Oolichan

EDTE 430
Issues in Aboriginal Education

Assignment 5
Discussion Paper Option

Prepared for Lillian Morton

December 3, 2015

By Josh Boldt

Purpose

In order to better my understanding of the Aboriginal Peoples of

Northern Vancouver Island I will investigate the importance the oolichan had,
and still has, on the Kwakwakawakw and Namgis peoples in particular. The
central idea that I continue to come across in my studies of First Nations
cultures is that everything is connected. That the disruption of one aspect of
life creates a break in the circle and the natural balance is bumped off kilter.
Prior to first contact, there was an understanding that a balance had to be
maintained between what nature had to provide and the people. This
balance created a greater respect for nature and the world that we are a part
of. Since contact, this balance has been disrupted and the traditional ways
of the Kwakwakawakw have been challenged from outside forces and from
within. In order for future generations to continue to have access to the
bounties that are provided by the deep cold waters of Johnstone and
Broughton straits this balance must be kept. The First Nations that thrived in
these areas for thousands of years understood this very clearly. The oolichan,
along with the salmon, are great examples of how this balance was
maintained. In this report I will look at the oolichans relationship to the
Kwakwakawakw from four different angles:
A. The fish itself and its natural patterns that are followed by the
Kwakwakawakw.
B. I will discuss the method of producing oolichan oil, preserving it
and transporting it along the grease trail.
C. Oolichan, especially when rendered into oil, have a tremendous
amount of nutritional benefits that were vital to the survival of the

all of the First Nations Peoples along the west coast and inside
passage. These nutritional benefits were provided by eating natural
foods in the past. In recent years processed foods have moved into
the communities and brought with them an array of health issues.
D. How those factors currently play a part in the lives of the
Kwakwakawakw people. How as an educator I must have an
understanding of how as a people we have all come to be where we
are at and what that means for our future.

Fresh Water, Salt Water

In the Pacific waters, from California to Alaska we find thaleichthys

pacificus (rich fish from the pacific), or the oolichan as more commonly
known. The oolichan, a Chinook trading language word, has played a very
vital role for all life along the rugged western coast of North America. This
small herring size fish starts its journey in the rivers and streams that flow
out into the Pacific waters. The oolichan is an anadromous species living part
of its life in the ocean and part of its life in fresh water. Between February
and May the adults leave the ocean and swim up streams and rivers to
spawn. Oolichan typically spawn at the age of three and return to the same
river that they were born to spawn themselves. This makes it possible for the
Kwakwakawakw to track and predict the cycles of the oolichans return to
the streams. These cycles vary in numbers of oolichan year to year due to a

number of factors. These days, overfishing, a rise in water temperature, and

poor logging practices around oolichan bearing rivers has decimated a large
number of rivers that were in the past thick with oolichan during runs. In the
past the numbers would vary do to natural factors such as rainfall,
temperature, and the number of predatory animals such as salmon, dogfish,
sturgeon, halibut, whales, sea lions, and birds. Because the primary source
of food for oolichan is plankton it makes them a very oil rich fish, which is
why they are so treasured by animals and mankind alike.

Getting to know Oolichan Oil

I had heard of oolichan oil a bit growing up in passing conversations
and from my fiances parents who taught in Oweekeno for many years but,
I never really understood how important and loved it was by people until this
past year. Last February, I got the chance to go to Alert Bay with school and
meet a few folks from the Namgis First Nation. One man, who grew up in
the area and currently runs outdoor education programs for local kids and
travels the world sharing some of the traditional Namgis methods for
preparing salmon, joined us for dinner one evening. He spoke of when he
was young getting very excited around the times of the oolichan runs in the
rivers north of Cormorant island on the mainland. Along with other men from
the community, he would load up boats at travel out to the rivers for a
month at a time to net the oolichan as they returned to the fresh waters to
spawn. The oolichan run was a massive event for all life along the coast as it

attracted the predators to the area to feast on the oolichan that arrived
making the waters come alive. The men would net then render the oil out of
the fish and return to Alert Bay and distribute the oil to the elders and
members of the community. He spoke of eating the pungent, fishy smelling
oolichan oil with great excitement. It was saved for special meals and events
and when it came out it was quickly gone. He said that the Inuit render the
fat from seals and whales but that those oils were much too potent for his
taste, as would oolichan oil be for me. I have had different preserved Asian
fish based foods but never had oolichan oil. I have a feeling it is an acquired
taste. Below is a picture of the buttery-like oil.

