Geoduck Management Plan in Canada Causes First Nation Stz'uminus to Act

 “If you’re not going to acknowledge our interests...

… then we’re going to reclaim the area.”

Ray Gauthier, CEO of the Coast Salish Development Corporation

 

Area in dispute on the East

side of Vancouver Island

 

Canada's recently released "draft geoduck management plan" which would open vast tracts of British Columbia's tidelands to geoduck harvesting and cultivation has caused the Stz'uminus First Nation to threaten to blockade all commercial fishing in an area of the Straights of Georgia (see here for Area 17 and Area 18 proposed DFO harvest maps). In The Tyee, it was noted Stz'uminus chief John Elliot believes the threat was the culmination of decades of frustrations with what he sees as unsustainable resource management by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), which he added favours commercial fishermen over First Nations. He was quoted as saying:

"...DFO's management plans and policies don't put nations in any position to be successful in any of their territories."

Vancouver Island, Puget Sound and

area Stz'uminus threaten with a blockade.

 

Unlike the state of Washington, where the courts declared Puget Sound Native American tribal treaty rights allow them 50% of all revenues from subtidal harvesting of geoduck (estimated by Sea Grant at 4 million pounds annually), First Nations (tribes) must apply to the government for harvest rights. In the case of the Stz'uminus, they had applied for an area covering 100 hectares (~247 acres) next to their reserve, but were only granted the right to harvest 5 hectares.

For more on the dispute see CBC News or The Tyee.