Tsawout First Nation clam population assessment for cultural, ceremonial, and food harvest
Date
2025
Authors
Migneault, Amy
Mitchell, Mikayla
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Abstract
1. Introduction
Clam harvesting serves as a food source and a practice of self-determination for Tsawout First Nation (TFN). It is also an ongoing battle against colonial ways of thinking to prove that these practices do just as much for the Earth and sea life as they do for the people. TFN has been excluded from local water stewardship for over 170 years. Furthermore, developments in the area have impacted marine health and the Indigenous communities have not been allowed access to traditional harvesting sites.
The clams included in the population assessments are varnish clams, (Nuttallia obscurata), butter clams (Saxidomus gigantea), cockle ssp. (Clinocardium nuttallii), horse clams (Tresus capax), macoma ssp. (Macoma nasuta), littleneck clams (Leukoma Staminea), and softshell clams (Mya arenaria). These clams have been a food source for TFN and other First Nations in the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years, in particular the butter clam, cockle, and littleneck clam. Despite algal bloom, contaminants, and government restrictions on harvesting, subsistence harvest of clams remain one of the only reliable and accessible food systems available to those who live on reserve. The benefit of clam harvest extends to the land as well. Elders from TFN insist that the act of turning over sand during harvest regenerates ideal habitat for clam reproduction. More to this idea, several Tsawout members share the idea that separating Indigenous ecological theory from actionable items for marine conservation derived from Western epistemologies only serves to regenerate methods of ecological stewardship that prioritizes colonial development above all else.
TFN Fisheries Office has combined DFO’s methods of population survey with Traditional Ecological Knowledge to better understand the health and population of marine relatives. This data can be used to possibly make an argument to re-open some sites to the community for harvest, and identify what obstacles are preventing other sites from being safe to harvest and consume. Additionally, interviews are in the process of being conducted to learn about sites and methods for future studies, as well as development of community-led stewardship to maintain or improve the quality of clam harvests, and to resist settler-colonial methods of conservancy.
Description
2025 UVic Sustainability Scholars Program Final Report Summary
Keywords
Tsawout First Nation, clam harvest, cultural, ceremonial, clam population assessment, Indigenous self-determination, stewardship, Sustainability Scholars Program