Aboriginal fisheries and a sustainable future: a case study from an agreement with the Nisga’a nation in British Columbia

Abstract

By settling the land claim of the aboriginal Nisga’a people of northwestern British Columbia, Canada, governments have an opportunity to put in place an institution that will promote sustainable fisheries management of River Nass fish stocks. We describe five features of the recent Agreement-in-Principle between the Nisga’a, the Canadian federal government and the British Columbia provincial government that are intended to address common problems encountered in fisheries management. While the Nisga’a Fisheries Agreement takes advantage of unique features of the Nass River area, some elements of the Agreement would be applicable to other areas. By studying fisheries management under the land claim settlement with the Nisga’a, fisheries managers may gain insight into the common fisheries management issues of community-based management, property-rights-based fisheries on highly mobile fish stocks, and mechanisms for sustainable funding of research and management.