Around the world, many marine species are in decline from the impacts of overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change. The management of fisheries is complex, evolving, and highly reliant on a western, science-driven approach to help guide policy frameworks.
While academic, government and industry researchers feed data into regulatory bodies to support more informed decision-making, management verdicts are seldom made by those who rely on—and are most impacted by—those decisions.
Indigenous and coastal communities have had a long-standing, rich relationship with the coast and its inhabitants for millennia, yet their perspectives and knowledge are often an addendum to the decisions being made at local, provincial and federal levels.
As a result, perspectives and wisdom have been lost along the way, leaving key pieces of historical and lived knowledge missing from the management and regulation puzzle. If stewardship and management decisions are to be truly effective, holistic and inclusive, they must include the perspectives of those with Indigenous and local knowledge—the people who live, work and play in coastal communities.
A view of the Bras d’Or Lake in Cape Breton, N.S. Mi’kmaw communities residing around the Lake rely on this area as a training ground for the transmission, practice and adaptation of Mi’kmaw fishing knowledge among community members.
What’s in a name?
Enter Apoqnmatulti’k: (Mi’kmaw for ‘we help each other’)—a three-year collaborative study that brings three knowledge systems together to generate and mobilize information on valued aquatic species in Mi’kma’ki (Atlantic Canada).
Apoqnmatulti'k was initiated in 2018 and is funded through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Strategic Partnership Grant. The collaboration comprises of the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR), Mi’kmaw Conservation Group (MCG), Marine Institute of Natural and Academic Science (MINAS), Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), Acadia University, Dalhousie University and Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Science (DFO-Science).
The project emerged out of a shared desire to advance a collaborative research model. Typically in academic research, local and Indigenous participants are often recruited after the proposal has been funded. With Apoqnmatulti’k, all groups were involved in all aspects of the research proposal.
Built on joint participation from Mi’kmaw, local and western knowledge holders, the project has a common goal in mind: to help each other better understand valued aquatic species from each other’s perspectives and inform the stewardship of these animals and their ecosystems for current and future generations.
The M'i’kmaw Conservation Group monitors receivers tracking Atlantic tomcod in the Shubenacadie River.
The project’s model is relatively novel, but it shouldn’t be. Collaborative partnerships are one avenue for continuing the process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and ensuring that treaties are honoured and upheld—in Mi’kma’ki, these treaties were established to ensure peace and friendship among all who live in the region. As aquatic species and ecosystems face growing threats, building trust and relationships across communities that depend on these resources deepens our collective understanding and stewardship of the natural world.
Tagging and tracking in Mi’kma’ki
Apoqmnatulti’k partners are acoustically tracking and monitoring katew (American eel), jakej (American lobster), and punamu (Atlantic tomcod) in the Pekwitapa’qek (Bay of Fundy) and Pitu’pa’q (Bras d'Or Lake, Cape Breton), to better understand their movements and habitats, and how both are affected by environmental factors and human activities.
Charlie Fleming and Alanna Syliboy from the Mi’kmaw Conservation Group prepare a tomcod for tagging on a tributary of the Shubenacadie River.
In addition to commercial value, each species has a distinct cultural significance. For example, the Mi’kmaq have a deep and respectful relationship with eel that dates back thousands of years. Eels are traditionally harvested year-round as a rich food source and for medicine. Eels also have a fascinating life cycle, hatching in the Sargasso Sea and travelling thousands of kilometers to inhabit the waters and rivers around Eastern North America, before returning to their birthplace to spawn.
Katew (American eel). Photo: Sean Landsman
An acoustic receiver is lowered into the Bras d’Or Lake for monitoring tagged eel and lobster. Photo: Nicolas Winkler Photography
Using acoustic telemetry, researchers on the project are tagging study species, like eel, with small transmitters that emit a coded sound, or, ‘ping’. Underwater receivers detect an animal's unique pinging tag if it is within the receiver’s range and store the tag's coded ID signal with a date and time stamp.
Animal movement data is collected from receivers by bringing them to the surface, or remotely offloading the receiver via an acoustic modem that hangs in shallow water. Like an underwater telephone, the modem ‘calls’ the receiver and uploads the tracking data without physically making contact with the receiver. In the Bras d’Or Lake, 44 of these receivers are strategically placed to gather information on tagged eel and lobster, while in the Bay of Fundy, 72 receivers are deployed to listen for eel and tomcod.