(lotuslandtours, 2013)

Oolichan Oil, the Process

The process of making oolichan oil is by no means an easy task but
that is part of what makes it so cherished. Traditionally the oolichan were
trapped in nets the women wound from nettles that were collected. Dip nets
were used back when there was an abundance of oolichan that returned to
the waters. Modern day equipment such as power boats, clear fishing nets
and improvements in clothing design have made the job less rigorous, but

still very hard work. Oolichan return to 15 different rivers in BC. The
Kwakwakawakw use the Klinaklini and Kingcome rivers.
As the fish start to return to the rivers the fishermen, women and
elders head up to the inlets as well. The fish are typically greeted by song
and prayer to welcome them back to the river and to give thanks to the
creator for allowing their return. Before the netting can begin a few things
need to be done first; the digging of the pits that the oolichan will be put in,
collecting firewood, the building of the boxes that the oolichan will be cooked
in, and the preparation of the tools used to smoke the oolichan that wont be
turned into oil. Once the pits are dig into the ground down to the clay the
netting can begin. Back in the 1960 and 70s it could take as little as one
day to pull in a full load of oolichan to fill the pits if it was done right. There
were different ways of netting the fish; one way was to set up a net called a
tagal net, shaped like a cone, that was fastened to each side of the river and
lowered into the water, another and more modern way was to use a drag
seine net where they surrounded the fish in the water using power boats and
a large drag net then hauled the net in with a bunch of guys. The drag seine
was by far the most productive method. Because of lower water levels in
recent year an improved tagal net method has been reintroduced as the
favored method. The catch was then loaded into the pits and covered to
ferment. Once fermented the oolichans are cooked in cedar boxes filled with
water on low so that the blood doesnt run out and turn the grease red. The
boxes are shaken every 20-30 minutes to make sure the maximum amount

of oil has render out. The oil is then skimmed off the top and put into pails
and left by the fire overnight. In the morning it is bottled on site or brought
back to Alert Bay to be bottled there. Everyone has a different variation of
the rendering process but they all follow those guidelines. Along with
making the oil the oolichans are also smoked or packed in salt for later use.

Namgis Grease Trail

The first nations of British Columbia each had a territory that was rich
for its own reasons. Be it mountain goat wool, oolichan oil, songs, red ochre,
or herring eggs every nation had something different to offer the others, so
they traded. One of the trade routes on Vancouver Island was the Grease
Trail between the Namgis and Nuu-chah-nulth people. That Namgis living
on the East side of the island and the Nuu-chah-nulth living over the
mountains on the West coast.
During this past summer, I was working at a basecamp on Spring
Island for an adventure kayak company near Kyuquot. Each week a family
from Kyuquot would boat over and cook a salmon dinner for the guests over
the fire. We would sit and eat bannock, salmon, stuffed halibut, smoked
sockeye and tell stories. Some of the stories were of the Grease trail that
crossed the mountains. First the canoe builders would head out over the
mountains to build the canoes then the traders would follow with their goods.
Over the mountains they would go to meet with the nations on the other side
and trade for oolichan oil, thus the name Grease Trail. For the people of

Kyuquot, oolichan oil or kleetna was a cherished item to trade for and
never lasted long at dinner time or during special events. The oil was
traditionally transported in bull kelp as the kelp acted as a natural container.
These trade routes allowed for nations to trade for goods as well as
share information and create bonds with each other. The goods traded
would be used as gifts at potlaches that saw many different nations attend to
pass on knowledge and for political reasons.

