![]() Other issues addressed within this thesis are whether or not the forager-collector continuum, as it is used for terrestrial hunter-gatherers, can be applied to those in aquatic settings. Two of the hypotheses emphasize the role of population growth and/or packing and resource distribution in this transformation, while the third emphasizes population replacement. ![]() In all, each of the hypotheses proposes that early peoples on the coast were foragers that utilized high levels of residential mobility, who later adopted collector (logistic) strategies. Drawing on a regional database of radiocarbon dates, it uses summed probability distributions (SPDs) of calibrated dates as a proxy for population change, in combination with syntheses of previously published technological, paleo environmental and settlement pattern data to test three hypotheses derived from the literature about the development of logistic mobility among maritime hunter-gatherers on the Northern Coast. By linking cultural, historical and spatial models of herring ecology, it is hoped that a more robust picture of the role herring in the regional socioecological system will emerge, leading to better management and sustainable yields for both human and non-human species that rely on this foundation and cultural keystone species.įocusing on the relationship between demography and sedentary behavior, this thesis explores changes to mobility strategies on the Northern Northwest Coast of North America between 11,000 and 5,000 cal BP. The findings of this study illustrate the potential for LTK, in combination with archaeological, historical, and biological data, to contribute to a broader understanding of herring ecology, especially given the shallow time depth and gaps in scientific studies of the species. The results of the study suggest that present herring stocks, even in highly productive areas such as Sitka Sound, are essentially being managed in a “depleted status,” representing a fraction of their historical abundance and distribution that significant long-term impacts to Southeast herring stocks distribution and abundance have been anthropogenic in nature that human dependence on herring as a food resource evolved through interactions with key spawning areas with abundant substrates for egg deposition (such as macrocystis kelp, rockweed, and eelgrass) and that maintenance of diverse spawning locations in Southeast Alaska is critical to conserving intra-specific biodiversity and regional marine food webs. The authors synthesize this data to build a historical and spatial database and model that: 1) identifies the extent of historic and prehistoric herring spawning and massing areas 2) links changes in herring spawn extent and intensity to environmental and human factors in the socio-ecological system and 3) identifies sensitive areas for protection and potential restoration of herring spawning. ![]() In order to address the gaps in the long-term historical and cultural ecological knowledge of Southeast Alaska herring, the authors synthesize existing archaeological, ethnological, historical and biological records with original data collected from interviews (86 individuals were consulted as part of this project as were 117 unpublished interviews) with herring fishers with significant long-term observations and local and traditional knowledge (LTK) of herring populations. Despite the biological, cultural and economic importance of Pacific herring, productive areas and times of year for spawning in Southeast Alaska are limited and historical population dynamics and ecology of the species are not well understood. Communities with local and traditional knowledge (LTK) of herring fisheries claim that historical stocks were larger and spawning areas more numerous in the past. More recently, the species has been subject to intense commercial fishing practices beginning in the late 1800s. Alaska Natives for millennia have fished herring as part of their seasonal rounds of subsistence. Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) are a foundation and bellwether species for North Pacific marine ecosystems. ![]()
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