Putting People First: Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to Develop a Culturally Relevant Salmon Fishery Management Plan

Abstract

First Nations in Canada interact with the fishery with distinct sets of rights and values. In Atlantic Canada the current management system, administered by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, operates under assumed neo-liberal values and has failed to accommodate the rights and values of First Nations in the management of the resource. Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation would like to develop a Salmon Fishery Management plan which reflects local values and livelihood activities. The Sustainable Livelihood approach is a holistic framework which allows for the inclusion of broad social and cultural goals and is recommended for use in the development of the Salmon Fishery Management Plan.