With field season upon us, the herring spawn has finally arrived in Heiltsuk Territory…

There’s an excitement in the air this time of year. We’re weeks away from the start of our annual bear monitoring work  – up and down the coast we’re preparing boats, de-winterizing field stations, and in Victoria a small army of Raincoasters is madly purchasing and assembling the mountains of gear needed for our coming field season.

Here in Bella Bella, the herring spawn has finally arrived. This yearly event marks the end of starvation for land and sea species alike, and provides an important fishery for people in the Heiltsuk and neighbouring Nations.

Last week the Bella Bella Community School Outdoors Club set hemlock trees in the water, providing a substrate for herring to lay their eggs on. This is part of a millennia-old sustainable fishing approach. Unlike industrial kill fisheries, where fish are caught and killed to extract their eggs, the use of suspended hemlock (or kelp) allows the herring eggs to be harvested, a non-lethal approach that leaves the fish free to spawn again. This approach to harvesting also shares herring’s wealth with other consumers: the wolves pictured here were taking part in the feast within a stone’s throw of Heiltsuk fishing lines, while the otter was just around the corner.

In addition to providing food for many, this Heiltsuk relationship with herring provides important insight into ways of managing natural resources that have led to sustained relationships with the environment for millennia, an important contrast to the population declines associated with industrial approaches.

-Kyle Artelle