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Old 10-19-2020, 11:47 AM   #300
FlamesAddiction
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I am not sure how similar the east coast fishery is to the west coast fishery, but I know on the west coast, there is often confusion because there are essentially two aboriginal fisheries. There is the food fishery and the commercial fishery.

The food fishery has slightly different rules regarding opening times and catch limits that do not adhere to the same conservation rules as the commercial fisheries (aboriginal and other). But the food fishery is also only a small a drop in the bucket. The problem is that many non-aboriginals do not realize that food fishery is separate and there is an assumption that the product from that is going into the commercial stockpile, which as far as know, is not the case. The laws regarding the aboriginal fisheries are restrictive to natives when looked at from a historical context. They aren't being granted special rights, but are rather being allowed to keep some rights which existed long before colonialism.

Again, I have no background on the east coast fishery, but in BC, it is a historical fact that aboriginals had a food and commercial fishery long before the British Crown came into the picture. In fact, salmon was used as a currency before colonialism and the product was traded and transported over a large part of the continent. The idea that all aboriginal people only tapped resources for food and basic survival is not accurate.
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