Caring for Pacific salmon: Reconsidering salmon-human relationships

Abstract

Caring for Pacific salmon – one of the most iconic creatures of the North American West Coast – is not a straightforward task but is based on diverse understandings and relationships between salmon, people and the more-than-human environment. Local small-scale interactions, in particular, shape individual motivations to care for these fish and understand how best to do this. This article emerges from a collaborative research project with the Heiltsuk Nation, whose territory is located on the Central Coast of British Columbia (BC), Canada. Through ethnographic engagement with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents and visitors of this area, this article illustrates that close interactions are at the core of why and how people care for salmon. Drawing on theoretical engagements with the concept, care is understood not as an innocent notion but as a complicated set of practices that can also involve killing salmon. These salmon-human interactions transcend unidirectional dominance, evolving into reciprocal exchanges that distribute responsibility across species boundaries.