NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: traditional knowledge, fisheries assessment, environmental change, food supply, dolly varden char

Objective(s): To improve sustainability of Dolly Varden fisheries from the perspective of the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit communities that rely on them. Specific Project Objectives include: 1) Document Indigenous Knowledge of population trends, environmental change, and cumulative impacts for Dolly Varden and their habitat, and; 2) Establish community-based objectives and associated indices for these fisheries to use in future.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5467. Objectives: To improve sustainability of Dolly Varden fisheries from the perspective of the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit communities that rely on them. Within that, specific Project Objectives include: 1) Document Indigenous Knowledge of population trends, environmental change, and cumulative impacts for Dolly Varden and their habitat, and; 2) Establish community-based objectives and associated indices for these fisheries to use in future. The overarching Research Question that addresses this objective is: How do the communities use and value seasonal Dolly Varden fisheries? We have identified multiple potential outcomes and impacts from this project: 1) Documented changes in conditions and values of the Dolly Varden fisheries over time, and; 2) Improved application of community-based values and knowledge into co-managed fishery processes. These fisheries are important to the communities that fish them and declines in catches have real impacts on these communities, including food supply, ecosystem changes, and intergenerational learning. Moreover, although working groups have the best interests of the community in mind, community-based fishery objectives are not formally incorporated into decision-making. Outcomes of this project will lead to decisions that more fully align with needs of the communities. For the proposed project, Maya Townend will travel to Aklavik and Fort McPherson in mid to late June 2023, to spend about 2 weeks at different harvester’s fish camps to better understand the fisheries and learn from harvesters and knowledge holders on the land. Upon return to Aklavik and Fort McPherson in late summer (dates pending on when community members are available for interviews), semi-structured interviews will be conducted with Knowledge Holders, harvesters and community members identified through our co-management partners, community members and Steering Committee. These interviews will explore the history of these fisheries in terms of management, fishing practices, catch rates, conditions, and participation. We will also discuss how Dolly Varden are used and shared within the communities, how the fishery is valued and how these values are affected by changes in catch rates and broader changes to the environment. Finally, we will discuss how participants define a fishery that is healthy, declining, or should be temporarily closed to improve catch rates in the longer-term. As requested by the working groups, all discussions will be conducted with the help of Youth Ambassadors from the community, which provides additional context and support for interviews, and helps connect Knowledge Holders with youth to strengthen intergenerational bonds and relationships within communities, while providing employment and training opportunities for community youth. All interview participants will be given and read a consent form to physically sign before the start of the interviews acknowledging that these interviews will be audio-recorded and transcribed. Analysis: All data from semi-structured interviews will be transcribed, coded and summarized as Traditional Knowledge reports. Specific data on fishery objectives, measures, and reference points will be summarized as mean values across Knowledge Holders. Validation: Traditional Knowledge findings will be presented together with Youth Ambassadors, at community meetings in Aklavik and Fort McPherson in the spring of Year-2 to share knowledge and validate findings. It is likely that additional information will come out of those meetings that will contribute further information to the overall knowledge gained. Fishery objectives identified by Knowledge Holders will also be presented at these meetings. Group facilitation methods will be used to arrive at agreed-upon combinations of fisheries objectives and appropriate means to combine them. Visits to the communities of Inuvik, Aklavik and Fort McPherson occurred earlier this month to introduce the researcher and the proposed project, and to build relationships with the communities and people to be working with the project and taking part in interviewing. Elders and knowledge keepers we met with regarding the project and building relationships and to present the proposed project proposal to the West Side Working Group (WSWG), the Ehdiitat Renewable Resources Council (Ehdiitat RRC), and the Tetlit Renewable Resources Council (Tetlit RRC). With help from our Steering Committee, Knowledge holders, Elders and community members from Aklavik and Fort McPherson who have extensive knowledge of the Dolly Varden fisheries and their land will be identified and asked if they agree to participate in an interview. Members of the Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board and West Side Working Group have provided a list of people in their communities who have been harvesting from the land for decades and would be good people to interview. The people identified will be contacted to provide them with the necessary information and consent forms to ask them for consent to being interviewed, ensuring they have the opportunity to either accept or decline. This project seeks to build long-term capacity by providing employment and training through Youth Ambassadors, selected from within communities to assist with, and participate in, interviews with knowledge holders and harvesters, and communicate results at annual community meetings. Results will be presented to communities twice (in spring of Years-2 and -3) through community meetings mentioned above. We will present these findings together with the Youth Ambassadors to help reinforce that this knowledge and project belongs to the community. Additionally, we intend to have one member of each Indigenous Steering Committee co-present findings of the final project at a national conference (such as the Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research) or international-scope meeting (such as ArcticNet if in Canada) at the end of Year-2. All publications emanating from this project will be co-authored by each community; the role of individual knowledge holders, Youth Ambassadors and members of Indigenous Steering Committees that were part of the study will be specifically acknowledged at the end of peer-reviewed and popular papers, and presentations. The plan is to hold a verification and clarification workshop with all participants after the interviews are transcribed. This will give participants the chance to go over their answers, remove anything they're not comfortable with being shared, clarify anything and add any final edits to their answers. Each community will be given a copy of the final written paper, where participants will be able to see their work. The intent is to have one member of each Indigenous Steering Committee co-present findings of the final project at a national conference (such as the Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research) or international-scope meeting (such as ArcticNet if in Canada) at the end of Year-2. All publications emanating from this project will be co-authored by each community; the role of individual knowledge holders, Youth Ambassadors and members of Indigenous Steering Committees that were part of the study will be specifically acknowledged at the end of peer-reviewed and popular papers, and presentations. The final written project will be uploaded to the Government of Canada Open Data Portal, available for the public to view. Indigenous co-partners have been in regular contact via email. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: June 30 - September 07, 2023