UBC University-Community Support Funding has been secured for a new collaborative research project and partnership with the K’ómoks First Nation.
The K’ómoks First Nation (KFN) has been stewarding, managing and using herring and salmon resources for millennia. Recent commercial fishing, regulatory restrictions, ecological impacts and dam construction have significantly negatively impacted the ability to access these traditional staples.
In this project, KFN will partner with UBC researchers (led by Anthropology’s Dr. Camilla Speller) to explore the long-term history and socio-ecological impacts of these activities on herring and salmon populations. The collaboration will pair traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and archeological data to document past Indigenous fisheries and environmental stewardship, addressing KFN’s archaeological data sovereignty goals.
Through community consultation, exchange visits, and knowledge-exchange workshops, this project will encourage respectful and reciprocal relationships, and integrate Indigenous and ‘western’ science to explore the past, present and future of Indigenous fisheries, while addressing KFN’s questions regarding the loss of specific runs or populations of salmon and herring that can be used to support our ongoing Aboriginal rights and title negotiations.
This project is one of 30 outstanding initiatives to receive funds through the 2023-24 Community-University Engagement Fund. Projects are chosen based on how they exemplify the power of community-university partnerships in addressing priority issues throughout the province.