While acoustic telemetry technology plays a key role in understanding the species, it is strengthened by the inclusion of Mi’kmaw and local knowledge. These knowledge holders have comprehensive understandings of the natural world which inform and enrich research activities.
Skyler Jeddore (Apoqnmatulti’k community liaison for the Bras d’Or Lake), and OTN field technician Nathan Glenn during a receiver maintenance mission in the Bras d’Or Lake. Photo: Nicolas Winkler Photography.
Seeing with two eyes
Apoqnmatulti’k is guided by the principle of Etuaptmumk, or Two-Eyed Seeing. Conceptualized by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, it refers to learning to see from one eye with the strength of Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strength of western knowledge and ways of knowing.
Two-Eyed Seeing requires space for co-learning and co-development through respectful dialogue. In keeping with this principle, all aspects of Apoqnmatulti’k have been co-developed—from project governance to communication outputs, knowledge co-production and capacity-building, which are all central to the project.
Fishing eel using Fyke nets in the Bras d’Or Lake.
Drawing on the strengths of Mi'kmaw, local and western knowledge systems—and learning to see with both eyes—is enabling partners to gather new information about study species, and has the potential to transform decision-making and fisheries management.
Shelley Denny, director of aquatic research and stewardship at the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources, explains that true collaboration requires trading comfort and familiarity, and embracing new-to-you perspectives.
"Two-Eyed Seeing expects you to leave your comfort zone and explore another way of interpreting the world around you,” says Denny. “When we do this, our knowledge systems will collide. While this may be a potential barrier to collaborating, it is also the opportunity for Two-Eyed Seeing. This is where values and beliefs, and underlying tensions surface. Instead of walking away from those collisions, Apoqnmatulti'k uses them to guide our work.”
Conflict as a catalyst
While co-learning and development are key in building a holistic and inclusive research paradigm, doing so doesn’t come without challenges. Darren Porter, a local commercial fisherman and project partner, describes his onerous journey in starting his relationship with academia and the people working within it:
Darren Porter, a local commercial fisherman and Apoqnmatulti’k project partner, on his boat in the Minas Basin.
“It started in conflict—I disagreed with the papers I was reading. The reality was different compared to what academics were publishing, and it took a long time to build relationships,” says Porter. “My relationship with Mi’kmaw communities started in friendship—I had some friends with like-minded ideals, which led to networking. I’m very honoured to now be at the table, and to help dismantle the idea that one system of knowledge is the only one.”
What started as a conflicting collision of two worlds burgeoned into a transformative approach that brought scientists and fishermen together to find more comprehensive answers to their mutual questions.
Erica Porter deploys acoustic receivers in the Minas Basin for tracking tagged eel and tomcod.
Similar to Indigenous knowledge, the credibility of local knowledge is often questioned or not recognized within academia. While this perception is starting to shift, it is rare that all three knowledge systems (local, Indigenous, and western) are brought together through a united collaborative effort.
“Local knowledge encompasses the skills, experiences, and insights of people, applied to maintain or improve their livelihood”, explains Porter. “Collaboration between scientific and local and Indigenous knowledge groups is necessary for the pursuit of a more comprehensive understanding of complex marine ecosystems where data collection is a challenge.”
Fred Whoriskey, executive director of the Ocean Tracking Network—which brings tracking equipment and expertise to the project in addition to helping support research and outreach activities—echoes the importance of bringing all perspectives to the table.
"I have been deeply affected by the profound respect our Mi'kmaw partners have for the environment and the animals. Western scientists tend to view an animal as a data point, whereas it is a personal relationship for our First Nation partners,” says Whoriskey. ‘Likewise, our local partners have tremendous knowledge of the ocean and the species that inhabit it based on generations of lived experience. Projects like Apoqnmatulti'k will help redefine human relationships with the natural world in ways that will be good for all people and the environment in the long term.”
Co-learning in practice
As part of putting Two-Eyed Seeing into practice and facilitating knowledge transfer, a community liaison has been appointed to each study site. The community liaisons play a critical role in connecting communities to the project and ensuring community considerations and values are front and centre in project activities.
Skyler Jeddore, Apoqnmatulti’k community liaison for the Bras d’Or Lake. Photo: Nicolas Winkler Photography
As community liaison for the Bras d’Or Lake, Skyler Jeddore demonstrates how Two-Eyed Seeing can be practiced. Growing up in Eskasoni, Jeddore has spent his entire life on the Bras d’Or Lake. His strong ties to the community, and good-natured personality, make him a natural fit to bridge the gap between the project activities and community interests. An avid recreational fisher, Jeddore works closely with Mi’kmaw harvesters to gather samples, learning ecological cues that help inform research plans—such as the right time of year to begin fishing.
