were identified in the agreement-in-principle for Sliammon Treaty.
“In our early discussions we did try to sit down and talk to UHA,” said Chief Clint Williams. But he soon learned that “DFO was basically pawning us off on UHA, saying ‘Work with them… the relationship is all set up’.
But DFO’s visions had little to do with reality, said Williams. “It was very unproductive. The UHA is just an old boys’ club. Why would they want to give up something they have total control over?”
And he was very critical of the DFO-UHA relationship in general. “The UHA sets policy and DFO rubber-stamps it. It is basically the fox looking after the henhouse.”
Indicators of the close relationship between DFO and UHA can be found throughout DFO’s 2010 Geoduck and Horse Clam Integrated Fisheries Management Plan. One example is: “A selection process, and harvest amount and schedule will be developed in consultation with the UHA.”
Those words are from the pre-seeding harvest policy section. Many refer to this as The Purge. When tenure is issued for geoduck aquaculture, there can be what DFO calls “an opportunity for pre-seeding harvest of these existing stocks”.
Clint Williams uses other words to describe it.
“They are basically trying to wipe the fishery out here before they hand it over. I don’t think there is any sustainable intent with this purge fishery. They are going to totally devastate it before the aboriginal licenses come in. They’re not going to hand over any product.”
“That was really great to see the action that they took. All the power to them, said Chief Williams regarding Stz’uminus action. “This whole thing about aboriginal rights and title… the fight is only getting strong as more nations are coming together.”
Support from Snaw-naw-as
Brent Edwards, who is both councillor and administrator at Snaw-naw-as Nation said: “I think it's great what Chief Elliott is doing. He's bringing an issue to light that many people don't understand: how just a few people granted licences by DFO are becoming millionaires off of geoducks, but we can't have access to a resource that's right on our doorstep.”
Klahoose experience ‘unbelievable’
Meanwhile, Chief Ken Brown does not mince words when it comes to Klahoose First Nation getting its geoduck tenure and relations with DFO/UHA.
Meanwhile, Chief Brown of Klahoose said: “It really is unbelievable what DFO has allowed the UHA to do. They’ve gone around and gobbled up these vast areas, but they’ve been totally off the radar for First Nations until recently.”
Part of the reason, he said, is because DFO’s top geoduck policymakers are “being led around by the nose” by the UHA lobbyists. “They have no analytical skills and the level of incompetence when it comes to policy initiatives and willingness to keep the status quo is staggering.”
The UHA monopoly and its cozy relationship with the DFO should anger everyone, said Brown. “The big losers are First Nations and the taxpayers of this province. The UHA might have a few powerful friends, but it also has made a lot of enemies.
“DFO says it is protecting the public’s interest. But only 30 people in BC own rights to harvest. If First Nations and others had a chance to obtain tenures, huge local economies would develop around BC’s coast. It would benefit thousands of people rather than just a few.”
Chief Brown said he and other leaders “totally support” Stz’uminus. And he gave a warning to DFO and Canada’s politicians. “If you continue to support and finance UHA, we will not forget. We have very long memories.”
The geoduck fishery
The commercial geoduck fishery started in BC in 1976 as an open access fishery without catch limits.
In 1979, entry to the fishery was limited to 55 licenses and total allowable catches were introduced based on a fixed harvest rate of the original biomass. Coast wide landings (pounds harvested) in this new fishery rose steadily until 1987 when improved scientific assessments determined that the quotas being set were too high and reductions in quotas were required and implemented.
In the past several years, quotas have remained stable at about 4 million pounds per year. In contrast to landings, the value of the fishery has risen dramatically. In fact, the geoduck fishery now ranks first in landed value among the invertebrate fisheries in BC.
The success of the geoduck fishery is, in part, related to the switch in 1989 to an individual vessel quota (I.V.Q.) system and to the development of a live market.
INFO SOURCE – Underwater Harvesters Association
