Eulachon Conference and Crisis Hits Vancouver Sun

Posted by Tad McIlwraith on May 31st, 2007 filed in Conferences

The Vancouver Sun notes the upcoming Eulachon conference in Bella Coola. From the article:

Federal Fisheries and Oceans attributes the disappearance to climate change, but [Ray Morton, a Nuxalk community member] points to “unprecedented levels” of shrimp trawling in the 1990s that resulted in a huge bycatch, that included thousands of oolichan.

Amazingly:

Children in the village have never even heard of them — something extraordinary, [Morton] says, given that for most of Nuxalk history the small oily smelt was as integral to life as the river itself.

I attended a potlatch in Bella Coola in 1992 and remember eulachon being part of the feast. It seems that the eulachon stopped returning in 1997.

(Hat tip to B. Muckle.)

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6 Responses to “Eulachon Conference and Crisis Hits Vancouver Sun”

  1. Emic Says:
    May 31st, 2007 at 2:46 pm

    A very similar situation happened around Alert Bay a few years back. Like up north the eulachon numbers were declining making the production of T’lina (grease) really difficult. The people that I talked to in the Bay figured that it likely had something to do with bycatch from the herring fishery rather than shrimping like in Nuxalk territory. Seems that things improved significantly after DFO moved around the herring catch times so that they wouldn’t overlap with the eulachon run

    For those interested, there is a great documentary made by the Kwakwaka’wakw filmaker Barb Cranmer called T’lina: a rendering of wealth that shows the impact of decline in eulachons on the production of T’lina in Knights Inlet. good stuff…

  2. Tad McIlwraith Says:
    June 1st, 2007 at 9:48 am

    Thank you, Emic, for your note. I am trying to educate myself on this issue. Hearing about the Alert Bay experience is revealing of a bigger problem. I’ll take a look at the Cranmer film.

  3. Emic Says:
    June 11th, 2007 at 10:09 pm

    Just a quick update to my comment on eulachons on the North Coast. i just spent the weekend in Alert Bay and talked to several people about this year’s oolie catch. Reports were

  4. Emic Says:
    June 11th, 2007 at 10:15 pm

    sorry… accidentally cut the comment short. Reports were quite varied, ranging from very poor to ok. Seems there were enough fish for most people to make a bit of grease, but not quite enough to have both grease and extra fish for smoking. People told me that the variability in the catch has a lot to do with the quality of the fishing sites that families own. When I asked around about prices for a gallon of t’lina (grease)I found out that without a close family connection a gallon would cost upwards of $700. For those with a connection a jar will still run over $100. Suffice it to say that many people that I know will have a tough time stocking their cupboards with grease this year.

  5. Tad McIlwraith Says:
    June 12th, 2007 at 8:20 am

    Emic … fascinating report. You’ve become my Eulachon correspondent and I appreciate it tremendously. I want to find out what came out of the Eulachon conference, too, and I hope I can post an update on that soon. Thanks again.

  6. FieldNotes: for the Anthropology of British Columbia » Missing Eulachon Get National Press Coverage Says:
    June 20th, 2007 at 8:33 am

    [...] Nuxalk First Nation (Coast Salish; Bella Coola, BC) has held its gathering for the eulachon. They dubbed it ‘A Feast of Shame.’ The Globe and Mail covered the event. Eulachon are [...]

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