Using ZooMS to Evaluate Targeted Species Harvest of Pacific Salmon

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Stability and Resilience in Zooarchaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In a large estuary off the central coast of eastern Vancouver Island lies a series of fish trap complexes, which were used for catching herring and salmon in the past. Nearby, the large Pentlatch Village site contains the zooarchaeological remains of these harvests and provides an opportunity for researchers to obtain species-level identifications of salmon targeted in the past using collagen peptide fingerprinting (ZooMS). Historically, all seven of the Pacific salmonid species have spawned in the tributaries that feed into the estuary, but postcontact industries have impacted the state of the riverine and estuarine environments. Due to dwindling population numbers and salmon’s significance as keystone species, it is imperative that researchers expand historical understanding of these species. By providing insights into the complexities of precontact Indigenous fisheries, these data can aid modern conservation and management strategies in the future to ensure the continued and increasing stability of Pacific salmon populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Stability and Resilience in Zooarchaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37709.0