ABSTRACT

The Cree fishery in James Bay is an example of a traditional system that can provide ecological and resource management insights. This chapter describes the unique characteristics of the fishery: its adaptability, flexibility, use of environmental signals or feedbacks, and its ability to conserve ecological resilience. These characteristics suggest that traditional systems may in some ways be analogous to Adaptive Management with its nonlinear, multi-equilibrium concept of ecosystem processes and its emphasis on uncertainty, resilience, and feedback learning. The chapter provides an etic or an outsider's view. It deals with the exploration of some of the implications of the case for the broader issue of fisheries management and the significance of indigenous knowledge. The productivity of the Chisasibi fishery as a whole compared favorably with other whitefish fisheries in the Canadian North. In the case of the Chisasibi fishery, part of the answer lies with the traditional Cree understanding of the subarctic aquatic ecosystem.