This post is intended to catalyze discussion and should not be considered a mandate, political agenda or other form of threatening dialogue. If you feel inspired in any way by the words here, please engage in the discussion by using the contact us link at the bottom of the page, or contact anyone on the Who We Are page.
Indigenizing the Alaskan Salmon Economy
What does it mean to Indigenize the Alaskan Salmon Economy? And, why is that important?
We officially got this conversation going by participating in the EDA BBBRC program where we built a regional coalition to envision the future of the forest products industry. Please see that post here if you have not already read it. If you prefer to jump right into a vision and plan for indigenizing the salmon economy, here is a quick refresher on why we think indigenizing the salmon economy is important.
Alaska has been stewarded by those indigenous to the area for over ten thousand years. Colonial history has been hard on the Indigenous peoples of this place. The taking of traditional homelands, the boarding school experience and the overall upending of the traditional way of life has led to inter-generational trauma for which there is no simple solution. Industrial development and boom-and-bust industry cycles in fisheries have also made it difficult to adapt to the cash economy and have stressed the lands and waters that indigenous people rely upon. In recent decades, climate change has been added to the list of stressors on the Alaska Salmon Economy, resulting in foreboding ocean “blobs“, catastrophic seabird die-off’s and low salmon returns for some species and geographies. And yet, the inherent resilience of indigenous people and the region’s salmon populations provides hope and a unique opportunity for shoring up this globally significant ecosystem and the indigenous cultures that rely upon it.
For us, Indigenizing the Alaskan Salmon Economy is about learning from the past to become more equitable, resilient, and prosperous than we have been able to achieve thus far. Blending equity, resilience and prosperity is at the core of how the SSP defines sustainability.
- Indigenizing our economy means centering the priorities and sovereignty of indigenous peoples and communities at the heart of the future economy – not to the exclusion of non-indigenous residents, but with recognition that indigenous peoples have been excluded in the past and there is systemic work needed to make future opportunities equally accessible.
- Indigenizing our economy means balancing revenue generation with traditional cultural ways of sharing food and making art.
- Indigenizing our economy means localizing and diversifying our industries so that our rural communities and region can become more self-reliant and self-determined, and we are equipped to prosper even through the ups and downs of global markets.
- Indigenizing our economy means scaling for sustainability through a combination of traditional ecological knowledge, use-inspired, climate conscious research and development, and adaptive management science.
Regional Innovation Engines Program Opportunity
We fleshed out these ideas in a proposal for the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines Program that looked more specifically at what it might look like to indigenize and promote our version of sustainability for the Alaskan Salmon economy. The National Science Foundation (NSF) sought proposals that will shift economic paradigms through “use inspired research” in the form of an “Innovation Engine”. Although this proposal was not funded, we believe it includes some good ideas that we can continue to pursue. The three overarching goals of this proposal were to:
- Increased Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – We want to increase the diversity, equity and inclusion of the Alaskan Salmon Economy by elevating and integrating traditional ecological knowledge into the scientific resource management paradigm and through workforce development that creates career paths for indigenous and rural community youth to participate in all aspects of the Salmon Economy.
- Increased Economic Prosperity and Resilience – We want to localize and diversify the Alaskan Salmon Economy for more jobs and revenue in Alaskan tribal and rural villages, while also providing equal footing for the non-cash, “subsistence” forms of the Salmon Economy.
- Improved Stewardship, Management and Climate Resilience – We want to increase our understanding of how salmon hatchery and similar technologies can increase the adaptive capacity of the Salmon Economy. We want to increase the scope and scale of terrestrial and marine monitoring systems to be better prepared for mitigating the impacts of climate change on the Salmon Economy. We also want to decarbonize our salmon economy through renewable energy use, organic packaging technologies and increased shipping efficiencies so that our state’s salmon economy can serve as a model for other industries throughout the world.
The Innovation Engine
The NSF program asked us to describe how to transform the salmon economy of Alaska using something they referred to as a “Regional Innovation Engine“. Our innovation engine includes three primary systems and associated programs, including: Indigenous Stewardship and Management Systems; Harvesting and Processing Systems; and, Marketing and Shipping Systems. The “fuel” to run this engine is the people of course, including the SSP as a technical and social support network, the salmon stewards and managers, harvesters and processors, marketers and shippers of products and the investors who share the vision we have for a more equitable, resilient and prosperous salmon economy in the state of Alaska.
Each of these systems were built using common “engine parts” that include:
- Workforce Development and Career Pathways for Indigenous and Rural Youth though cultural and STEM education + workforce development.
- Use inspired Research Labs for climate resilience, cultural relevance, decarbonizing and diversifying the salmon industry.
- Investment Strategies that blend government, venture capital and philanthropic financing in responsive and long-term future thinking ways.
Our overall strategy for each of these systems begins with investing in existing projects and programs that are already aligned with our primary goals and whose leadership are excited about working together for a greater overall collective impact through the sharing of a common vision and a commitment to rigorous communication, creativity and accountability. From there, gaps will be identified and filled through the work of the research labs who are led by collaborative bodies that include education, industry and government representatives.
The Indigenous Stewardship and Management Systems core programs are the budding Indigenous Guardians Programs throughout the state and the Tamamta program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The primary objectives here are to provide a clear path for indigenous youth to develop careers in traditional ecological knowledge and scientific management of Alaskan fisheries.
The Harvesting and Processing Systems core programs include examples such as those supported by SEAGRANT the Bristol Bay Region CTE and APICDA. The primary objectives here are to revitalize traditional and cultural harvester capacities in tribal and rural villages in Alaska and reducing or eliminating waste and fossil fuel dependence in our salmon processing.
The Marketing and Shipping Systems core programs include examples such as the seafood producer’s co-op in Sitka Alaska, Salmon Shares and the wildfish cannery. The primary objectives here are to leverage the indigeneity and sustainability of our salmon economy to target markets that localize and diversify the consumer side of the economy and result in carbon footprint reductions because of new packaging technologies and improved shipping efficiencies.
Join Us!
If you have a project or program that you think fits in the vision described above, please contact us to share your ideas!
