Resource co-management makes economic sense

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Co-management of Ontario's natural resources with First Nations makes sense biologically, fiscally and economically. Think about it.

If you had responsibility for the province's resources, who would you consider first if you had to share some of that responsibility? Would you pick an organization with only a few years experience (let's say 80 years, for sake of argument)? Or would you perhaps trust one with, say, 10,000 years of experience-one whose whole way of being has been tied to the wild for generations?

Well, you might say, it depends on what science says. In fact, science is coming around to agree with what First Nations people have been saying for years about natural resources.

The first message has been that it's foolish to think we can "manage" ecosystems as though they were simply big farms. Scientists agree. As soon as you try to alter one variable, a chain reaction occurs in the chain of being that is impossible to predict or control.

Stocking with hatchery-reared stock is an example. We know from the studies of Dr. Mart Gross of the University of Toronto that stocking with such fish is like playing Russian roulette with the fishery. There is a good chance such fish will take diseases into the wild diseases wild fish have no protection against.

Dr. Gross knows of whole populations being wiped out in this way. If disease doesn't get them, the genes will. Hatchery fish, if they breed in the wild at all, will pollute the gene pool of wild populations to the point where reproductive behaviour may be bred right out of stocks. After that, you're stuck forever with a put and take fishery.

I can remember sitting around meeting tables at Neyaashiinigmiing years ago, listening to Nawash fishermen and Elders talk about the changes to the Fishery around the Bruce Peninsula. The Elders talked about the crash of wild lake trout stocks in the 1930s and how the last wild trout hung onto the spawning shoals around Cape Croker.

The younger fishermen talked about more recent changes ? how a new MNR hybrid, "splake" were pushing out the whitefish and how the "donkey fish" (splake and later, back-cross) were not breeding. All this I heard long before anyone in this area had heard of Dr. Gross' work.

In 1993, before Dr. Gross' work made headlines here, one of our summer researchers, Clay Akiwenzie, did a survey of the literature on the effects of stocking with non-indigenous fish. The literature again confirmed what Nawash fishermen were saying: that stocking with salmon is a dangerous business. With a little help from Dr. Henry Regier at the University of Toronto, Clay reviewed and summarized studies from all over the world. They showed, unequivocally, that stocking ecosystems with fish that have no business being there puts pressure on native populations that they might not be able to cope with.

Co-management with First Nations makes sense to "fiscally challenged" governments looking to cut costs. The Fishing Committees of the Chippewas of Nawash have done an incredible amount of good work on very little money.

For example, we are assessing fish caught by Nawash fishermen to gain some scientific insight into the fishery. The band will use this information to better assess and guide its own harvest.

The band knows, from its own collective experience, and from current science, what to do and what not to do. One way or another, it will find the resources to begin rehabilitation in a natural, self-sustaining way. Returning a stewardship role to First Nations would be a relatively easy and inexpensive way for provincial governments to ensure more qualified personnel are looking after the fishery.

Co-management makes sense economically.

If First Nations are expected to reduce the poverty on their reserves and their dependence on government funding, room must be made for them to regenerate their old economies. The most logical way of doing this if for First Nations to use their Aboriginal and treaty rights to generte income. At Neyaashiinigmiing, the band's recognized right to a commercial fishery has reduced the dependence on welfare and generated money in the community.

Better First Nations' economies means better non-Native economies. We estimate that nearly $3 million pours into the communities of Wiarton and Owen Sound from Cape Croker residents every year. Most of that goes for food, supplies and consumer goods such as cars, trucks, and appliances.

These communities will benefit directly from a healthy Nawash economy. Think of the benefits strong northern First Nations will bring to hard-pressed northern non-Native communities.