Indigenous Storytelling Traditions: Mapping Significant Areas for FSC Fisheries in the Bras d’Or Lake Using The Two-Eyed Seeing Approach

Abstract

Fisheries have always been an important component of Mi’kmaq culture, livelihood, and food security as they provided sustenance for thousands of years. The Mi’kmaq People devoted centuries to developing fisheries management protocols based on such cultural significance. However, over time Western Science has dominated fisheries management in Canada through deliberate targeted efforts of colonialism. This shift reflects the tendency for Western frameworks, current research, and management methods to often overlook culturally significant marine areas, leading to misleading and incomplete fisheries data. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between Mi’kmaq Knowledge systems and Geographic Information System (GIS) using the Two-Eyed Seeing Approach. This research will provide valuable insights on how Indigenous Knowledge (IK) can be used in parallel with modern technology to better manage fisheries. Based on these gathered insights, this research will contribute to the development of protocols to improve Food, Social, and Ceremonial (FSC) fisheries management between the Mi’kmaq Nation and the Canadian government. A map of the Bras d’Or Lake, located in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, will be created to highlight the culturally significant areas using GIS layers provided by both Western and Indigenous Knowledge Systems. By including storytelling, legends, placenames, and other culturally significant knowledge systems as data layers and as a communicative tool, this study presents a Mi’kmaq legend coupled with academic referencing and mapping to braid the two perspectives together, further demonstrating how Two-Eyed Seeing can be effectively used in science. The objectives for this study are to finds ways to combine Indigenous Knowledge with Western Science using the Two-Eyed Seeing Approach to supplement research in fisheries, and determine current research gaps in knowledge and ethical data collection, using FSC fisheries to illustrate how both knowledge systems can improve science.