Achieving Sustainability - a Tribal Perspective

The objective of sustainable fisheries can be defined a variety of ways. The National Standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act allows sustainable fisheries to be determined from an ecological, fishery, or community basis.  The common thread between these often competing objectives is the need to reflect a regional or national societal preference.

Annual fishery planning processes within the United States are structured to determine current societal preferences. Recent trends have been to incorporate more traditional tribal ecological knowledge and perspectives into management plans and approaches. In some regions, like the Pacific Northwest, incorporation of tribal perspectives is not voluntary, but legally mandated. Many Pacific Northwest Indian tribes, through treaties with the United States, co-own and co-manage fishery resources.

The Pacific Northwest Tribes bring a unique and valuable holistic perspective to fishery management. Tribal management priority is placed on sustaining the resource that will in turn sustain their communities and fisheries.  Their policies reflect being place oriented in eco-regions they have inhabited since time immemorial. They do not view themselves as managers as much as stewards of the resources for their children and their children’s children.  This gives the tribes a long term perspective that is often missing in the larger society.