By Katharine N. Shelledy and Kenneth P. Currens, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
In order to understand how salmon relate to people and nature, we read 155 papers about salmon and tracked every sentence that described a salmon value, role, or benefit. Most of the sentences described how salmon benefit streams by bringing nutrients back from the sea to these streams. Fewer sentences talked about how important salmon are to people. Very few sentences had information about hatchery-origin salmon, which are salmon that people raise and release. This was interesting because hatchery-origin salmon make up the majority of salmon that return to streams along the western coast of North America each year.
We looked at these sentences through two lenses to allow us to categorize them. The first lens allowed us to identify which ecosystem services each sentence described. These services are things like energy, storing carbon, recreation opportunities, and other ways that something in nature or an ecosystem provides a service for something else. The second lens allowed us to identify important values for Tribes and First Nations that each sentence described. These values included ceremonial importance, mental health, and Treaty Rights. We saw more sentences that described ecosystem services rather than values for Tribes and First Nations, although there was some overlap, especially in terms of salmon being something we eat.
As we work together to make informed choices about salmon and salmon hatcheries, our choices should reflect the values of people who rely on them, including Tribes and First Nations. The information that we reviewed was lacking with respect to their values, and if that same information is used to make decisions, those decisions will lack as well. We recommend that decision-making consider more perspectives about the ecosystem services and contributions of salmon, so that everyone who values salmon has their values reflected in decision-making.
Relational Thinking 