Denial of compensation for marine conservation: Pelagic Northern fur sealing as an Indigenous industry on the Northwest Coast archaeological & historical comparisons
Date
2025
Authors
Calder-Rasmussen, Fynley
McKechnie, Iain
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University Of Victoria
Abstract
The Canadian Pelagic Sealing industry (1860s –1911) involved hunting and selling northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) pelts. This industry stretched across the Pacific Rim, with the countries of Canada, Japan, Russia, and the United States participating until hunting at sea was halted after the 1911 Northern Pacific Fur Seal Treaty. In British Columbia, Indigenous hunters from Nuu-chah-nulth communities along the west coast of Vancouver Island played pivotal roles in the production process, organization, and distribution of this commercial industry, generating wealth among numerous Nuu-chah-nulth communities. This industry peaked in the early 1890s, coming to an end after 1911 due to increasingly scarce northern fur seal populations. Many Nuu-chah-nulth sealers applied for compensation for this loss of livelihood and lost income. This project compiled information from a document published in 1916, listing over 900 Indigenous claimants who were denied compensation by name, amount, and community affiliation. This enables a proxy for skilled and knowledgeable hunters and can be compared to archaeological information, as northern fur seal bones are among the most abundant species in marine mammal assemblages along the west coast of Vancouver Island over the last 5,000 years. We found that sealers from Nuu-chah-nulth communities represented the largest percentage of claimants in British Columbia. We argue that this data indicates that the denial of recompense following this treaty disregards this enduring cultural practice, the central role Nuu-chah-nulth hunters played in this economically significant industry, and relates to the larger issue of encroaching on Indigenous rights in the name of ecological conservation.
Description
Keywords
Northern fur seal, fisheries, zooarchaeology, historical ecology, British Columbia