Good news out of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation!

As we are wrapping from the season, we would like to share a success story. 

The Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation is encouraged after a successful Conuma Fishery, which opened July 12th and closed September 13th, 2020. After many years of minor participation, the MMFN filled their Conuma allocation of 2,777 pieces of chinook, up 2,471.3% from the past five years’ average. These numbers are very promising, showing signs of successful capacity rebuilding and tell us that we are moving in the right direction. There are more boats on the water than there have been in decades! This year, the peak number of boats from the MMFN was 15, employing approximately 21 people. It’s clear that as we are building capacity, more boats and more members are able to get out and fish. 

With the growing MMFN participation out on the water, we are also seeing the growing participation of our children. Our fishers are bringing their children out onto their vessels and sharing our cultural knowledge. We are teaching our children strong work ethic through the discipline of fishing, and we are sharing our traditional practices and our mitooks (traditional fishing areas) with our next generation of fishers. Our fishing practices continue to improve with new technologies and our cultural practices are returning and thriving with our children. 

As our fishermen are seeing growing successes, they are able to outfit their boats and crews with newer and more efficient technologies, resulting in better fishing. We are able to use equipment that is better for the planet, better for the fish, and that is better at catching the fish! We are moving in the right direction - forward towards the water. That’s the most important thing.

Ha’oom Fisheries Society has a mandate to “increase and support participation of members of the Five Nations in the fisheries”, and to “support, and build the capacity of the Five Nations and their fishers to participate in the various fisheries”. Even though the Conuma fishery was a success for the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, Ha’oom will continue to push for greater capacity dollars and increases in allocation so that our Nations can continue grow their participation in fisheries to come, and our fishers can continue to improve their fishing practices.