Shellfish Aquaculture in the Nanwakolas First Nations

157 Pages·2017·2.38 MB·English

Food Sovereignty and Community Development:
Shellfish Aquaculture in the Nanwakolas First
Nations
by
Jacob Bastedo
Bachelor of Science, Mount Allison University, 2013
Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Resource Management (Planning)
in the
School of Resource and Environmental Management
Faculty of Environment
Report No. 677
© Jacob Bastedo
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Fall 2017
Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction
or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation.
Approval
Name: Jacob Bastedo
Degree: Master of Resource Management
Report No: 677
Title: Food Sovereignty and Community Development:
Shellfish Aquaculture in the Nanwakolas First Nations
Supervisory Committee: Chair: Aaron Pardy
Master of Resource Management Candidate
Mark Roseland
Senior Supervisor
Professor
Evelyn Pinkerton
Supervisor
Professor
Date Defended/Approved: June 19th, 2017
ii
Ethics Statement
iii
Abstract
Aquaculture is promoted by governments and industry as a solution to the impending
crisis of a growing and hungry world population, although technological solutions to food
shortages have historically had social consequences. In partnership with the
Nanwakolas Council, we researched the social and economic impacts of land-based
aquaculture development with a focus on a potential shellfish hatchery. The two aims of
the project were 1) to develop a Sustainability Assessment tool that the community could
use to assess such projects and 2) to investigate the likely impacts of a potential
shellfish hatchery in relation to food systems. First, we found that the Nanwakolas’
existing Community Wellbeing Wheel could be developed into a Sustainability
Assessment framework by testing it with a community dialogue about a potential
shellfish hatchery. We identified gaps in the first iteration of the framework as
recommended improvements in several sustainability dimensions, along with the
proposed new sustainability dimension of Community Capacity. Next, we explored a
shellfish hatchery from the perspective of food sovereignty using the Nyéléni conference
principles as an analytical framework to analyze interview and dialogue responses. We
isolated some of the strengths and weaknesses of a shellfish hatchery for Nanwakolas
food sovereignty, particularly highlighting ways in which this non-traditional method of
food production might build sovereignty and resource governance capacity. Additionally,
our results indicate that a discussion between consumption vs. commodification of
community food resources over-simplifies the possible paths to food sovereignty, as
defining production can itself help build food sovereignty. Lastly, we found Community
Capacity to be an underlying limit to food sovereignty, but also something that the
Community Wellbeing Wheel could specifically address through future community
dialogue.
Keywords: Land-based Aquaculture, Shellfish Aquaculture, Blue Revolution,
Sustainable Community Development, First Nations, Food Sovereignty
iv
Dedication
To my parents, for never doubting that moving around the country in search of education
is a worthwhile pursuit.
To my colleagues in REM, whose engaging conversations always helped to connect
what sometimes seemed like esoteric academic pursuits to matters in the real-world.
And to Aly, whose empathy, curiosity and laughter sustained me through this challenging
pursuit.
v
Acknowledgements
I am tremendously grateful to my senior supervisor Dr. Mark Roseland for his
support through this work and through REM. First, for having confidence that a
biochemist could handle the weird and wonderful world of Sustainable Community
Development theory and practice. Second, for his dedication early in the project to
framing research objectives and his commitment and patience in forming relationships
with the Nanwakolas Council. Finally, for his wisdom and encouragement in the analysis,
writing and revision processes when a quick chat with him always yielded clarity from
chaos.
I am so thankful that Dr. Evelyn Pinkerton was able to join my project as a
supervisor for her thought-provoking questions and deep knowledge of indigenous
resource management issues in British Columbia. Her guidance encouraged my
approach and instilled confidence that my findings might contribute meaningfully to
indigenous communities.
The broader research project of which I was a part could not have occurred
without the creativity and vision of Chris Roberts at the Nanwakolas Council. His
connections with the members, his generosity with his time and his vision for the future
of the Nanwakolas communities catalyzed our research partnership. I would also like to
thank our key informants and dialogue participants for their willingness to share with us.
I look forward to engaging further with the Nanwakolas Council to bring the findings of
our research partnership toward meaningful outcomes. I would like to acknowledge my
gratitude for financial support of this project from the Nanwakolas Council, MITACS, and
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Lastly, a thank you to the other research interns Jeff Lemon and Elizabeth Mosier
(the A-team). The long trips to Campbell River, the intimidating task of facilitating
community dialogues and interviews and the murky prospect of articulating research
objectives were all made easier by mutual support.
