Opposing trends in fisheries portfolio diversity at harvester and community scales signal opportunities for adaptation
Sachiko Ouchi,
Lori Wilson,
Colette C.C. Wabnitz,
Christopher D. Golden,
Anne H. Beaudreau,
Tiff-Annie Kenny,
Gerald G. Singh,
William W.L. Cheung,
Hing Man Chan,
Anne K. Salomon
Affiliations
Sachiko Ouchi
School of Resource & Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada
Lori Wilson
Powell River, British Columbia, V8A 0C4, Canada
Colette C.C. Wabnitz
Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
Christopher D. Golden
Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, Canada
Anne H. Beaudreau
School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
Tiff-Annie Kenny
Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval; Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec – Université Laval, Axe santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement, Québec (Québec), G1S 4L8, Canada
Gerald G. Singh
School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria BC V8P 5C2; Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada, A1B 3X9; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
William W.L. Cheung
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
Hing Man Chan
Department of Biology, University of Ottawa. Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5 Canada
Anne K. Salomon
School of Resource & Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada
Understanding mechanisms that promote social-ecological resilience can inform future adaptation strategies. Among seafood dependent communities, these can be illuminated by assessing change among fisheries portfolios. Here, in collaboration with a Coast Salish Nation in British Columbia, Canada, we used expert Indigenous knowledge and network analyses to chronicle differences in fisheries portfolios pre and post a social-ecological regime shift. We then evaluated key drivers of change using semi-structured interviews. We found that while portfolios decreased in diversity of seafood types harvested and consumed among individuals overtime, portfolios increased in their diversification at the community level because more similar seafoods within less diverse individual portfolios were more commonly harvested and consumed by the Nation as a whole. Thus, diversity can operate simultaneously in opposing directions at different scales of organization. Experts identified four key mechanisms driving these changes, including commercial activities controlled by a centralized governance regime, intergenerational knowledge loss, adaptive learning to new ecological and economic opportunities, and the trading of seafood with other Indigenous communities. Unexpectedly, increased predation by marine mammals was also flagged as a key driver of change. Adaptation strategies that support access to and governance of diverse fisheries, exchange of seafoods among communities, and knowledge transfer among generations would promote social-ecological resilience, food security, and community well-being.
