Table 1 Components of marine resource and environmental management systems on the Northwest Coast
From: Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America
Component | Goal/intent | Strategy | Archaeological evidence of goal/intent |
|---|---|---|---|
Harvesting methods | • Selection for species and size | • Mesh size | • Relative abundance of zooarchaeological taxa; size of zooarchaeological taxa |
|  |  | • Capture method |  |
|  |  | • Timing |  |
|  |  | • Location |  |
|  | • Extending harvests | • Habitat creation | • Holding ponds |
Enhancement strategies | • Increasing availability/ abundance | • Transplanting eggs | • None |
|  |  | • Habitat manipulation & extension | • Beaches cleared of stone; intertidal walls |
|  | • Selection for age/size of resource | • Return young/small bivalves to beach | • Age and size of zooarchaeological taxa |
Tenure systems | • Limit/control access to resources and harvesting locations | • Rights to harvest specific species | • Differences in zooarchaeological taxa between sites; rock art marking fishing locales; management features in proximity to settlements |
|  |  | • Ownership of harvesting locales |  |
|  |  | • Ownership and control of harvesting features |  |
|  | • Proscriptions on harvesting | • Restricted timing/season | • Relative abundance & size of zooarchaeological taxa |
|  |  | • Limits on catch size |  |
|  |  | • Limits on who can harvest |  |
World view and social relations | • Respect for non-human kin | • Do not take more than is needed | • Sustained use over millennia |
|  | • Ritual connections to animal world | • First food ceremonies (e.g., salmon) | • Differential abundances of salmon to other taxa |
|  |  | • Return remains to water | • None |
|  | • Maintenance of kinship ties | • Feasting, trading, social events | • Extra-local taxa in shell middens |