“Mi’kmaw fishers know not to fish lobster during certain times in the summer out of respect that lobsters are molting”, explains Skyler. “By working with Mi’kmaw harvesters, we ensure we’re tagging at the right time of year. When we set out to collect samples in the fall, we check for shell thickness, and wait for these cues to start tagging. Together, we have the shared goal of waiting to start tagging once the lobsters finish molting that season.”
Alanna Syliboy, (community liaison for the Bay of Fundy), in a live fish cage for conducting sampling in the Shubenacadie River.
Like Jeddore, in the Bay of Fundy, community liaison Alanna Syliboy is always quick to lend her expertise to the project. Her deeply rooted connection to her culture and community are at the forefront of guiding and shaping communications and outreach activities. Through her passion for sharing knowledge, Syliboy is continually finding ways to bring Mi’kmaw practices and teachings into the project, from building traditional eel pots to tying activities to important Mi’kmaw events.
Also in the Bay of Fundy, Porter, who has busted academic silos with his local knowledge and unequivocal directness, is contributing his expertise to the project—another key piece of the stewardship puzzle. A highly skilled boat operator, Porter knows the Minas Basin like the back of his hand, and provides important insight on oceanographic conditions—such as currents, moving sand bars, tide phenomenon—that are key to ensuring safety and accessibility when conducting field work through the seasons. He spends a great deal of time on the water, closely monitoring, deploying and retrieving the receivers that collect critical data on the movements of the study species.
Project members like Jeddore, Syliboy, and Porter are key to redirecting the project if it is becoming too narrowly focused on western science and reinforcing the importance of taking the time to build relationships and think holistically.
“It is important to make sure we are respectful”, Syliboy says. “When we gather knowledge, we need to have permission and consent because it is not our information. We must let the individual pave the way to how it will be shared and what that will look like and that may not match a typical academic timeline.”
While the project has its roots in Mi’kmaw and local knowledge, advice from DFO-Science also helps guide and shape the research questions and study design and aims to align wherever possible the outcomes of the research with the information needed by the department to support management decisions. This expertise on species biology and ecosystems, coupled with insight on the information required to strengthen the scientific advice provided to fisheries managers, is an essential layer of the collaborative process.
Shannon Landovskis holds an orange lobster caught in the Bras d’Or Lake for tagging.
Integral to co-learning is the student members of Apoqnmatulti’k who are bringing together the different knowledge systems within their research projects. While the steering committee helps advise and mentor the student research, there is no set roadmap for bringing together and incorporating different ways of knowing within scientific research. Instead, co-learning is a journey in which together we create, adapt and evolve every step of the way. Graduate student Shannon Landovskis describes how this journey has challenged her perspectives:
“Working on this project has impacted the way I conduct research by encouraging me to really question myself and the position I hold. I have had to confront how I perceive the world and what has influenced my perceptions, practices, and beliefs.”
Turning the tide
Apoqnmatulti'k has built a successful, holistic partnership—one that takes time to establish, and requires listening, learning and finding resolutions along the way. The project is shaped by research that is guided by, and responds to, community knowledge and priorities. Its co-developed approach to understanding the aquatic environment enhances the quality and richness of the information collected and ensures transparency and accessibility to communities that rely on healthy coastal ecosystems.
Eel and tomcod support important commercial, recreational and Mi’kmaw fisheries in the tidally-driven Bay of Fundy.
The project is generating new, valuable information on commercially and culturally important species in Nova Scotia, and is facilitating co-learning and the transfer of knowledge across cultures and sectors—slowly and steadily helping turn the mainstream paradigm of research and management on its head. With each new hurdle and accomplishment, Apoqnmatulti’k is demonstrating possibilities for turning the tide for a more inclusive future.
The field team monitors acoustic receivers tracking tagged eel and lobster in the Bras d’Or Lake. Photo: Nicolas Winkler Photography
"As Nova Scotia continues to navigate the relationship between the moderate livelihood and commercial fisheries, this project shows how things can be done differently,” says Porter. “When everyone comes together, there is mutual respect, and we look at each other's knowledge systems, values and goals and implement them together. This is true wisdom.”
Apoqnmatulti’k’s purpose extends well beyond aquatic animal tracking and the collection of scientific data—it provides a scaffold for co-learning, equal participation, and building relationships and trust that reflect the treaties that encircle us all.