Indigenous Salmon Research Symposium, Oct 4^th, 2024

The International Indigenous Research Symposium  took place in Ohcejohka, Finland, on the 3rd and 4th of October, 2024. It was organized by the Sharing our knowledge project with the Saami Council as a co-host. During the Symposium there was a session on “Salmon as food”, which was co-organized with the Máhtut-project.  

Food systems worldwide face mounting pressures. However, Indigenous Alaskan communities provide invaluable lessons on sustainability, subsistence, food sovereignty and food security. At the Indigenous Salmon Research Symposium in Ohcejohka, two Alaskan Indigenous voices, Haliehana Stepetin and Deenaalee Chase-Hodgdon, shared perspectives on the topic.

Pink Salmon as lifeway

Haliehana Stepetin, Unangax̂, who is an Assistant Professor at Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies, described her community’s unique relationship with pink salmon, highlighting the labor-intensive process of harvesting, smoking, and drying salmon that has sustained her people for generations. For her, pink salmon symbolizes resilience and continuity, especially given Alaska’s geographic isolation and limited food resources. Stepetin highlights the Unangax̂ people cultural connection to the land and waters and noted that they do not consider the salmon as a resource but rather as lifeway. This view is in stark contrast to the mainstream notion of salmon as a “resource” to be exploited.

Stepetin highlighted the fisheries, intercepting salmon migration patterns, together with climate change with warming oceans, as leading factors for a deadly drop in the five species of salmon for all of Alaska. Commercial fishing practices, such as trawling, disrupt salmon populations by increasing bycatch rates. Stepetin’s presentation pointed out that subsistence fishing has been sustainably practiced for centuries, yet it is now at risk from these industrial practices and restrictive regulations that often disregard Indigenous methods of resource management. Her call to action was clear: recognize and integrate Indigenous knowledge to protect salmon stocks and safeguard cultural practices.

The Smokehouse Collective

Deenaalee Chase-Hodgdon, a co-director of the Smokehouse Collective, representing Alaska’s Yukon River region, presented the Smokehouse Collective as a response to many of the crises, such as food scarcity, that Indigenous communities in Alaska have been facing. The Smokehouse Collective is a community-centered project that aims to restore traditional trade networks while supporting regional food production and storage. Chase-Hodgdon highlighted the need for climate-resilient food hubs across Alaska, where communities can store fish, game, and other harvested foods as security when one of their communities is hit with a storm or a break in the transportation system. This is critical in rural Alaska, where only a limited amount of commercial food is available, and store-bought foods come with high costs. These hubs are not based on Western foods, but on the foods that their bodies need to nourish their souls and spirit. The Smokehouse Collective’s vision for a network of food hubs goes beyond food storage; it revitalizes Alaska’s Indigenous economy through trade, healing, and community-building.

At the heart of the Smokehouse Collective’s mission is the principle of Kohtr’elneyh (a Benti Kanaga term), meaning “remembering forward.” Chase- Hodgdon asks “how do we remember the teachings, the lessons of our ancestors and bring them into the future?” The term refers to a practice of honoring ancestral wisdom while adapting to contemporary issues such as climate change.

The conversation on Indigenous food sovereignty in Alaska is far-reaching and deeply connected to historic injustices. Both Stepetin and Hodgdon highlighted how colonial policies, like the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, eroded Indigenous hunting and fishing rights, complicating efforts to sustain traditional subsistence practices. To combat these inequities, Stepetin emphasized the need to rethink state definitions of “subsistence” to recognize it as a holistic lifeway rather than merely an economic activity. Hodgdon’s Smokehouse Collective further reinforces this vision by empowering communities through small-scale farming, community cold storage, and knowledge exchange programs.

Summing up

As food systems evolve in the face of climate change and socio-political pressures, the teachings of Alaska’s Indigenous communities offer profound insights. The efforts of leaders like Stepetin and Hodgdon demonstrate how sustainable practices, and cultural heritage can be powerful tools for resilience. By supporting Indigenous-led initiatives that respect the balance between people and nature, we take a step closer to building food systems that are not only sustainable but also culturally meaningful and equitable. For those invested in the future of food systems, the message from Alaska is clear: respect the knowledge of the land’s first stewards and collaborate in creating sustainable solutions that honor both culture and ecology.

Appendices and links

Presentation by Haliehana Stepetin

Presentation by Deenaalee Chase-Hodgdon

Smokehouse Collective

Sharing our knowledge project

International Gathering of Indigenous Salmon Peoples

Acknowledgements

The organizers wish to thank the participants of the Indigenous Salmon Research Symposium in Ohcejohka, Finland. This text is based on the transcripts of two talks at the Symposium’s session on Salmon in Indigenous Food Systems. The transcripts were summarized using ChatGPT and edited by Eli-Anita Øivand Schøning.