Volume 127, November 2015, Pages 26–34
Highlights
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- Zostera marina was once a springtime food harvested by Kwakwaka’wakw peoples.
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- We derived traditional Z. marina harvesting protocols from interviews and field trials.
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- We developed an in situ disturbance experiment mimicking harvesting.
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- Our research suggests Z. marina was tended sustainably by Kwakwaka’wakw.
Abstract
Indigenous
Peoples of the Northwest Coast Cultural Area of North America managed
plant populations of many of the 100–200 species used for food and other
purposes, through cultivation and selective harvesting. Eelgrass (Zostera marina,
L.; Zosteraceae) was one of these species. The Kwakwaka’wakw harvested
its sweet rhizomes in the springtime. Directed by the traditional
knowledge of Clan Chief Adam Dick, whose hereditary name is Kwaxsistalla,
of the Tsawataineuk First Nation of Kingcome Inlet (one of the many
communities of Kwakwaka’wakw, or Kwak’wala speaking Indigenous peoples
of the West Coast of British Columbia), we investigated the protocols of
traditional harvesting and tending on typical Z. marina
populations in the Discovery Islands area. We interviewed 18
Kwakwaka’wakw knowledge holders and conducted six harvesting
demonstrations to determine traditional harvesting protocols. Based on
traditional protocols and traditional Z. marina management inferences, we developed an in situ,
subtidal, Complete Randomized Block Design removal experiment in an
eelgrass meadow on Quadra Island, BC. In a first exploratory study, we
removed Z. marina shoots at three different intensities using
SCUBA in defined quadrats in the springtime. Shoots were counted at the
end of summer to examine shoot recruitment post treatment over the
growing season. Our preliminary results showed no significant difference
between treatments. However, with more replicates, we might have
strengthened the tendency of more shoots in the harvested quadrats. Here
our main intention is to describe our unique study of a marine plant
resource harvested in traditional times by Kwakwaka’wakw peoples and to
outline a new experimental methodology to examine ecological rationale
behind traditional knowledge. We hope to stimulate new and important
avenues of research on this topic.
Keywords
- Zostera marina;
- Traditional ecological knowledge;
- Kwakwaka’wakw traditional harvesting;
- Traditional harvesting experiment;
- Methodology development;
- Disturbance experiment;
- Rhizome disturbance;
- Sustainable harvesting;
- Cultural value
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