The Nutrients in the Oil

When I think of the foods that the Kwakwakawakw peoples
traditionally had at their disposal I think of salmon, herring, halibut, oolichan,
berries, wild game meat, seals, whales, shellfish, shorebird eggs and edible
local vegetation. All of these foods are the foods that, in todays world, we
look to as healthy options. Lean meats and antioxidant rich fruits and
vegetables made up the bulk of the Kwakwakawakw diet. For thousands of
years the nations lived a physically active lifestyle and ate very healthy
foods. One of the foods that surprised me with its health benefits was
oolichan oil. I wasnt surprised that it is healthy but rather to the extent of
how healthy it is.
Daily consumption of 2 to 4 ounces of oolichan makes it an important food to support brain,
blood, heart, and adrenal function. (5) DHA repairs and builds material for membranes
surrounding the brain nerve synapses and is an important substance for replacing the sticky
surface of blood cells with a slippery coating, thus reducing the tendency of blood eel Is to clog

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the arterial system. The precious oolichan oil and other marine sources of DHA and EPA are now
used to treat diabetes, heart disease, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, additions,
autoimmune diseases, learning disorders, and chronic pain. (Freelibrary, 2014)

When rendered down the oolichans DHA levels (DHA is a primary structural
component in the human brain) become even higher. Low levels of DHA in
humans is linked to Alzheimer's disease and increase death rates in brain
cells. The oil is also linked to increased circulation and preventing heart
disease. Essentially the oil that is rendered from oolichans has played a
critical role in the health of the Kwakwakawakw peoples for thousands of
years.
Today with the introduction of processed foods that come at a low
monetary cost, loss of fish populations, and the lack of traditional eating
habits the Kwakwakawakw people are facing some serious health issues.
Diabetes, obesity and heart disease were a few of the issues that I heard
about during my stay on Cormorant Island and in Kyuquot. In order to start
to turn things around health wise, there has to be a shift either back towards
more traditional eating habits or education as to the cause of the decline in
health. Now with this being said eating healthy is at times not in the budget
for people that dont have much money around. So these are some of the
issues that not only the Kwakwakawakw people are facing but that we as a
country are also facing.

As an Educator

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I have found myself very intrigued by the traditional ways of the

Aboriginal peoples of Canada through-out my studies in this course and the
experiences I have previously had. Returning to live in BC and on Vancouver
Island has drawn me into the cultures and ideologies of the First Nations
communities. It is this curiosity that will pull me towards learning more to
better understand the questions that I still have and the ones that I will be
asked as an educator in the future. This report about the oolichan has given
me more insight and a broader knowledge base of a topic that I can now
share in the future. I look forward to continuing to learn more about the rich
traditions of the different First Nations peoples of this area so that I can have
a clearer world view and am able to see below the tip of the cultural iceberg.

References
Cranmer, D. (2009). Kwakwakawakw Dzaxwan: The Development and Evaluation of a
Cross-cultural Oolichan. University of Victoria.
Doolan, L. (2011, May 27). Retrieved from http://blog.wwf.ca/blog/2011/05/27/oolichanmore-than-just-a-fish/
James Bizzocchi, P. K. (Director). (1978). Sinumwack: Bella Coola Oolichan Run (UBCIC,
1978) [Motion Picture].
kidfish. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.kidfish.bc.ca:
http://www.kidfish.bc.ca/fish/info_eulachon.htm
lotuslandtours. (2013, march). Retrieved from http://www.lotuslandtours.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/03/Eulachon06.jpg
Salish culture, foods and medicines: indigenous traditions and CAM for the prevention and treatment of
diabetes type 2.. (n.d.) >The Free Library.(2014). Retrieved Dec 02 2015
from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Salish+culture%2c+foods+and+medicines
%3a+indigenous+traditions+and+CAM...-a0198715577

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