vi
Table of Contents
Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii
Ethics Statement ............................................................................................................ iii
Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ....................................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ vi
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables .................................................................................................................. ix
List of Figures.................................................................................................................. x
List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................. xi
Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Can Aquaculture Sustainably Feed the Future? .................................................... 1
1.2 The Non-Technical Knowledge Gap in Aquaculture Research: Considering Food
Systems .......................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Project Organization .............................................................................................. 4
1.3.1 Research Questions ...................................................................................... 5
1.3.2 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................ 6
Chapter 2. Literature Review ........................................................................................ 8
2.1 Land-Based Aquaculture Overview ....................................................................... 8
2.1.1 Land-Based Shellfish Aquaculture ................................................................. 9
2.2 Sustainable Community Development ................................................................. 10
2.2.1 Frameworks for Community Development ................................................... 12
2.2.2 Community Capital Framework .................................................................... 13
2.2.3 The Community Wellbeing Wheel ................................................................ 15
2.2.4 Comparing the Frameworks ......................................................................... 16
2.3 Food Sovereignty ................................................................................................ 18
2.3.1 Indigenous Food Sovereignty ...................................................................... 23
2.3.2 Food Sovereignty in the Blue Revolution ..................................................... 24
2.4 Table of Criteria Derived from Literature Review ................................................. 26
Chapter 3. Methods ....................................................................................................... 28
3.1 Aquaculture Scan ................................................................................................ 28
3.2 Semi-Directed Interviews ..................................................................................... 29
3.3 Working Group on First Nations and Land-based Aquaculture ............................ 30
3.4 Developing a Dialogue Support Tool with the Nanwakolas .................................. 32
3.5 Assessing Shellfish Aquaculture with a Food Sovereignty Framework ................ 35
Chapter 4. Study community Description: The Nanwakolas Council ...................... 38
4.1 Rethinking Seafood Production – Project Objectives ........................................... 39
Chapter 5 Results ......................................................................................................... 41
5.1 Results: Developing a Dialogue Support Tool with the Nanwakolas .................... 41
vii
5.1.1 Results of Gap Analysis ............................................................................... 49
5.2 Results: Food Sovereignty and Aquaculture Development .................................. 52
5.2.1 Nyéléni Principle Analysis ............................................................................ 52
5.2.2 Indigenous Food Sovereignty ...................................................................... 67
5.2.3 Balancing Consumption and Commodification in Aquaculture Development 70
Chapter 6 Findings & Discussion ................................................................................ 74
6.1 Findings ............................................................................................................... 75
6.2 Discussion: Community Wellbeing Framework Development .............................. 76
6.2.1 Introduction of Capacity as a sixth Community Wellbeing Area ................... 77
6.2.2 Limitations of the Framework Development Process ................................... 79
6.2.3 Next Steps in Tool Development with the Nanwakolas ................................ 80
6.3 Discussion: Food Sovereignty and Aquaculture Development ............................. 82
6.3.1 Framing the Nanwakolas’ Shellfish Hatchery Development Using the Nyéléni
Principles ................................................................................................................... 82
6.3.2 Indigenous Food Sovereignty ...................................................................... 85
6.3.3 Balancing Consumption and Commodification in Food Sovereign Systems . 87
6.3.4 Limitations of Food Sovereignty Analysis ..................................................... 89
6.3.5 Framing Food Sovereignty using Community Capacity ................................ 91
6.3.6 Towards Food Sovereignty in Shellfish LBA Development........................... 92
6.4 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................... 92
References ................................................................................................................... 96
Appendix A. Global Aquaculture Scan Results ...................................................111
Appendix B. Results of site visits .............................................................................124
Appendix C. Interview Questions ..........................................................................130
Appendix D. Participant Consent Form ....................................................................132
Appendix E. Meeting Group Primer .......................................................................137
viii
List of Tables
Table 2.1: Six food sovereignty principles which emerged from the Nyéléni conference 20
Table 2.2: Criteria Derived from Literature Review, against which results will be
analyzed................................................................................................. 26
Table 3.1: Dialogue Criteria for each stock within Community Wellbeing Areas ............ 33
Table 3.2: Six Nyéléni principles reworded as criteria to serve as an analytical framework
............................................................................................................... 35
Table 5.1: Themes observed in Shellfish aquaculture Dialogue and the particular stocks
(and CWB areas) which I connected them too through analysis. ............ 42
Table 5.2: Community Wellbeing areas with suggested improvements (in blue) to
improve Dialogue Support function ........................................................ 50
Table 5.3: Summary of interview results according to six Nyeleni principles .................. 66
Table 6.1: Table of Sustainable Community Development and Food Sovereignty
Findings according to Criteria derived from Literature ............................ 75
ix
List of Figures
Figure 2.1: Community Capital Framework illustrating six capitals ................................ 14
Figure 2.2: The Nanwakolas Community Wellbeing Wheel, illustrating five Community
Wellbeing Areas ..................................................................................... 16
Figure 3.1: Community Capital Framework and Community Wellbeing Wheel, showing
nested stocks within the six capitals/five CWB areas ............................. 32
Figure 4.1: Territitories of the Member First Nations of the Nanwakolas Council (Roberts,
2014) ...................................................................................................... 38
Figure 5.1: Revised Community Wellbeing Framework showing updated stocks and the
addition of a sixth Wellbeing Area Community Capital ............................ 52
Figure 6.1: Community Development Dynamics and Components, taken from the
Nanwakolas’ Community Wellbeing and Capacity Strengthening Plan.
Numbered triangles are only to represent iterative progress. (Roberts,
2014) ...................................................................................................... 78
x